Possibly stupid question

[GlintingHedgehog]

There is a small white pipe, perhaps slightly more than an inch across, which comes out of the external wall of my house, in the corner where the master bathroom is located. It sticks straight out a few inches, horizontally, then comes to a stop, without anything capping it and without attaching to anything.

Today I noticed there was a small but consistent trickle of water coming from it. The water looks clean, and it appears to stop for a few minutes when the toilet in the master bathroom is flushed, then re-start.

I don't know what it is - can someone identify it? I don't know why it's trickling - can anyone tell me? Is it a problem? Is it something that needs to be fixed soon? Is it something I can fix myself - and if so, how?

TIA

[Lurch]

On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 15:53:18 +0100, GlintingHedgehog scrawled:

It's the overflow from the aforementiuoned toilet. The ball valve in the cistern wants a little adjustment by the sounds of it or a washer has failed.

[meow2222]

its the overflow pipe for the toilet cistern. You probably need to put a new rubber washer in the valve the ballcock attaches to in the cistern. Not a hard job.

NT

[Bob Eager]

It's the overflow from the toilet cistern. It means that the level in the cistern is too high, and it's dumping the excess out of the pipe. When you flush, the level in the cistern drops for a while, so the flow stops until it refills.

This usually means that the ball/float valve in the cistern is leaking slightly, and not shutting off the water inlet when it should. May be just a bit of grit, or it may need a new washer, or...

If you want to DIY, take the top off the cistern and describe what you see.

[GlintingHedgehog]

Thanks for the reply (and to Lurch, too). It's a relief to know it's nothing major, and is easily fix-able.

[Stuart Noble]

There's usually an adjustment on a plastic ball valve that will shut it off at a lower level. If it's the old type, you can just bend the arm to achieve the same result. If that doesn't stop it, your water pressure may be too high for the valve.

[Brian Sharrock]

You should also be aware that it's purposely designed to act as a _Tell Tale Warning_ advising you that you've got a faulty ball valve controlling the level in a cistern. [There might be a similar pipe protruding from the eaves if you've got a Cold water storage tank in the attic space]. The 'sticking out a few inches' is the feature to prevent the water trickling down and wetting the wall.