when the ball cock lifts and shuts the valve, water is still dripping into the cistern. This is making the water eventually rise above the overflow and the water is going outside and soaking the wall. It is a very old cistern ( about 25 years) but i have not had any problems thus far. I have never tried a site like this before but i am a woman on my own and dont want to be ripped off by a plumber i dont know, also i dont have much money. I have never had anything go wrong with plumbing before so i dont really know what to do. Please can you give any answers in simple terms. Thanks.

sandra, January 2008

Turn off the water at the main.
Pull out the split pin where the ball valve connects to the water inlet in the cistern.
You can then remove the arm. As you do this you can slide out the litlle piston that it keeps in place.
You can see a rubber washer at one end (this is probably hard and causes your leak)and needs replacing. The piston unscrews to let you replace this washed (get washer from hardware store before you begin). Having replaced the washer just reverse the dismantling and turn the water back on,,,job done---or call a plumber. John

John Somers, March 2011

There is proberly grit in the diapram on the cold feed inlet ,take it apart and clean it , failing that go to b and q and buy a new inlet valve these are only about £10 . if you need any more help email me at andyworoch@talktalk.net

andy woroch, February 2008

2 approaches:
(1) If the ball-cock arm is brass (modern ones are often plastic so you cannot do this with them), bend the arm (so that the ball is lower than it was before) - this will have the effect of shutting off the supply before it reaches the overflow.
(2) Plastic ball cocks usually have a small adjusting screw near the pivot point. By tightening or slackening this screw the shut off level can be adjusted.

JD, January 2008