Kitchen Garden Forum

The toilet would not stop filling, kind of...It has always dribbled a little but became a heavier flow; no leaking and this is a private spring but all the same, a waste and annoying..

Am all but useless at all this; one of the best things about this rental is that the landlord gets work done immediately but the hassle of it all;... so I played about and realised that for some reason the float was not cutting off the incoming water , so I have propped it up with a bleach bottle and blissful silence.. Just checked online and my diagnosis was spot on... Would have felt an awful fool asking for a plumber!! This is an old house and there are regular leaks in the pump house, etc, so next time.. I was wary of bending it in case it broke.Looks ancient.

Dear Marigold, well done, i will know who to call if i get problems it that area.

Thank you!

When I owned a cottage, here in Ireland, I learned the hard way that in some cases you have to DIY... I once had water everywhere and no plumber to be had.. "Ah sure, he's down the pub..." etc etc etc.

So I went online to a plumbing forum and ended up taking the bread knife to the flimsy panelling behind the sink as apparently I had disconnected the waste pipe by using the plunger....Necessity is all in these cases!And at least with this landlord, help is immediate. In the last house the toilet was not attached to the floor. A plumber came after the inevitable flood and decided the floor was too wet for him to do the job.. Never saw him again; he was also the school bus driver etc.

Ireland is like Mexico.

Well, the toilet was just a symptom of a greater malaise; the last plumber set the pump pressure too high in the pump house and made it impossible to turn the water off in there; the overflow system is working overtime which is why the toilet broke. So as soon as maybe a call to the landlord... :Love going out to the pumphouse in the stormy weather! Needs a new pump which they knew last time; thankful indeed we rent as that will cost a bomb.

Marigold. What are you like changing a boiler.

Shallot Man wrote:Marigold. What are you like changing a boiler.

Funny guy! lol!

I know the theory but the muscles I don't have. Once fixed a toilet flush with part of a wire coat hanger... The last plumber here did a bad job which is what the problem is now. He put the water pressure far too high and left the on/off switch jammed on. But each time we have needed help it has been a different old man! The landlord is a local farmer so knows everyone. The request for a plumber is in! This time I will make sure all is working before he leaves; need to be able to turn the water off of course.

What would we do without the internet? Worth its weight in gold especially if you live in rural Ireland.

I presume you have found the nylon screw.bolt near the ballcock hinge, screw this out half a turn and the ball will shut off the water a little earlier, if the problem is water going out of the overflow. Cheers, Tony.

Kleftiwallah wrote:I presume you have found the nylon screw.bolt near the ballcock hinge, screw this out half a turn and the ball will shut off the water a little earlier, if the problem is water going out of the overflow. Cheers, Tony.

I fear that this aged system has no such refinements. The problem seems to me to be that the pump is jammed on and that the ballcocks in the toilet and the tank are simply doing their job. ie releasing the excess water the pump is forcing in. It has been acting oddly since the last repair job a couple of weeks ago; usually if the power has been off I have to go and switch the pump back on but not since then.

I cannot access the top tank. Too high.

Landlord arrived at nearly darkfall and the only way to stop the pump as the switch is jammed on now, is to flick the fuse in the house. Problem is that that turns off every socket in the house. He went off in search of the plumber and has not been seen since so I have had to switch the fuse back on. He was on about the ballcocks but I think it is the pump.. we shall see tomorrow I hope.

Quiet and dry today here. it seems RIP water pump? Unless they crept up in the pitchy dark late last night which I doubt.

And yes, I stored water yesterday.... This makes four big breakdowns with the pump; it serves his water troughs for the cattle too. All in for the winter now. All is Heath Robinson stuff in the pump house ... Needs a new pump and some decent wiring..