DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Tenants’
Regulations broken:

When called to attend a small building job this week the tenant at the property was complaining about plumbing issues. We were told that the toilet had been overflowing for some time but they had fixed it. Now they had a very loud noise happening as well when they flushed the loo.

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As always, the picture says it all. They hadn’t repaired the overflow issue. They had in fact plugged up the overflow pipe with a plastic bag. The water level was over the top of the overflow when we first saw it. Once the float was adjusted that  issue went away. The other issue, the toilet making noise when filling was a bit more work.

When the toilet emptied the noise it made when filling was the worst I’ve ever heard. You could actually hear it across the street when I went to get some tools! That’s loud! As we didn’t have a replacement with us we isolated the water and dismantled the filler valve. Once cleaned up, lubricated and re-assembled the noise disappeared. We will replace the unit next week but it stopped the LOUD noise so they didn’t have to live with it all weekend.

As for the overflow, the problem could have been much worse as the water line was nearing the screw holes in the back of the cistern. The overflow in older toilets is there for a reason and that reason is to keep the house from flooding if the valve doesn’t close properly. To disable it is to tempt fate.

So fortunately for the landlord and tenant we looked at the noise issue and found the bag over the overflow trick.

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