Leaking header tank.

[saveasteading]

There is a leak onto the posh dining table.

 

I think I have established the problem.

There is a pair of linked header tanks above and I can see the leak.

It is a constant flow, spreading over the support gantry, then dripping, maybe every 30 seconds.

For now there is a basin to catch the drips in the attic and the feed is turned off. And have moved the table.

The tanks went in when we converted this building, decades ago. Done by a plumber.

 

Can I sensibly fix this with LS-X ?

 

Temporarily/ permanently.

Or something better?

 

Photos here. I may post some background history just in case it is relevant.

[saveasteading]

A general picture.

 

I had problems with this set up 3 times in the last year.

 

This is a pair of tanks with one inlet, and a link pipe, due to the need to raise it combined with limited headroom.

 

1. The ballcock wasn't stopping so I changed it. I stupidly should have realised that the leak needed to be found as well. This worked fine for some months.

2. Same drip because any leak (I now realise) reaches the gantry and finds the low point. I had been looking in the wrong area. This was from an overflow pipe. It clearly had never been tightened up, so had been a risk for 25 years. Sorted.

Why it was filling too high I cannot remember. 

3. The other overflow. Same...completely unsealed.

Again this was sorted and the water ceased.

This was difficult to find because the drip was coming from exactly where the new leak is....running along that angle strengthener. 

Maybe the current leak was also happening on a lesser scale or intermittently.

 

From what I can see, 

The overflows are not leaking.

I'm a bit worried that the tanks are failing through age. They are a bit bulgy at the angle stiffeners.

 

We maybe don't need these tanks any longer. Wc are now all low flush. The bath is  seldom used. Water pressure is higher I think.

 

 

[ProDave]

the leak appears to be starting here

 

 

What's going on there?  Is that a hole in the tank?  What for?

[saveasteading]

That aluminium angle runs along both sides as a strengthener. You can see it on the left as well. That 'hole' is in a vertical plastic strut to accommodate it.

[scottishjohn]

If you have 3bar of pressure why do you have header tanksfor water system ?

only reason for a header tank is if you have a vented hot water cyclinder filled fromit with a ballcock ? 

and a back boiler or something 

otherwise everything would direct off the main 

[saveasteading]

That's what I'm thinking.

There's a separate header for the hot water system, with a crook overflow/ pressure release.

 

So perhaps the plumbing required is to bypass the tanks,  then take the redundant stuff out.

 

Speaking to a plumber tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile, Do I apply a dab of LS-X or a great big gob of it? 

Any other practical tips eg holding it in place?

[saveasteading]

It is all being changed to mains on Friday.

A plumber I know well and trust has tested the mains at 3 bar, and looked at the whole setup.

The hot tank has to be replaced by a pressure tank, and a  pumped shower may add some complexity.

Otherwise it is pipework. The headers get bypassed by the mains and are then cut up in situ to get through the hatch.

It will be a relief to have it gone.