Tribune Hot Water Cyclinder ????

[Keyser Sose]

Hi, Can anyone give me any info about the Tribune Premier TP150B hot water cyclinder please? It came fitted to my house (David Wilson c1997). It has a maze of pipes coming out of the top and I haven't a clue which one does what!!! I want to change my Kitchen and utility room sinks and need to switch off the hot water from the cyclinder. Anyone got a pdf of the installation instructions perhaps? Seraching on the internet reveals nothing. Indirect, direct, vented, unvented? Whats that all about? Plumbing is new to me !!!!

If there isn't a valve to stop the water coming from the cyclinder then I'll have to freeze the HW pipe under the sinks and fit a 15mm isdolation inline valve. Does this freezing work OK?

Thanks, Steve

[Christian McArdle]

Turn off your main stopcock. If the hot water stops flowing immediately, you have mains pressure. Not only that, you have stopped the water, so get to work!

Freezing does work, but I'm not sure I'd use it for planning work without knowing an alternative more secure method of stopping the supply.

Christian.

[Keyser Sose]

What do you mean? I thought the hot water wasn't under mains pressure? Is your reasoning then to turn off the cold water mains and simply empty the hot water cyclinder by running the hot water system dry? Te hot water cylinder can't then fill back up and hence I can work on the hot water system? Good advice about the freezing. Steve

[Christian McArdle]

You said you didn't know if it was mains pressure or not.

Nope. Just that if it is mains pressure, then turning off the stop c*ck will stop the flow.

My guess is that a Tribune Premier TP150B is actually these days a Santon Premier Plus PP150B. Sounds like a company buy out and rebranding to me, but I might be wrong. It's just that the range name and part number are very close.

Christian.

[Christian McArdle]

Although, having said that, Range do a "Tribune" cylinder, so it might be one of these. It is also unvented.

Christian.

[Keyser Sose]

Christian, Thanks for your help. However, I don't understand how turning off the cold water mains will stop the flow of the hot water? Surely the hot water would continue to flow until the cyclinder ran dry if you shut off the cols mains? Or, does the pressure of the mains itself act as the power to shove out the hot water? That would make some sense since my two showers in the house are very powerful with almsot no head of water to speak of and I cannot find any power shower pumps. Could the mains pressure be what makes my showers so powerful perhaps? What do you reckon? thanks, steve

[Jim Alexander]

Think I might have one of these, vitreous lined steel cylinder with magnesium sacrificial anode. Been knocked out of market by stainless steel yhank goodness, not one of my better buys. I sympathise.

The maze of pipes coming out the top is characteristic. I have the installation and service manual. Is your email address pukka?

Jim A

[Keyser Sose]

Hi Jim, [e-mail]

Thanks mate, Steve

[Christian McArdle]

Indeed.

Yes. That is exactly the situation.

Note that you should have your unvented cylinder serviced once a year. An unmaintained unvented cylinder can be very dangerous.

Christian.

[Keyser Sose]

Many thanks for your kind help Christian. This is making some sense to me now !! Also, I would never have thought that one would need to have the cylinder serviced. I wonder what they do when servicing? Steve

[Jim Alexander]

OK, while I get round to scanning the docs first a caution. This is probably an unvented system and as such is a challenge to someone new to plumbing.

If it's the product I think it is the two central pipes, possibly through a blue cover is the heating loop from the boiler. Watchit as hot water will piss out if you disconnect.

You should have a feed going through an assembly containing a pressure gauge and a red knob connecting into the tank top central rear assuming normal orientation. That is the cold inlet. That pipe may/should have a stop tap on it. If so turn it off and run your hot water until it stops. That's it. If you don't have a tap there turn off the cold mains stopcock and run the hot water until it stops. That's it. These systems are not normally fitted with isolation on the hot side.

Consider getting a proper safety check from an approved plumber. Some people will tell you its mandatory to get an annual check.

HTH

Jim A

[Christian McArdle]

They check that the pressure and temperature safety release valves work properly. They check that the indirect coil has a working cut off safety valve. They check that any immersion heaters have a working overheat cutout. They either reestablish the air bubble or check the expansion vessel, depending on design.

Christian.

[Christian McArdle]

I should mention that there will be some flow until the air bubble or expansion vessel de-pressurises, but it will soon stop.

Christian.