Internal Water Feature

[campbellking]

Yes, the house has today turned into a version of Niagara Falls, with running water through the ceiling light fixtures and making the carpet lovely and squelchy. I have successfully stemmed the tide (looks like some kind of malfunction with the ballcock thingy in the water tank) and am waiting for the emergency plumber to turn up (should be covered on the house insurance, but can't say it's the quickest service as I've now been waiting 4 hours).
My question is this, what do I need to do about the fact that water has run through the light fittings, or will it be o.k. when it's dried through?

[SunshineLady]

Do not switch the lights on for one thing and let the light
fitting dry out for a few days at least. Could blow all your
fuses if you turn it on.
Sounds like an awful mess, take care, your insurance
will cover this.

[campbellking]

Thanks for your reply. Have now found a use for Robbie, the dimmest cat in the world, as the only reason I discovered it fairly quickly is because he went a bit ballistic as 'strange things were happening'.

[mastercraft]

Sad thing is, none of this would have happened if the overflow pipe was functional(assuming one was fitted). All water tanks have an overflow outlet, for a pipe to be attached to, and directed away/outside of the property.

Hope the damage was minimal.

[campbellking]

Very nice plumber came round eventually. It was the connection between the ballcock thingy and the spout that had broken, therefore the water was spouting out of the top (the tank itself was virtually empty). Would an overflow outlet have stopped it?

[SirOracle]

Not in the circumstances you have described campbell.

[campbellking]

Thank you for your replies. It was rather dramatic at the time, don't think I've ever got the loft ladder up as quickly, and broke the handle on the wind up torch whilst contemplating what on earth to do.

[mastercraft]

No, but a lid/cover may have helped... would also stop any debris/rodent falling in.

[alavahalf]

" the water was spouting out of the top (the tank itself was virtually empty). Would an overflow outlet have stopped it?"

What you have described with the ball valve suggests that the plastic spout on top of the ball valve has broken or cracked. If this is so the valve you had fitted is known as a part 2 valve. I try to avoid fitting these in tanks as any downward pressure on a lid or cover could crack the spout.
In this situation I would usually fit what's known as a part 1 valve, these don't have a spout on top .. but an outlet underneath the valve.
What may have happened is the broken spout allowed the water flow to be directed out and over the side of the tank and on down through the house etc. I would expect an overflow to be fitted, but in this situation it wouldn't have helped.
The sort of thing that would cause the spout to snap is pressure directed from above via a poor quality lid or cover ... I've usually found pigeons, birds or squirrels the most likely culprits.
... the other culprit is the one who made the poor quality cover (usually constructed from a few battens a sheet of polystyrene and a bit of polythene).