Dad's house flooded, no hot water or central heating (+video)

[Strudel]

Hello,

There was flooding at my Dad’s house which has given us electrical problems and no central heating or hot water.  

I’d be very grateful for any advice what to do.

I have made a video of the problem:

https://sendvid.com/dsxmtsko

The flooding led to a fuse which made the green switch in the centre of the fuse box go down.  When I tried to switch it up it sprang back down again.

On the advice of an electrician I flicked all the switches on the left of the green switch down and raised them one by one until the green switch went down again. 

This established the ‘Basement Manifold’ to be the switch that made the green one go down again.  I know the manifold has something to do with a pipe or a pump.  There is a toilet and shower in the basement but I’m not exactly sure what the Basement Manifold switch is referencing.

When I flick the immersion switch up and put on the heating and hot water this makes the green switch go down again as you can see at the end of the video.

Ps  sorry for the mess, I still have to clean up everything from the flood.

 

[Geoff1946]

Basement manifold could well be part of the heating and hot water system, maybe featuring motorised valves.   (Only guessing)

It's very likely that water from your flood has entered some electrical components and is causing an earth fault.

Your consumer unit is doing exactly what it's intended to do in protecting you and your property from danger from the fault.

If you can locate what is still wet, and dry it out, all may be well, but to be honest you probably need professional help by an electrician.

 

[Murdoch]

You need a spark, but in the meantime ...

The room needs drying out and that means heat AND ventilation

 

[ProDave]

Call your house insurance.  I have seen the result of a flooded property. It is not pretty.  to put it right properly requires an awful lot to be stripped back, dried out for weeks with industrial dehumidifiers and then all reinstated.

How did it flood? Ground water? leaking pipe? or sewage?  Toilet in a basement rings alarm bells like pumped sewage etc.

Your video won't play, it sits there forever with the rotating "buffering" symbol.

 

[Geoff1946]

Is the property insured?  If so get the insurance company involved and they should bring in tradesmen and cleaners and equipment such as de-humidifiers.

If you really have to sort it out yourself I would still recommend getting one or more industrial de-humidifiers or it will take for ever to dry a basement.

Dave just beat me to it. The video works ok for me but doesn't tell us anything you haven't described.

You do have our sympathy; it's a problem we would all dread.

 

[binky]

sounds like some control to the boiler is down in the basement. If this can be disconnected you may be able to heating working again? 

 

[boltonsparky]

I addition to the above which is all sound advice it's not uncommon for immersion heaters to sit there unused for years slowly degrading then you go to turn them on when the boiler fails and it trips the RCD. The immersion heater fault may well be unrelated to the flood and just require a new heater.

 

[Strudel]

I'm sorry for the late reply.  Thank you to everyone for the advice and sympathies,  it's much appreciated.

I got an electrician over.  He was shocked by the extent of the damage and said there was nothing he could do (at least for the time being).

The flooding was caused last Friday by a cracked pipe (likely caused by a digger because building work is going on there) and was exacerbated by torrential rain.  Thames Water got some tankers on Saturday morning and sucked the water out.  This took until Saturday night.  Unfortunately (and ridiculously) the crack in the pipe wasn't fixed and Sunday morning the water level was exactly as before on the Saturday morning.  It took the whole of Sunday to remove the water again.  The builder wanted to repair the pipe on Monday but luckily Thames Water insisted they come on Sunday to do it.  Thames water own a pumping station and I think possibly the communal area between my Dad's and his neighbour's houses.

My Dad is having troubles with his memory and is getting confused - I'm worried he might even be showing early signs of dementia.  His house insurance lapsed in July and he didn't renew it.

The electrician was a good man, he didn't charge us for the visit but gave us his thoughts.  He told us we need to start getting angrier, and getting on the case of the owner of the house.  My Dad phoned the owner on Tuesday and he said he'd contacted his insurance company and was going to get back to my Dad, but he hasn't yet.

There's a pump and I think the underfloor heating controls in the cupboard under the stairs, which would have been submerged.  There's another pump in the boiler cabinet which would have been submerged.  

The wooden floors are swollen and warped and don't close.  There are wooden floors in the basement which are potentially going to buckle.  Things I assume are going to rust.  The utility machines being half submerged in water for 2 days - even if they're not problems now, how do I know this hasn't severely reduced the life of them and they'll falter in a few months after a claim has been made?

My Dad's car got water in it.  He got a mechanic over yesterday and can drive it but there could still be problems waiting to happen.  

We don't know what damage has been done to the electricals.

We still don't have hot water and heating, and we can't go on like this, especially my Dad as he's currently got cellulitis.

Crack in wall:

https://streamable.com/8slc6x

From bedroom:
https://www.sendvid.com/zew5q383

Utility room:
https://www.sendvid.com/ikvgd8k4

Water in car:

https://www.sendvid.com/gly526ip

I assume the next step is to get a proper surveyor in to look at the damage?

I'd be grateful for people's thoughts on this and what they'd do in my situation.

 

[ProDave]

That is really bad news about not renewing the house insurance.  The only hope is he can claim on the owner of the pipe or the person that damaged it. That would be a whole lot easier if he had renewed the insurance.

Make no mistake, that basement wants stripping out completely back to a bare shell, drying out and reinstating. That is not a small or trivial job, and if you can't live without what is in the basement, potentially a move out while it's done job.  The one I did a few years back (bungalow flooded by burst pipe in loft while owners were away) took 2 months to dry out after stripping back before they started to reinstate it.

The car insurance should cover the damage to the car if comprehensive, they will probably try and recover it from the pipe owner as well.

 

[Murdoch]

^^ your claim, by the sound of things is against the water company.

One main near me had burst 4 times inn the last 7 years and each time the water company sorted the issues ... And costs, in the end. The worst affected were re housed

Get on to the water company claims department and do all the communication by email so it's recorded and you can refer back to it later