Plumbing question. Main valve leaking

TedLasso

TedLasso

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Long story short:

Bought a house, never realised that there was a leak at the main valve into house which leaked into walls and floor.

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Got a plumber in, who confirmed issue was at main valve and not underground. He checked that main valve was faulty and not installed properly.The expansion pipe was not there so everything leaked into wall.

We agreed to replace valve. He quoted me 4k to do job. I was ok with it. He installs new valve and does a good job plastering, etc . The expansion pipe is now outside the house. He says it will drip for a while and stop.

It hasn't. It keeps on dripping (at least now it is not into bricks/floor). I've filled 3 buckets in the last 24 hours.

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I've noticed that the new valve is reconditioned (we never discussed what he would put - I thought it would be new) and I see the one I have costs about 3.2k brand-new

Questions.
1. Is the reconditioned valve faulty or is there some other issue since I've had a leak before - maybe too much pressure from city council side?
2. He mentioned that he needed to check my geyser to see if was causing issues and I told him , it's always off except for 1 hour a day. Why could a geyser cause a problem ?

Hopefully someone can provide some advice as I don't want to be taken for a ride by the guy - just want the problem solved and my house not to sink

Ta in advance
 
The pressure control valve is designed to reduce the main line pressure to a level that the geyser is designed to handle excess pressure is absorbed by a mechanism in the valve but at some stage the valve will open and water will leak out of the expansion pipe.
What is the valve pressure rating?

My experience in PTA East was that the mains pressure which should not exceed 800, very often exceeds 1000. I was forced to install a similar valve to what you have which reduces the pressure to 600 max and then again another 400 valve at the geyser. The expansion pipe on the main valve will fill a 5l bucket over about 10 days. The valve on the geyser itself very rarely leaks.
Have you any idea what the incoming mains pressure is?
 
Tap it a bit, sometimes silt builds up and causes problems. Have a strainer installed while you're about it.
 
This is a reconditioned one so one assumes the filters and strainers were cleaned/replaced.
 
Hi, it's a 400kpa one. The reconditioned one is guaranteed for two years according to plumber. Don't know what incoming pressure is.

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What I did last night, was turn the little tap which comes from council side to the valve (pic above) from its fully open position to closed. I then verified that water stopped flowing through taps in house.

I then opened it again, but only at about 90% open. This morning when I looked at bucket it was still empty.

I guess this tells me that incoming pressure is too high for valve? Everything in house seems to be running fine. Will have to see later tonight if it has 'solved' the problem.
 
You know where the strainer is that needs cleaning from time to time ?
 
Closing the stopcock will not reduce pressure. It will only reduce flow. Once all taps are closed, the pressure in the house will equalise to the static supply pressure as long as the stopcock is even a tiny bit open.

More likely, your closing and opening dislodged something in the PRV which resulted in it not venting any more.
 
Geoff.D said:
The pressure control valve is designed to reduce the main line pressure to a level that the geyser is designed to handle excess pressure is absorbed by a mechanism in the valve but at some stage the valve will open and water will leak out of the expansion pipe.
What is the valve pressure rating?

My experience in PTA East was that the mains pressure which should not exceed 800, very often exceeds 1000. I was forced to install a similar valve to what you have which reduces the pressure to 600 max and then again another 400 valve at the geyser. The expansion pipe on the main valve will fill a 5l bucket over about 10 days. The valve on the geyser itself very rarely leaks.
Have you any idea what the incoming mains pressure is?
Click to expand...

800/1000 kpa?


fkn hell that's a distant memory in Joburg. My residential supply pressure is 2.4 bar.
 
thehuman said:
About 1.2k new
http://www.plumblink.co.za/p000271/Cobra-Pa3332-22X400Kpa-Pcv-Mf-1-Conex-Valve-Cxc.aspx

Does it drip when geyser is off ?
Should only drip when water being heated
Click to expand...
I know my geyser is on as the vent for geyser is near my bedroom which is separate to the one at the main valve which was leaking into the wall itself

I only turn it geyser on for an hour a day, I can see the little puddle there by my bedroom. Don't know if that makes a difference.

Edit. Another question. Could there be another problem in that maybe the valve is not faulty . After all the previous one seemed to be doing the same - is dripping constantly - I just never knew it!

Definitley going to have a word with the plumber - he never said he was gonna use a reconditioned one.
 
Last edited:
InternetLuddite said:
I know my geyser is on as the vent for geyser is near my bedroom. As I only turn it on for an hour a day, I can see the little puddle there. Don't know if that makes a difference.

Definitley going to have a word with the plumber - he never said he was gonna use a reconditioned one.
Click to expand...

As the water in your geyser is heated it expands. That extra volume has to go somewhere so it goes out the PRV.
 
InternetLuddite said:
I know my geyser is on as the vent for geyser is near my bedroom which is separate to the one at the main valve which was leaking into the wall itself

I only turn it geyser on for an hour a day, I can see the little puddle there by my bedroom. Don't know if that makes a difference.

Edit. Another question. Could there be another problem in that maybe the valve is not faulty . After all the previous one seemed to be doing the same - is dripping constantly - I just never knew it!

Definitley going to have a word with the plumber - he never said he was gonna use a reconditioned one.
Click to expand...

Confirm if he cleaned the strainer before the regulation valve or not. The reconditioned ones are as good as new. All that gets replaced is the spring mechanism, gaskets etc.
 
Sinbad said:
800/1000 kpa?


fkn hell that's a distant memory in Joburg. My residential supply pressure is 2.4 bar.
Click to expand...

Yup. For years we suffered low water pressure that gave endless problems. THEN along comes the Council and puts in a new main pipe line and the pressure rocketed up!. Caused many of us lots of headaches as we had all sorts of leaks starting up. That is when I started measuring the incoming pressure and saw what the 400 kpa regulator was trying to handle. (The 400 kpa was only regulating the pressure on the line to the geyser, cold water straight off the mains). That is when I decided to install a second regulator on the incoming water main, at least dropping the pressure to a level that can be handled by mixer taps.
 
I'm actually off the mains now, running an esybox pump to pressurize the whole house from a jojo. Pump is set from the factory at 3 bar. I'm scared to raise it because some of the pipework in the house is quite old. Already replaced 10m of cancerous galvanized pipe in the garden...
 
Hi
I have a slightly different problem.
My seperate entrance flatlet 200ltr/200kPa geyser is leaking at the pressure control and expansion valve. The valve is a Cobra 200kPa rated. The geyser has been off for months as we do not use the area.

I have replaced the valve with new same model today, opened all taps to remove air from lines and the problem still evident. The old valve still looks in good condition not to much debris on the valve strainer. The leaking is not dripping but a slow stream. If a tap is open the leak stops as pressure is released in the line. The valve leaks once all taps are closed.

Can anyone help as to what the problem is?
 
Presumably you are talking about the hot water taps being open or closed, no leak versus steady stream?

Any idea what the incoming mains pressure is?
Are you sure the geyser is correctly installed with the correct vacuum breakers at the correct heights?
 
Hi
Thanks for the reply.

Correct, i opened the hot water taps.
The geyser has not been replaced for years and the problem only occurred a couple of days ago. So nothing was changed prior to the leak being noticed.

Coming to the vaccuum breakers, could this cause the problem if for some reason its faulty?
 
Im not sure about the pressure but ill assume its ok because the main house geyser is fine.

I will need to verify the pressure to make certain.
 
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