I seem to have water leaking from outside overflow pipe All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[pbooks]

I seem to have water leaking from outside overflow pipe that is running from the hot water tank, based on first floor.
My house is economy 7 & where hot water/immersion tank is, there is a small plastic pipe leading to outside house, which is leaking water and running down front of house & into lounge ceiling.
The water stopped leaking when i switched mains water off.
Please can someone tell me why water is leaking from the pipe (overflow)running from hot water tank to outside house? No water seems to be leaking inside house but only from hot water tank pipe leading outside.

[plumbbob]

The top of the tank has a store of water which is controlled by a ball valve in the same way a toilet is. The rubber seal in the valve is worn or perhaps the valve is seized consequently, the water is constantly filling the tank. It needs to be replaced.

[Darkstar]

On my system, which has a cold water header tank feeding the hot water immersion tank, this was caused by the ballcock valve leaking, so that it never shut-off completely when the cold tank was full. Replacing the rubber seal within the valve fixed it. Hopefully you have something similar you could check.
HTH,
--
Rob

[htg engineer]

'Please can someone tell me why water is leaking from the pipe (overflow)running from hot water tank to outside'

It's doing exactly as it should, discharging excess water to outside to prevent damage to your property. Change the ball valve, they sometimes just need adjusting or the float may be split - but for the price I would just replace the whole valve.


htg