Alf's waterfall
We arrived back from the Alf Family summer holiday to find water dripping through the ceiling in the landing. It transpires that the main water tank has overflowed because of a knackered ballcock. When we are in the house the tank is regularly emptied through baths and showers. After a week or so away the ballcock has allowed the tank to fill steadily until it has spilled over and dripped down through the floor below.
Hold on, I hear the more observant readers cry. Surely you have an overflow pipe to cater for this very situation? Oh yes, we do. But, as the FiL surmised when the in-laws came over a couple of days later after dog-sitting TFD, the overflow appears to be trying to flow uphill.
So we had a plumber in residence for 7 hours yesterday sorting this mess out. He had to raise the water tank in order to allow the overflow to flow downhill as the Laws of Plumbing dictate. The fact that all the pipework was in Imperial measurements may have been an indicator how long ago it was originally installed (even though there is a relatively new immersion heater right next to it), but the burns on the bent sections of pipe proved that the plumber who installed it was indeed from the Wild West. As the Bushmeister is wont to say, any fule knows that you don't try and melt plastic pipes to bend them; you fit 45 degree or 90 degree joints. Er, like our plumber did.
And in an even better Alf-like twist, the water tank, immersion heater and smaller overflow tank for the immersion heater reside in a small corridor between the top landing and bathroom and have been panelled in. Obviously a great deal of thought went into this as it is now impossible to access the small header tank without cutting a hole in the panelling. Which the plumber was obliged to do. Although with all the evidence of Roger the Bodger's handiwork this really should not surprise me.
So that's another £430 bill we could do without. And we still have to get cleared the cost of replastering the middle floor bathroom and landing ceiling on the house insurance.
Whilst the plumber was finishing I was trying to catch the England v. South Africa rugby. A 36-0 defeat. Not a pretty sight. Had a text from the Kiwi on the mobile this morning:
"England sux like a Thai ho."
And, for once, he was probably right.
Hold on, I hear the more observant readers cry. Surely you have an overflow pipe to cater for this very situation? Oh yes, we do. But, as the FiL surmised when the in-laws came over a couple of days later after dog-sitting TFD, the overflow appears to be trying to flow uphill.
So we had a plumber in residence for 7 hours yesterday sorting this mess out. He had to raise the water tank in order to allow the overflow to flow downhill as the Laws of Plumbing dictate. The fact that all the pipework was in Imperial measurements may have been an indicator how long ago it was originally installed (even though there is a relatively new immersion heater right next to it), but the burns on the bent sections of pipe proved that the plumber who installed it was indeed from the Wild West. As the Bushmeister is wont to say, any fule knows that you don't try and melt plastic pipes to bend them; you fit 45 degree or 90 degree joints. Er, like our plumber did.
And in an even better Alf-like twist, the water tank, immersion heater and smaller overflow tank for the immersion heater reside in a small corridor between the top landing and bathroom and have been panelled in. Obviously a great deal of thought went into this as it is now impossible to access the small header tank without cutting a hole in the panelling. Which the plumber was obliged to do. Although with all the evidence of Roger the Bodger's handiwork this really should not surprise me.
So that's another £430 bill we could do without. And we still have to get cleared the cost of replastering the middle floor bathroom and landing ceiling on the house insurance.
Whilst the plumber was finishing I was trying to catch the England v. South Africa rugby. A 36-0 defeat. Not a pretty sight. Had a text from the Kiwi on the mobile this morning:
"England sux like a Thai ho."
And, for once, he was probably right.
posted by Alf the Unlucky at 10:29 pm
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