My old (~20+ yrs) copper hot water tank is heated by pipes from the back-boiler of the coal fire and by an electric immersion heater.
The electric immersion heater has failed and my attempt at removing it with a ring-type spanner has only resulted in some distortion of the tank.
Someone I know in the trade has offered me a second-hand tank in exchange, though fairly modern ie with the insulation moulded on.
Is it a good offer?
I've still got to get the tank fitted. Is it fairly straightforward (ie should I have a go myself)? Would I have to drain the central heating (also driven by the back-boiler)?
Unless you can be sure of the condition of the coil and the inside of the cylinder then I would say steer clear of it and put a new replacement in.
The fitting of the new cylinder is not likely to be straightforward as most of the pipework would probably have to be altered to suit the positions of the tappings.
It will be necessary to drain down the heating to below the primary coil return.
Personally I'd give it a go, but next time invest in one of these
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life a lot easier, also keep the tank full of water until you have loosened the heater, this will give it a lot more strength than having it empty. (Sorry if you did do it this way but the only time I've managed to distort a tank was when it was empty.)
As this is a DIY group here is a tale of mine from last year. It all started when a friend of mine was clearing out an old dentists surgery, he found 3 tools that looked as though they had been used for hacking out bits of teeth, A small triangular shaped cutting edge with
3mm sides and quite a sturdy handle, all made out of one piece of stainless steel.. Anyway knowing my interest in odd tools he gave them to me.
A week later I was changing an emmersion heater for my dad and as I unscrewed it, using the spanner mentioned above, it screamed, that nice brass on brass scream that once heard never forgotten. When it finally came out I could see why, it had been cross threaded when fitted and packed with a gasket of Bosswhite, or similar. The new one totally refused to screw back in. Then "PING" little thought balloon reminded me of the dentists tools. It took half an hour but I managed to cut and reform the damaged thread in the top of the tank!! Great fun, hope I never have to do one again................
Yes. If we have a fire the hot water tank gets hot. Two big pipes connecting from the fire to the tank.
There is a large cold water header tank more or less directly above and connected to the hot water tank and a small header tank in the loft connected to the central heating.
An arrangement like that was quite common - a back boiler/fire with unpumped circulation but NO coil - the water in circulation was from the cylinder itself (direct).
I know we're going OT, but I inherited some tools from my wife's aunt; surgeons tools ! A beautiful miniature paint scraper - you know the sort with a vaguely heart shaped blade at right angles to the shaft. Really good for digging paint out of mouldings. Used originally for scraping a bone in an operation - why I don't know. And then there's a hole saw - for going through the skull.
I think that's what my parents' old house had. If you got the fire hot enough the whole system would knock as the water boiled. It literally was a back-boiler too. This one is fairly modern (1980's) and the fire has a water jacket surround, not just a back-boiler. It is connected a pump for central heating and also to the hot water tank through separate pipes.
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