WTB: Hot Water Cylinder on a Saturday morning

[Richard Conway]

Hi all,

Found that the hot water cylinder was leaking earlier this week and am planning to replace tomorrow. I need an indirect combination hot/cold one with ideally a 150/40 litre split. I was going to order off BES for £196 but although they offer Saturday delivery they don't guarantee it will arrive (my fault for not ordering earlier in the week!)

I suspect I won't get anywhere near as cheap as this from the sheds but thought I'd ask in case anyone knew of anywhere off the top of their heads worth checking.

On another note, has anyone attempted having a standard cylinder and separate cold water tank both in the loft? What sort of weight is a 25 gallon tank and would it be fairly easy to support? The combi cylinder is going next to the end wall and I was wondering if it would be possible to use a standard cylinder instead and put a tank above half supported by brackets/battens on the wall and timber legs. Might be a bit dodgy though!

Anyways, any help or advice muchly appreciated.

Richard.

[Chris Bacon]

10LBS/gallon. 250LBS.

Yes, but you could probably do with a pair of these, linked.

[John]

Cannot answer your question on the cylinder, but water weighs 10 pounds a gallon, obviously you also need to allow for the weight of the tank.

Cheers

John

[Richard Conway]

Well we currently have the combi tank which only holds 40l (about 9 gallons) and this doesn't cause to much problems - just about fills a bath when mixed with cold and we don't have too many baths anyway (we have showers, before someone makes a wisecrack!)

I figure it would be cheaper to put a seperate cylinder and tank in, the extra 16 gallons will make bath filling a bit better and next time something goes wrong I'll only have one thing to replace!

[Christian McArdle]

If your mains is good flow and pressure, I wouldn't fit a gravity fed system. It may be cheaper, but it is incapable of running a shower without a noisy pump. It also solves the loft mounting problem, as there is no heavy cold cistern required.

Christian.

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

Pretty sure your local B&Q warehouse will have these.

sponix

[Richard Conway]

I knew this would happen :)

I would very much like to have mains hot water but we are hoping to move in the next 2-3 years and can't really justify the expense. We were first time buyers and had to buy a house we didn't really want just to get on the ladder, so any money we spend on it needs to be either maintenance or things that will increase the value for when we sell.

Saying that, we are relatively happy with the shower as it is - even with no pump.

[John Rumm]

Yup, used to have just this setup. The Cylinder sat on the floor on a offcut of old kitchen worktop, and the cold tank sat on a platform above it made from some 4x2" studwork on one side, and supported on the roof purlin the other.

Weight including the tank and other gubbins is likely to be 135kg ish (The water alone is getting on for 115kg)

Would pronanly be fine if you fix it firmly to the wall, and then give it legs at the front.

[Richard Conway]

I was originally thinking of some sort of angle-iron support, but how about instead using two or three 4x2" vertical battens secured to the wall (would plugs and screws be sufficient or would I need some kind of rawlbolt type things?) and then a horizontal piece across the top.

[Malcolm]

Try contacting a local plumbing supply centre. I've just replaced the hot water cylinder (450 x 900 indirect) which cost £97 + VAT making it cheaper than most other retailers such as the plumbcentre, B&Q and the like. My local suppliers also offered to accept all the unused fittings back for refund, so the total for a new cylinder, HP ballcock and float, few meters of copper pipe, and just the fittings to do the job came to less than £180. Add the cost of the heating pack from Screwfix and the grand total came to £240 for a fully working system. This was half of the cheapest quote I receive for a local plumber for just the plumbing side !!

Malcolm

Richard C>

[John Rumm]

If you make the uprights long enough then you can spread the load...

Some of it will be taken in shear on the screws (very strong), and some will be in tension on them - not as strong, but still good for 25kg at least per fixing. So I would be tempted to go for:

(side view))

# # | | # | Tank | # | | # | | ###############

[Richard Conway]

Looks good, although I was thinking that rather than the bracing I would have two or three legs on the other side of the plinth going down to a joist that spans a supporting wall.

[Christian McArdle]

That's probably safest. I'd be very wary of supporting close on 150kg at the top of a (usually badly built) firebreak wall in a loft space. The loading has a large sideways element in it, too. If it was straight down, it would probably give the wall greater stability.

Christian.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That depends entirely on the 'head' from the header tank.

[Ed Sirett]

Most independent plumbers' merchants would happily sell you a cylinder on Sat am. However you are likely to have to get them to order it in for you unless they are a very large shop.

There is no reason why you could not build a strong shelf (3/4" ply and

4x2 timber) and put a standard 25/40 gal cistern on top and a bog standard (36" or 42"x18" HWC below. This may actually be cheaper than the combi cylinder.

[John Rumm]

Even better... (I think that is what I suggested in the first place ;-)

[Doctor Drivel]

Exactly. Do you think they will give him planning permission to install a

100 foot water tower in the garden?

Duh!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You can get a delightful high flow rate shower with the head that nearly any house can provide for a gravity fed system. Provided you take care with the pipe runs, sizing and installation. Which of course rules out your bodged plumbing.

Any fool can provide a high pressure dribble of warm water. That's why electric showers sell.

How often does your nurse allow you to wash?

[Doctor Drivel]

And have a water bill through the roof, wasting a valuable resource. Duh! Stick to the 100 foot tower. Best of luck.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

All your hare brained schemes waste the most valuable resource of all - money.