Failed geyser vacuum breaker?

1am7h30n3

1am7h30n3

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Mains water to my house failed last week sometime, it took a few days for mains water to return, but when it did water started leaking from my ceiling. I turned the mains water to the house off and after investigating it a bit, it looks like it's leaking from the geyser, but from a pipe with a plastic mushroom cap on it. A bit of searching around shows that the mushroom cap thing is a "vacuum breaker".


My thinking is that if I just buy one of these on the way home from work and swap it in then I'll be sorted. Does water spewing out from a mushroom cap on a pipe sound like a failed vacuum breaker or am I on the wrong track and it's just a symptom of a different problem?
 
Replace both,should be one one the hot line and one on the cold line
 
1am7h30n3 said:
Mains water to my house failed last week sometime, it took a few days for mains water to return, but when it did water started leaking from my ceiling. I turned the mains water to the house off and after investigating it a bit, it looks like it's leaking from the geyser, but from a pipe with a plastic mushroom cap on it. A bit of searching around shows that the mushroom cap thing is a "vacuum breaker".


My thinking is that if I just buy one of these on the way home from work and swap it in then I'll be sorted. Does water spewing out from a mushroom cap on a pipe sound like a failed vacuum breaker or am I on the wrong track and it's just a symptom of a different problem?
Click to expand...
probably got detritus in it ,replace with the same size thread usually 22mm and colour .red,green,black ,some are smaller than others ,check on youre builders website if they have stock ,they can be scarce sometimes
 
soulie said:
probably got detritus in it ,replace with the same size thread usually 22mm and colour .red,green,black ,some are smaller than others ,check on youre builders website if they have stock ,they can be scarce sometimes
Click to expand...
Thanks, I didn't know about the colours. Do you know what the colours mean? The one that's leaking is blue, but the only ones I can find in stock are green and red. I wonder if it'll be OK to replace a blue with a green if that's all I can find? (even if only as a temporary measure).
 
1am7h30n3 said:
Mains water to my house failed last week sometime, it took a few days for mains water to return, but when it did water started leaking from my ceiling. I turned the mains water to the house off and after investigating it a bit, it looks like it's leaking from the geyser, but from a pipe with a plastic mushroom cap on it. A bit of searching around shows that the mushroom cap thing is a "vacuum breaker".


My thinking is that if I just buy one of these on the way home from work and swap it in then I'll be sorted. Does water spewing out from a mushroom cap on a pipe sound like a failed vacuum breaker or am I on the wrong track and it's just a symptom of a different problem?
Click to expand...
depending on if its a brass unit or plastic ,you can click the clear dome off and try reverse flush it with water ,but only if in a bind ,you can also blank it off for a day or 2 but if you then loose water the pipes will suck the geyser water level down .it prevents the geyser from emptying on loss of water .
 
1am7h30n3 said:
Thanks, I didn't know about the colours. Do you know what the colours mean? The one that's leaking is blue, but the only ones I can find in stock are green and red. I wonder if it'll be OK to replace a blue with a green if that's all I can find? (even if only as a temporary measure).
Click to expand...
im not sure if they pressure rated ,the green ones are the smallest diameter ,black seems to be standard now. ill look on one quick.edit black / red is bigger than the green IMG_20230706_122543.jpg
 
That's what I've got on there now with the blue cap on it. Been installed for years so maybe obsolete style now.

Had a look at the closest builders to me (website) and don't see other styles in stock in the 22mm size I need other than the green one I linked in first post. I think I will just go with that one unless good reason not to.
 

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1am7h30n3 said:
That's what I've got on there now with the blue cap on it. Been installed for years so maybe obsolete style now.

Had a look at the closest builders to me (website) and don't see other styles in stock in the 22mm size I need other than the green one I linked in first post. I think I will just go with that one unless good reason not to.
Click to expand...
i cant see a green one failing ,it may just vent slower than a bigger unit so you may loose a bit of water ,allways turn your geyser off if no water pressure is available
 
These are some of the most useless things on earth. I have never come across any that still work after a year of installation. I have also seen many that failed and started leaking.
 
Thanks for the suggestions and help.

I bought the vacuum breaker from mica, it turned out to be a black one in the end, I needed a piece of pipe and the clamp piece as well to complete the job, which is why I went to mica instead of builders. Got it installed and mains water turned on again, everything seems to be holding up just fine, no leaks (yet), had a nice long shower, great times!
 
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