- Joined
- Nov 1, 2008
- Messages
- 18,787
- Location
- Bournemouth/Poole Dorset
- Car
- W210 E280 x2, w211 E55, W212 E63 biturbo, S204 C180K
I woke this morning to see a small brown patch on the Living room ceiling below the Hot Water Cylinder located along with a conventional boiler in the spare bedroom upstairs.
I had visions of a burst pipe in the loft but no, nothing so easy. The heating element within the cylinder has corroded through and water was bubbling out of the cap that covered the electrical connections for the immersion.
i threw down plastic and towels under the cylinder, turned off the mains water, pulled the fuse from the socket its connected to and proceeded to drain down the HW tank to below the leak with a hose out the bedroom window on to the drain plug. My plan was to get another element, undo the old one and replace.
This is where it went wrong. Not having a blow torch to apply heat, the box spanner I had wasn't man enough to undo the element and I didn't possess big enough stilsons. I was left with calling in a plumber who to his credit arrived an hour later.
It's an old copper tank and I was warned it could be damaged whilst trying to remove the element. The element came out, and a new one fitted and the water turned on again. Unfortunately as soon as it filled to just below the new fitting, it started to pour water from a leak..
Out with the wet vac and towels and the tank was drained again.
I'm left with three options
One, just replace the old direct HW Cylinder and retain the existing 6 year old Glow Worm boiler for an estimated £600+VAT.
Two, utilise the boiler, but replace with an indirect cylinder that will do away with the cold water tank in the loft, and give us mains hot water with a far better pressure than the current gravity fed system. The immersion heater remains as back up should the boiler pack up. Cost £1600+VAT approx.
Finally, a new combi boiler with extensive pipework changes but around £2500+VAT.
Some of these quotes may be OTT to where you live, but I have a decent plumber who will do the job early next week and supply all parts and dispose of the old cold water tank and cylinder.
We have plumped for system 2 thinking that's our best option. So that's an expense I could have done without so soon after Xmas.
The Quaife LSD fund has been emptied.
I had visions of a burst pipe in the loft but no, nothing so easy. The heating element within the cylinder has corroded through and water was bubbling out of the cap that covered the electrical connections for the immersion.
i threw down plastic and towels under the cylinder, turned off the mains water, pulled the fuse from the socket its connected to and proceeded to drain down the HW tank to below the leak with a hose out the bedroom window on to the drain plug. My plan was to get another element, undo the old one and replace.
This is where it went wrong. Not having a blow torch to apply heat, the box spanner I had wasn't man enough to undo the element and I didn't possess big enough stilsons. I was left with calling in a plumber who to his credit arrived an hour later.
It's an old copper tank and I was warned it could be damaged whilst trying to remove the element. The element came out, and a new one fitted and the water turned on again. Unfortunately as soon as it filled to just below the new fitting, it started to pour water from a leak..
Out with the wet vac and towels and the tank was drained again.
I'm left with three options
One, just replace the old direct HW Cylinder and retain the existing 6 year old Glow Worm boiler for an estimated £600+VAT.
Two, utilise the boiler, but replace with an indirect cylinder that will do away with the cold water tank in the loft, and give us mains hot water with a far better pressure than the current gravity fed system. The immersion heater remains as back up should the boiler pack up. Cost £1600+VAT approx.
Finally, a new combi boiler with extensive pipework changes but around £2500+VAT.
Some of these quotes may be OTT to where you live, but I have a decent plumber who will do the job early next week and supply all parts and dispose of the old cold water tank and cylinder.
We have plumped for system 2 thinking that's our best option. So that's an expense I could have done without so soon after Xmas.
The Quaife LSD fund has been emptied.