I have a question about British houses

Ellie83

Biggles wrote: »

It probably meant that it's the loft tank (which feeds the hot water cylinder) that is fed by mains water.

All hot taps will be fed from that, at a lower pressure than the cold taps. It is possible that cold taps in the bathroom are also fed from the loft tank, you can soon check by running the hot and cold on and comparing the water pressure.

As mentioned, the water from the loft tank is technically not potable (fit for drinking).

The central heating usually has a separate, smaller tank, as shown in the diagram. You'll probably see a couple of overflow pipes sticking out of the eaves, and another one, probably through the wall, for each toilet.

As far as maintenance is concerned, all you need do is keep an eye on the overflow pipes. If there's a problem, one will be dripping. If it's the loft tank, run plenty of hot water till the valve allows more water into the tank and see if it drips again. If so, you just need to fit a new washer in the valve (cost 2p).

So to sum it up, it is basically cheaper to run than a more modern system: well that has made me happy :T

Ellie83

pinkteapot wrote: »

Just another voice to add that this type of system is extremely common in the UK - may even be the most common setup.

I never give a second thought to our cold water tank. We have one in the loft, then a hot water tank in the airing cupboard. The tank in the loft feeds most of the taps in the house and our electric shower. As a previous poster mentioned, the kitchen tap is off the mains which seems to be the norm. You can tell that's mains-fed as it has much higher water pressure than our other taps.

I've never heard of any maintenance work being needed on a tank. Only thing that happens every 5-10 years is that the ball-!!!! goes. This means that the tank doesn't stop being refilled from the mains when it is full. However, this is nowhere near as serious as it sounds as the tank will have an overflow pipe. If you look on the outside wall of the house, up near the roof, you should see a white plastic pipe sticking out*. If that starts dripping, it's usually because the ball-!!!! has gone. It's a very quick/cheap job to get it replaced.

* You'll probably see a couple of these - it's likely the toilet will have one as well.

So it is then just a question of making sure that there is no water dripping Isn't the internet great? In the space of 24h I learnt some very interesting plumbing facts. Thanks everyone, you've been great

pinkteapot

Yep - and the main point is that if your ball-!!!! goes and the tank keeps filling and filling, it won't flood your loft - it'll just come out of the overflow pipe.

In theory. We had water come through the ceiling of our upstairs hall. Our plumber had a look and the ball-!!!! had gone but the original builders of our house hadn't connected the overflow properly and so the water was just coming out in our loft. *sigh*

If you worry about the tank, just get a plumber round when you move in to check it's in good condition and that the pipework from it to the overflow is sound. Then all you really need to do on an ongoing basis is look out for any dripping from the overflow pipe.

EDIT - just noticed the site's editing of my comments about the ball-c o c k haha. Also known as a ball-valve.

Ellie83

pinkteapot wrote: »

Yep - and the main point is that if your ball-!!!! goes and the tank keeps filling and filling, it won't flood your loft - it'll just come out of the overflow pipe.

In theory. We had water come through the ceiling of our upstairs hall. Our plumber had a look and the ball-!!!! had gone but the original builders of our house hadn't connected the overflow properly and so the water was just coming out in our loft. *sigh*

If you worry about the tank, just get a plumber round when you move in to check it's in good condition and that the pipework from it to the overflow is sound. Then all you really need to do on an ongoing basis is look out for any dripping from the overflow pipe.

EDIT - just noticed the site's editing of my comments about the ball-c o c k haha. Also known as a ball-valve.

Thanks pinkteapot, we will have a gas and electric safety check anyway, so we might as well as a plumber around Better safe than sorry! I have been avidly watching "Help! My house is falling down", and if there is one thing I remember: never ignore a water problem!!!

I just hope I won't have creepy crawlies in there, ugh

seven-day-weekend

I have not had one of these systems in my house for over thirty years! We bought our house in 1976, two years later, my f-i-l, who was a plumber and gas fitter, took the 'tank' system out and installed a gas multipoint heater which supplied all the water straight from the mains ( we had no central heating at the time so it did not have to supply that). When we had the central heating installed, we also had a new combi-boiler to go with it, which supplied all the water from the mains (including a shower) and fed all the radiators. Two years ago we had this changed to a condensing boiler which does the same thing but more efficiently.

In my house in Spain, (which had no central heating), we had a multi-point heater fed from bottled gas.

Our son has a 'tank'system in his flat and never uses it for hot water, he boils a kettle to wash up (hoping to get a dishwasher one day, ) and his electric shower instead of the bath.

I would never want a 'tank'system again. I love having as much hot water as I want, when I want, without having to wait for it to heat up if I have used it all in a bath.My recommendation to the OP is, although your current system won't need tons of maintenance, if you are going to install a boiler I would do it sooner rather than later and get rid of the tank altogether.

RenovationMan

We have a Heat Bank, which is basically a 350L insulated tank that provides our central heating heat and hot water. The hot water is mains pressure drinking water passed through a heat exchanger and is actually drinkable (no Legionaires disease for us!)

The heat bank is currently connected to electricity, gas (condensing boiler) and to a multifuel stove backboiler. It has a solar coil but we're still pondering that one.

FireWyrm

Ellie83 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. It indeed looks like a huge job :eek:

Not necessarily.

I grew up in an ex-council house where this type of gravity fed system is common.

A) we always drank from every cold tap in the house and I assure you, I still have most of my braincells. Keep the lid tight on the tank and nothing will get in and drown. If you see water coming out the side of your house, your ballcock is stuck and it's an urgent matter although not massively expensive to fix at all. Just annoying.

Our plumber took out the old cylinder, re-routed pipes down to the combi in the kitchen and put all back the way it was when he started and it cost me £2K total - inclusive of the boiler which was £800ish. Buy the boiler yourself from Wicks and have someone fit it for you, it's cheaper all told.

shiny76

Ellie83 wrote: »

Do you think a vendor would know such technical details? I suppose I could ask a plumber to come and tell us if we move in.

I'd have thought you could turn water off at mains. Run the kitchen cold tap until it's dry then try running the other taps, if they let more than a little water out then they're serviced by the tank

FireWyrm

shiny76 wrote: »

I'd have thought you could turn water off at mains. Run the kitchen cold tap until it's dry then try running the other taps, if they let more than a little water out then they're serviced by the tank

Umm...we had a 40 gallon and a 20 gallon tank in the loft...that's rather a lot of wasted water to answer a question

DizzyDasher

I never realised these systems were not standard all over Europe growing up. Now I have lots of friends from other countries they are all amazed by how stone age our plumbing systems are in the UK ... but there you go. It is pretty standard, so if you rule out houses on this basis you will be ruling out a lot of houses! We've also been advised that a combi is not really suitable for more than one bathroom or more than 2 floors, so in many old tall/thin Victorian houses you don't have much choice.

One website that I've found very useful in understanding all the different systems is this one. It's not beautifully presented, but the explanations are also pretty clear (and the guy is a boiler engineer so he sees all the pros and cons of all the different systems!)

http://www.miketheboilerman.com/how.htm