An Interesting Estimate?

[gordon grant]

Get this estimate from a plumber - my location is Outer London, which fact may make a difference.

================================================================= Estimate

Drain down and remove existing cold water tank. (Tank distorted) Supply and fit replacement 50 gallon cold water tank (site tank on existing platform). Connect to existing outlets and cold main.

Price : £514 + VAT (Labour and materials) ==================================================================

Comments gratefully received by an elderly (?) man, for whom £600 represents in excess of three week's state pension, and wonders if this is a rip-off. Thinking of trying to do it myself, but I (or SWMBO will not))cannot permit no water supply for more than a day, and I would have to buy relevent tools anyway. I know how to do it, but...

Thanks in advance

GOG

[polly filler]

He's ripping you off mate, only half days work, and that's taking it steady. would have said £200 nearer the mark, even thats giving him a good mark up

[Bob Eager]

3 years ago, we had a 25 gallon tank replaced. New platform, ball valve, isolating valve, alter existing piping to fit. Otherwise the same job.

Cost us £174.00 inclusive of VAT.

[A.Lee]

£300 or less would be about right I think. Materials £100-150, half a day at most fitting. I'm in the Midlands and would charge £100 + materials for such a change.

Alan.

[Andy Burns]

A 50 gallon "coffin" tank is £142+VAT from screwfix (maybe cheaper from a plumbers merchant) that comes with the ballvalve and tank connector, so he shouldn't need too many other fittings.

Therefore £370+VAT is for labour, sounds on the high side to me, unless access is particularly awkward - if the old tank is metal he might be banking on weighing it in at a scrappie too.

[Mr Pounder]

Seems extortionate for at the most four hours work. Two hours if he only has to reconnect.

[Invisible Man]

In the absence of any complications the estimate appears excessive. Does the tank really need replacing?

I paid substantially less than that in Essex a couple of years back and I had the complication of a small hatch with little headroom above. Ended up with 2 smaller tanks in series.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The labour cost would depend on whether the old tank is/has to be removed. The only way may be by cutting it up. If it can be left or removed easily, it sounds rather high to me.

[Invisible Man]

All the properties I have owned have either still had the original tank or otherwise it had been replaced and the old one left in the loft area. Something like a chalet bungalow might be more problematical.

Faced with a £600 quote I might consider giving up the tank.

[tim....]

Faced with a 600 pound quote for few hours work- I'd be getting another quote.

You don't need plumber for this. A "Dave" could do it.

tim

[gordon grant]

So many thanks for all that input.

The fellow, it seems, charges 'by the day' £200. Perhaps for a dripping tap?. I've given him his marching orders; plus I've advised the 'friend of my wife' who recommended him, about this. Lost some business has he, I suspect ( and hope)?!

What tools do I require )OK?, I did attend an evening class on 'home improvement', but that was years ago. So I need: a pipe bending tool plus an equation to use it; Some source of heat. Plus trying it out several times. Plus a knowledge of the more recent regulations. It's not rocket science, of course - but the regs are designed to make it tricky for the amateur.

ATB

GOG

[gordon grant]

ATB

GOG

[The Medway Handyman]

That is actually common practice for plumbers, charging for a minimum one day. Maybe thats why I get lots of small plumbing jobs?

[Mr Pounder]

Don't try it with your limited knowledge. And I say that with respects. You are very likely to end up with mess. Get a few more quotes.

[newshound]

To be honest, if you need to ask about tools, then I don't think you should be tackling it. Lofts are dark, dusty, and restricted: not nice places to work. You've got the potential to do some damage or hurt yourself. It will take you at least five times as long as someone who has done it a few times before, and you may still have to get someone in to sort out leaks, etc.

As others have said, should only take a plumber or decent "Dave" a couple of hours.

[Andy Burns]

Not necessarily, cheaper to use fittings for a one off job, if you're worried about normal elbows being too restrictive, as the reason for thinking about pipe bending, you can get swept elbows, or a spring is cheap.

Again, not necessarily.

You have choice of using copper pipe (assume the original is copper?) with either soldered, compression or push-fit fittings, alternatively you could use plastic pipe.

You need to work out whether you need to replace or extend pipework by significant amounts (probably not)

Also what type, size of tank can you easily get into the loft, the "coffin" one might be easier, but then it might not fit your existing platform.

how many cold water outlets from the tank are required, usually just one, unless you have a power shower, in which case you might have a separate one for that.

[Invisible Man]

Ours has separate ones for cold water, hot water and central heating header tank.

I suspect there could be any earthing implications.

Lofts are horrible places to work. It will be necessary to bale or tip the remains of the old tank out. Depending on what it is made of and where it has to go the old tank could be too heavy to move on your own.

At least with tight fitting lid and bug filter on the overflow the water should be a bit cleaner.

[Geo]

Out of interest - what is wrong with the tank?

[Andrew Gabriel]

If you look at the pressure drop figures for gas plumbing, there's not a large difference between a fitting elbow and a bent pipe. If you have a section of pipework which needs loads of bends, doing that in the next size pipe upwards will make more difference than using bent pipework.

The shower cold water outlet should be lower down the tank than the outlet to the hot water system, so that if the tank runs out whilst having a shower, the shower first goes cold when the hot supply fails, rather than going boiling hot because the cold supply fails.

[Andy Burns]

I wasn't really suggesting it was necessary to use swept bends rather than elbows, but just mentioning it in case the O/P was considering the difference.

That said, when fitting a decent shower pump, I did use dedicated swept

22mm runs into the pump and the runs to the shower in swept 15mm (with a couple of feet of 22mm at the start of the run) can't be sure how much it helped of course, but I think it helped keep it quieter.