I almost had a disaster yesterday with the tank.
I got home from work to find nobody at home, and I noticed the tank making a strange noise. Upon inspection, the water level in the rear chamber was higher than I'd ever seen it, and water was flowing down the 'emergency' overflow tube back down into the Sump. I think most of us run the levels where there is a small trickle of water flowing down that tube, but this was way higher than normal. My first thought was that I hadn't opened the down valve for a while, so maybe there was a bit of a blockage, so I opened the valve for a minute, then re-dialled it all back in. No problem....or so I thought.
I then had to go out and do the usual Dad*'s Taxi Service to pick up Mini Me MKII, and when we got home I walked through the door to see a small puddle of water on the floor coming out from the centre of the tank. My first course of action was to turn off the Return Pump. I then had to find out where the leak was coming from. The first place to look was obviously the Valve on the back, as I had only recently adjusted it. It was the only thing that had changed. That appeared ok, so then I just started feeling around for any signs of water....and that was when I noticed the overflow downpipe connector was very very loose, and water had been coming out from here. The earlier problem where water was pouring down the overflow pipe had somehow come to this.
After I had re-tightened the pipe connector and had wiped up the small amount of water on the floor, She Who Casts No Shadow came home.
"Oh", she says, "the tank was making a strange gurgling noise earlier, so I moved one of the nobs on the back, as I've seen you do!".
It turns out that first she had loosened the overflow pipe connector before she closed the downflow valve too much.The result, too high a water level, water pouring down the overflow pipe, and leaking out of the loosened overflow pipe connection!
There wasn't much water on the floor, but I don't think she realizes how close to an early death she came.
I got home from work to find nobody at home, and I noticed the tank making a strange noise. Upon inspection, the water level in the rear chamber was higher than I'd ever seen it, and water was flowing down the 'emergency' overflow tube back down into the Sump. I think most of us run the levels where there is a small trickle of water flowing down that tube, but this was way higher than normal. My first thought was that I hadn't opened the down valve for a while, so maybe there was a bit of a blockage, so I opened the valve for a minute, then re-dialled it all back in. No problem....or so I thought.
I then had to go out and do the usual Dad*'s Taxi Service to pick up Mini Me MKII, and when we got home I walked through the door to see a small puddle of water on the floor coming out from the centre of the tank. My first course of action was to turn off the Return Pump. I then had to find out where the leak was coming from. The first place to look was obviously the Valve on the back, as I had only recently adjusted it. It was the only thing that had changed. That appeared ok, so then I just started feeling around for any signs of water....and that was when I noticed the overflow downpipe connector was very very loose, and water had been coming out from here. The earlier problem where water was pouring down the overflow pipe had somehow come to this.
After I had re-tightened the pipe connector and had wiped up the small amount of water on the floor, She Who Casts No Shadow came home.
"Oh", she says, "the tank was making a strange gurgling noise earlier, so I moved one of the nobs on the back, as I've seen you do!".
It turns out that first she had loosened the overflow pipe connector before she closed the downflow valve too much.The result, too high a water level, water pouring down the overflow pipe, and leaking out of the loosened overflow pipe connection!
There wasn't much water on the floor, but I don't think she realizes how close to an early death she came.