5 Things That Leak Water on Breaking – Useful

Water Tank Leak Water in the Home

We have written previously about the Top 10 Water Leak Causes and separately to that, a useful and interesting article looking at the top 5 Bathroom Leak Causes but this time we are looking at something different – specifically things that hold a lot of water in your home and how they can leak water.

As you will see, this includes tanks and vessels that hold both hot and cold water in your home. Of those, we have listed 5 of the most common things that leak water in peoples homes and businesses, many of which we come across on a frequent basis.

Toilet Cistern Tank Leaks

It will likely come as no surprise that toilet cistern tanks are something that can potentially leak water in your home. In fact, they are likely to be the most frequently found water store in your home or business, especially when you add different bathrooms, ensuites and cloakroom toilets. Toilets that leak water are not uncommon.

This is especially the case if you include the water stored in the bowl. For both the cistern and bowl, if they get damaged leak water from them causing issues. Ironically, it is often the slower leaks in these that cause more problems because people do not notice a trickle or drip as much as water gushing.

Over time, this can cause significant water damage, especially to floors. And, as is often the case with toilets, if they are upstairs then the first sign of a water leak may be a patch on the ceiling. Quite often ceiling leaks are from issues with toilets leaking at the base and they are not always obvious.

We have an article explaining how much water a toilet uses and more.

Cold Water Tank Leak

Cold water tanks are also something in the home that can leak water. They used to be very common in UK homes as part of gravity fed systems in the home but, over time, have become less common. Nevertheless loft tank leaks are still commonly seen and are a frequent water leak.

The problem with cold water tanks is that they are normally hidden away from view (understandably) in a loft or cupboard, so if they do develop a fault and leak water into your home, you may not see it straight away. Cold water tanks breaking can cause a huge amount of water damage in ceilings. There was a lot of this in the winter of 2022 and 2023, especially over the Christmas period.

The other issue is that they generally have a float valve in them to re-supply the water as it falls, just like a toilet cistern. And so, if you have a water leak, it is not necessarily just water damage from one tank of water, it can be more. And as we explain in our water leak calculator, even a small spray can build up over time. Like everything else on this list, we have special leak detectors and methods / systems to find leaks in cold water tanks.

Hot Water Tank / Cylinder Leak

A bit like we mentioned with cold water tanks in homes, in some situations (depending on the heating system), hot water tank cylinders may not be present in a home. For example, if you have a combi boiler leaking which produces hot water on demand around your home.

However, again, they are not uncommon and can store a lot of water and are often kept in hidden places. So again, any leak may not be immediately obvious. Clearly there are a lot of different types of hot water tanks in homes but they are another thing that can leak water if they break in your property.

We are experienced in finding water leaks from boilers and heating systems, including hot water tanks so if your boiler is losing pressure or if you have an F1 boiler error, or F75 boiler error and E119 boiler fault (or similar), get in touch with us today for help as you may have a water leak, especially if you are having to top it up regularly.

Something that can be more prevalent with hot water tank leaks is black mould problems or condensation problems as the hot water can let of steam that settles on surfaces.

Swimming Pool Leak

We have written a separate article on swimming pool leak detection, explaining how we find leaks in pools. They may not be the most common thing on this list for leaks, after all not all homes have a swimming pool, but swimming pools that leak water are becoming more common for both indoor and outdoor swimming pools and both heated and unheated swimming pools.

Clearly, as you would expect, there is generally a lot of water volume involved in swimming pools as you can see with our water volume calculator and, as we have explained before, people with swimming pools are more likely to be on a water meter so it can get expensive both in terms of the water cost and the amount of damage caused. People with swimming pool leaks often suspect they leak water after getting a high water meter reading, indicating they are using a lot of water.

On a smaller scale to swimming pools, hot tub leaks are growing as hot tubs become more popular and common. Although the volumes of water is almost always less than for a swimming pool, hot tubs hold a lot of water and can be situated indoors, outdoors or in a separate garden shed / structure.

Quite often water fed to these is via underground pipes and so can require underground water leak detection work which we are experienced at.

Bathtub Leak

Something that does not store water permanently in your home is a bath but, when we are doing plumbing leak detection bath leaks are sometimes seen from bathtubs.

This can happen in a few places including:

• Leak in hot water pipe to bath
• Leak in cold water pipe to bath
• Leak from taps themselves
• Leak from overflow pipe
• Leak in waste pipe from bath
• Leak in seal around bath
• Leak in fixtures / connections to bath (e.g. plug)

For the list of things above, many apply to sinks around the home too. And several also apply to showers, when you get a shower leaking through a ceiling. Because many of the things listed above have the possibility to leak, many of them will have plumbing isolation valves fitted to them.

If you have a problem where something in your property has begun to leak water (or you suspect that), contact us today for help and assistance.