Waterbutt overflowing.

A naive question perhaps.... but recently I had my guttering, soffits, etc renewed. the company concerned fitted a waterbutt connection on one of my downpipes...and I then connected the waterbutt after they had gone.

Something is not right somewhere as after heavy rain this morning I discovered a full and overflowing waterbutt creating a small stream down the side of my house (in continuing heavy rain).

Is there a knack to installing these? Shouldnt the water recycle back to the downpipe and resultant soakaway and never overflow the butt? The instructions mention about lowering or raising the butt depending upon whether it is over or underfilling. One thing I suspect is that the new downpipe which was fitted in an existing soakaway may be blocked somehow and hence the overspill from the full water butt couldnt go anywhere and created the stream flowing down the side of the house.

Should I call out the company who fitted the guttering and get them to check the run off from the new downpipe they fitted. Or is there something stupidly obvious I am missing here?

Grateful for any experienced "water butt heads" to show me the light.

Thanks, Nick.

Reply to
Nick Dawson
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Hi Nick, generally the level of water you want in the butt should be horizontally equal to that of the diverter fitted to your down pipe. Not knowing how far apart the butt is from the downpipe, you may have to check it with a taut piece of string and spirit level. Our diverter is set to more or less 50mm below the top of the butt and does not overflow. Regarding the downpipe drain being blocked in someway, why not block the feed pipe opening in the butt and pour water down the drainpipe with a hose and see if it flows away or fills the gutter ?

Gio

Reply to
Gio

The butt needs to be positioned so the the maximum required water level is just above the middle of the divertor outlet. They can be a real pain to get just right... If you can take the divertor out you should be able to see how it's constructed internally and adjust accordingly.

Peter

Reply to
Peter Andrews

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