Too many header tanks?

[MikeR]

I am thinking of changing my galvanised hot water header tank to a poly tank. Its been in a long time and am worried about eventual corrosion. I have a gas fired central heating system. It incorporates gravity fed hot water and pumped central heating. The tank for the hot water is about 12 inches above the cylinder in the airing cupboard. The smaller separate feed tank for the central heading is in the attic.

When I replace the hot water feed tank I would like to put it in the attic to get a better head of water on the hot taps. Can I somehow incorporate the central heating feed tank into the hot water feed tank.

Is there a simple solution to my multi-tank problem? I don't want to change too much as the system works well and appears to be reasonably efficient.

Thanks

Mike

[Owain]

No, because you want your hot water feed tank to be filled with clean water, and your central heating header tank to be filled with cleanish water containing corrosion inhibitor.

Owain

[Peter Andrews]

No. They are separate for good reson.

Peter

[Paul Andrews]

No. You'll need two tanks still.

You don't have a problem. Either replace the existing galvanised tank with a plastic one in-situ, or replace it with an additional plastic one in the loft. Adding a second tank in the loft (replacing the one above the tank) is easy (space and supports permitting) just a matter of running the pipework into the loft. None of this should affect your heating system at all. Putting the replacement in the loft will improve your non-mains water pressure.

Paul

[Christian McArdle]

You would need to replace your hot water cylinder with a "Primatic" type to share a single water supply. However, doing so is seriously inadvisable, as it makes your radiators rot away by teatime.

Then just put a new tank in the loft and extend the pipework to it. Simple job, although personally I would just stick a pump in. Sticking the tank 2 foot higher in the loft makes the difference between 0.1 bar and 0.16 bar. Putting a pump in is the difference between 0.1 bar and 1.5 bar, which is actually worth doing. Quite frankly, anything less than 1 bar (which would require you to erect a water tower) is pretty useless.

Christian.