Leak help

AmDaMan

AmDaMan

AmDaMan

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,023
Location
Wellington, NZ
Hey folks, over the last couple of days there's been a leak from upstairs and it's been dripping it's way down from the celling, it was only a little one at 1st but it got quite bad today so the water has been stopped.

Took a while to locate it as it was quite hard to see! Anyway i've located it down to this pipe going in to the toilet that gives it the water when you flush probably.

img3212al3.jpg

I'm pretty sure it's coming from the white plastic threaded bit.. is this a common problem and easy to fix?

img3213fl0.jpg


Anyways it's been running straight down into the floor :eek:

So what do I need to do or get from B&Q or whatever or is it a plumbers job?

Thanks.
 
Are you saying it is from the nut meeting the plastic thread. If yes trun off water on valve in photo undo nut apply ptfe tape against the rotation of thread, a couple of raotations not much and reapply nut. Do be careful undoing nut as likley to be stiff.

If from plastic threaded pipe in to cistern. turn off water, take apart connection get new parts and reseat. May be worth doing this all at the same time and ensure clean fitting.. i find it easier to do all plumbing at same time, i am in ahardwater area and it really plays havoc with seating of joints, plumbing as a whole!!
 
Is it coming from where the threaded nylon meets the copper pipe?

Should be easy enough to fix - turn off the water (screwdriver and turn the valve below), bung a towel under the pipe, back the nut off and have a butchers.

Might be as easy as a bit of PTFE or plumbers mait on the threads and then retightening (not TOO much as the nylon won't take it).

Swap your leak for mine - newly installed center-tap bath and one of the tap connections is leaking - almost impossible to reach. Had most of my upper body jammed into this tiny gap and could just reach the connection with a basin wrench.....not fun!
 
looks to me like the leak might be coming from the area of the metal threaded bit

the metal bit should be easy enough to replace...its just attatched at the 2 threaded ends

regardless, make sure to turn off the water and flush the loo to empty the cistern before taking it apart!

wherever the leak is coming from...if you need new parts, take the old ones to the shop to make sure you get the right sizes etc...they should all be standard fittings, but i've had a fair few run-ins with non-standard stuff
 
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cheers for all the help!

Right just inspected it again and now i'm not sure where it's coming from. I've stopped the water however the thing was still leaking so it thought it was the cistern, so i flushed the toilet and some water was still filling it up so maybe there is still some water in the pipe?

It's really hard to see where it's coming from though as i can't see the water running down the white thread it just accumilates at the bottom of it then runs down the pipe! Also if it was to from the pipe to the cistern how whould I fix that? As it looks like it's just glued on at the bottom, and what's that valve do on the pipe?
 
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tip: Dry the pipe off fully all the way up using tissues/kitchen roll

leave for about 5-10 minutes then work your way down from the top to the bottom feeling all the way round.

That should help you locate the actual source of the leak:)

P.S.
I'm not sure, but going by the pic i'd be tempted to say that the stop valve is cross-threaded where it's connected to the plastic pipe (it looks at an odd angle to me).


[edit]
I'm no plumber but i've picked up a few bits from doing work around the house (and had great fun sorting the upstairs loo out a while back:p)
 
Werewolf said:
I'm not sure, but going by the pic i'd be tempted to say that the stop valve is cross-threaded where it's connected to the plastic pipe (it looks at an odd angle to me).
Click to expand...

looking at it again, im inclined to agree...theres some discolouration you wouldnt expect to see there too
 
ok people we have bigger problems now. This happened..

img3215xf1.jpg


I was trying to get some water out of the cistern (after flushing it) then it just came off!

img3214pl6.jpg


The pipe is now off though, but water is still trickling from it :confused: That screw didn't do anything, it just kept spinning.

So is it plumbers tape I need? Then re attach the pipe?
 
The ball should screw onto the arm in the cystern :)

as for the pipe, it should screw up tight if it doesn't the nut either isn't aligned properly, or the thread on the plastic pipe is stripped - i would go for an alignment problem looking at the pics (it looks like the copper pipe is coming up offset to where it needs to be to connect to the systern's inlet pipe).
 
ok i'm off to get the tape soon.

That ball thing has snapped and won't seem to screw back on, i'll see if I can get a bracket at B n Q as well!
 
From what I can tell that looks like the overflow pipe on your cistern, and saying how you've pulled the ball of now the filler pipe wont cancel its self and will flow out now.

Basically what you need to do is re connect that pipe as its not an essential part use gaffa tape or use a varible connection pipe (one with a rubber seal on it and as you tighten it the seal closes more and more), shouldn't be too hard.

The reason why this could be leaking is that ball may have water in it so it won't stop the filler pipe at the right height, check the ball for water if thats the case you will need a new ball.

Secondly check to see if you can change the cut off height of the filler pipe, should be a screw or something similiar on top of the arm, if so just make it stop the water at a lower height and that should stop any leak.

KaHn
 
Werewolf said:
I very much doubt that pipe is an overflow ;)

You don't see many of them with a stop valve :p
Click to expand...

I think you could be right, its hard to say for sure with out being there :)

KaHn
 
Not sure if I've unerstood all you have posted but .....

It is deffo the feed pipe and not the overflow.

The stop valve/screw should only need turning 90 degrees to stop the water, not screwed in any distance; that's why it keeps spinning.

Get a new valve while you're at B&Q getting ptfe tape and ball-****.

With all due respect, if you really need this much advice, maybe you should be calling a plumber.
 
ha ha, tbh i probably do, but I like to try and understand things and have a bash 1st. OcUK helped me with the last leak too :D awesome.

Ps It wasn't the ball I needed it was the ball adjusting screw ;)
 
If the nut keep spinning, then you have quite possibly cross threaded and tripped the plastic pipe. If that is the case, you might have to shorted the pipe slightly or even buy a new one. Also inside the nut there is likely to be a nylon washer that may have become old and started to break up(Which could have been the cause of the leak in the first place) Ive just had the exact same problem recently, and the best way to fix it was to replace the nylon washer with a slightly undersized rubber o-ring.
 
looks like a plumber job, the PFTE tape is naff all. I've applied it several times aswell. The nylon thread looks ok though so i'm stumped. also there was no nylon washer or anything in the nut, maybe that's the cause? :confused:
 
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