noisy water tank and a dodgy drain!

Evening all,

ive got 2 problems that i would appreciate any advice and help with.

First of all, my water tank in the attic is making a noise like its filling up, constantly day and night, though it does seem more noticeable during the night but i imagine this is just because the house is silent etc.

you know when you flush your loo and afterwards you can hear the noise of the tank filling up in the attic?? well, this is the noise i have all the time. Ive gone up to check the tank and its defintley not over flowing at all and the ball cock is where it should be. Now, what i have noticed is in the downstairs loo there is water constantly dripping into the back of the bowl. Could this have anything to do with it??

My second problem is the bloody drain out the back. When i flush the downstairs loo the water is filling right up in the bowl, (this isnt happening in the upstairs toilet tho), ive taken up the AJ lid outside in the back garden and the water has risen right to the top and theres all toilet bloody roll and what have you ready to escape.

I went to atlantic homecare and got rods etc but cant seem to get them through the hole. I did have this same problem a couple of months back and got out drain doctors or one of them, but i just felt it was a bit expensive for what they did you know. They werent here for more than 10 mins, shoved the rods through a couple of times, unblocked the drain and charged me 150 euro!!

your probably gonna tell me to get them back out again yeah? cos obviously i cant do it properly. Its such a bloody nitemare cos i cant let the kids play out in the back garden cos id be afraid of them getting sick if any crap (pardon the pun!!) escapes!!

any advice is greatly appreciated.

thanks guys.

I had similar problems. The noisy tank in the attic (although not continously noisy) was solved by replacing the metal (rusty) tank for a plastic one. Check and see if your overflow pipes are dripping outside - these are the little pipes you would see sticking out in the eaves of your house. If one or both of these are dripping you might need a valve (as I did) up at the tank.
Our surface water drain (not the waste drain like yours) filled right up to the top. We also paid loads for the private drain people to try and fix it, which they didn't. The Co Council told me it is probably a damaged pipe (outside my wall and leading to the main sewer) which has collapsed. So now myself and eight other residents whose houses this drain serves have to foot the bill. Still waiting for the council to inform me of a start date.

I'd be very surprised if the toilet cistern was fed from the water tank in the attic as it is normally fed from the rising main.
Not much help I know, but I think you should be looking elsewhere.

thanks for the reply. the tank shouldnt be rusty at all and the house isnt even two years old!! ive checked outside for the little pipe things you were saying and i dont have any.

god its so frustrating.

anybody else got any ideas... please!

Actually the toilet is probably fed from the attic. If the water is constantly flowing in the toilet downstairs , that would cause the tank in the attic to constantly be refilling. Probably a bad seal in the toilet causing the water to constantly flow. If you could stop the toiler refilling by propping up the ballcock at least it should stop the noise in the attic. Then it depends on the type of toilet to try to fix the problem.

Regarding the rods , did you try just shoving the bare rods down the AJ . It takes a bit of force to bend them into the sewer but unless there is a 90 degree bend they should go down easily enough. One important point if you ever put rods down , keep twisting the rods in a clockwise direction , it keeps the joints between the rods tight and prevents the rods unscrewing down the drain. (know from bitter experience).

Yep, toilet almost certainly fed from the tank. Replacing the tank unnecessary, if it is constantly overflowing, you need to adjust the ball cock, not replace the lot.

If you do end up getting the pros back to sort the drain out, you could ask them about putting a CCTV camera down there to identify any possible problem points.

Hi LizaM,

I had the same problem recently, water constantly running down the back of the toilet and that noise...on and on and on ....If you check www.howstuffworks.com you will find a diagram of a cistern and its components, you will need to go into the 'home stuff' tab and do a search. It will also instruct how to check for faults ie; ball cock leaking (not usually in modern cisterns), ball cock getting stuck, bending the arm etc. Unfortunately for me a valve needed replacing (toilet was only 18 months old !) and Mrs d2 called the plumber before I flooded the place.....

r2d2