Thank you for taking a look... Like I said I've had this issue for over 6 months now and have multiple different plumbers look and the problem and still no one knows what seems to be the issue. Firstly... I live in a 3 floor block of flats on the top floor, and have a new combi boiler installed 4 years ago. This problem started at around the beginning of summer this year, when I noticed the cold water tap was sometimes running warm water, I gave it a quick google and was informed that it could be the heating of the pipes during the summer, since this was an intermittent issue, I didn't think much of it. Around the same time we started getting water overflowing, at this time we wasn't aware if the issue was connected or still is. The plumbers have checked the water tank and the ball valves and said that's not the issue, we recently changed all our mixer taps in the house, and still last night we still had the water running from the overflow pipe. The plumber also said the it could be my neighbors with the issue since only our two flats was experiencing this issue and no one else in the block of flats is getting hot water from their cold tap, I'm waiting to hear back when they get their taps changed to see if the problem is fixed. I should also mention I don't have access to the loft where the tanks are stored, I have to call out someone from the council with a key to the access ladder and key to the loft, and also that the tanks are communal. The only issue I have mentioned which the plumbers have not looked at is, our boiler; when the the taps and central heating setting is turned on, and radiators are turned of at the thermostat, they will come on regardless if the taps and being used. So we set the boiler to only supply the taps, and we've back-seated this problem when the overflow started, and it just occurred to me whether the two things could be connected. I know it's a lot of information, but we've it's been 6 months and we're no closer to fixing it. It's become a lot worse in the recent couple of days, where have the taps running constantly to stop the overflow pipe from running. Thanks for the help in advanced.
Hi Mykola. You seem to have a good grasp of what's going on, but a few things don't add up. You live on the top floor of a 3-storey flat which has water storage tanks up in the loft area - and you have a combi boiler? A 'combi' boiler almost always heats up the cold mains water 'instantly' to provide your hot water from your taps. At the same time, the water coming out of your cold taps should also be from the mains. Ergo, under no circumstances should your cold feel warm (unless, perhaps, the two pipes have been laid virtually in contact with eachother along their lengths). So, I wonder if you really do have a 'combi' boiler? It's possible that a combi could be fed from a storage tank, but I would expect that storage tank to be waaaay higher than just up in the loft. First things first - can you confirm the make and model of the boiler? (A photo would be great too - keep it under 2MP) And then confirm whether you have a hot 'cylinder' that stores heated hot water, or does your boiler fire up when you turn on a hot tap?
Hi, Thanks for the reply. I do have a combi boiler, please see images, and do not have a water cylinder in my flat. The boiler does switch on when I'm using the hot water, however I'm getting warm sometimes hot water from my cold tap, with the boiler switched off. Thanks for the help.
Thanks for the confirmation. Ok, the fact you have a combi should not have any bearing on you sometimes getting warm/hot water oot yer cold tap. The cold from your taps should be fed directly either from the cold mains, or else directly from your cold storage tank. It should never have the chance to 'mix' with the hot side. If all your taps are 'mixer' type, then that's got to be your first port of suspicion. Do you have any taps ion your flat which are truly separate? If so, does the cold there ever give you warm/hot water? If it does, then you need to start looking at things like the hot and cold pipes being run tightly adjacent to eachother, so the hot transfers across to the cold when it isn't running - so when you then turn on a cold, you will get a good few seconds of warmish water, but it should ultimately run cold again. The only other source I can think of is the shared storage tanks. I can't think of how this could happen, but is there any chnace there's hot water being ejected out of someone's system and ending back up in the cold tank in t'loft? I can't see this happening with a combi boiler, so do you know if anyone in another flat has a conventional 'vented' system with a hot cylinder in their flat? That one might be faulty. But, guesswork at the moment.
I was on the phone earlier with the council, and they said that and issue could be I'm still connected to the tank in loft and that I should of been connected to the mains when the boiler was installed. Could this be the problem, because I already replaced the taps. Also I'm not sure on the configuration my neighbor has, but if I do get connected to the mains and the overflow keeps happening I wont be able to shut it off anymore from my house, which could potentially flood my house. Is this a possibility because couple days we had the overflow flowing all night, and woke up to water dripping from the ceiling.
Yeah it's overflowing from a pipe outside, and if it runs on long enough, it will sometimes start to drip from the ceiling. This has been going for 6 months and nobody can tell the reason why.
Mykola, combi boilers are really designed to be supplied directly from the mains - the cold rising mains goes straight in to the boiler, and heated hot water comes out. At the same time, the cold rising main is also usually run directly to the cold taps too, so that there's no need for storage tanks, and also the two supplies - hot and cold - are delivered at the same pressure. It's pretty clear that's not what you have. At the very least, it looks as tho' your cold supplies to your taps are coming from the storage tank in the loft. One reason that they may have done this - you are 3 stories up, so the supply pressure from the cold rising mains might not be good enough. There is ONE tap in your house which must be cold rising mains, and that's your kitchen cold (for safe drinking). That's the one to test - stick a bucket under it, turn on the cold tap only to max, time it for 10 seconds, measure the number of litres and times that by 6 to get 'litres per minute'. If, by a miracle, you have good pressure and flow to your flat from the mains, then the solution for you would be to modify your plumbing (easy) so that ALL your taps - hot and cold - are supplied from the mains. That's a long shot tho'. This overflowing pipe - where is it coming from, the tank in the loft? That has got to be an easy fix, so no excuses for the plumbers. Do you know what sort of heating/hot water systems the other flats have? I suspect they are not 'combi'.
Yeah so I'm not sure what to do because they've told me that the tanks in the loft are fine, and have no access to loft myself to check. Might get a private contractor in tomorrow for a consult. Also I'm not sure what type of heating my neighbors have however I will try to catch them tomorrow, and find out. Thanks for the help.
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