I have a question about British houses

Ellie83

I have an update

You were right, the tank feeds all taps bar the cold water in the kitchen, which is direct from the mains.

Now, I still don't know what "type" of tank it is. Next to my question about the whereabout of the feed and expansion tank (remember the HBR only mentioned one tank), the plumber wrote: ALL ARG OPEN VENTED SYSTEMS. Now I can't really call him, as the vendor paid for the visit and I don't want to sound like I am picking at tiny details

My only concern is, I can't remember seeing any plastic pipes coming out from under the eves and a closer look on Google street doesn't reveal any either. The only one I can see is the one on the ground floor, next to where the boiler is installed.

Sorry for all the questions, but I like understanding things, even if it won't change much in the grand scheme of things...

FireWyrm

Ellie83 wrote: »

I have an update

You were right, the tank feeds all taps bar the cold water in the kitchen, which is direct from the mains.

Now, I still don't know what "type" of tank it is. Next to my question about the whereabout of the feed and expansion tank (remember the HBR only mentioned one tank), the plumber wrote: ALL ARG OPEN VENTED SYSTEMS. Now I can't really call him, as the vendor paid for the visit and I don't want to sound like I am picking at tiny details

My only concern is, I can't remember seeing any plastic pipes coming out from under the eves and a closer look on Google street doesn't reveal any either. The only one I can see is the one on the ground floor, next to where the boiler is installed.

Sorry for all the questions, but I like understanding things, even if it won't change much in the grand scheme of things...

The plastic pipe might be hard to spot...ours was partially hidden by the line of the eves.

Feel free to ring the plumber. You are the buyer and it's your job to know what you are buying. Caveat Emptor applies. Feel free to ask as many inane questions as you want. If you need to go back and look around the house, do so. If you still cant find the overflow pipe, ask the vendor to point it out. Bring a ladder and poke your head up in the loft if you want to. Dont be shy.

Corelli

I was told that there is a historical reason for this: During the time of the Napoleonic wars it was feared that an invading French force would set fire to houses, thus it was law that every house had to have a tank of water in the loft. I googled to find an explanatory link and this was the only website I could find that mentioned such a theory. http://intheboatshed.net/2008/07/08/was-dr-who-in-paris-in-the-19th-century/ (scroll down to the bottom of the page)

My father was an architect so I've picked up little snippets of building lore as I grew up. Now I wonder about the truth of this. If it is true why is it not wider published? Or maybe my googling needs refining.

DizzyDasher

thistledome wrote: »

From pioneers of the industrial age to laughing stock of the world in just over 100 years :mad:

Sorry OP , just having a quick rant.

Well, that is true I guess: but also we seem to have a completely different attitude to old houses. A friend of a friend who is Spanish has a very good job and bought a beautiful Georgian house with his girlfrield. His Dad was appalled that he bought something old (in Spanish mind = rubbish) rather than a nice modern place.

If you go to an old house in one of these countries I suspect their plumbing would be as ad hoc as ours.

Ours works fine, but when we moved in we noticed one of the pipes in the loft held up at an angle with string from the rafters, and a note from the previous owners that it was essential not to remove the string! V. Heath Robinson. But to be fair it is a nearly 30 year old boiler, and presumably a similar age system, and still working fine - so you can expect the odd rough edge!

FireWyrm

Corelli wrote: »

I was told that there is a historical reason for this: During the time of the Napoleonic wars it was feared that an invading French force would set fire to houses, thus it was law that every house had to have a tank of water in the loft. I googled to find an explanatory link and this was the only website I could find that mentioned such a theory. http://intheboatshed.net/2008/07/08/was-dr-who-in-paris-in-the-19th-century/ (scroll down to the bottom of the page)

My father was an architect so I've picked up little snippets of building lore as I grew up. Now I wonder about the truth of this. If it is true why is it not wider published? Or maybe my googling needs refining.

You do know the OP is French right? :rotfl::eek:

Corelli

FireWyrm wrote: »

You do know the OP is French right? :rotfl::eek:

HA! I didn't. How appropriate. OP would be safe from fire in an English house because of the activities of our ancestors on both sides of the chanel. I don't think my posting was offensive, was it? It certainly wasn't meant to be.

.... Not that having tanks of water making us have feeble showers seems to have ever saved anyone's house from burning down ... quite possibly I need correcting on this too .:rotfl:

Ellie83

FireWyrm wrote: »

The plastic pipe might be hard to spot...ours was partially hidden by the line of the eves.

Feel free to ring the plumber. You are the buyer and it's your job to know what you are buying. Caveat Emptor applies. Feel free to ask as many inane questions as you want. If you need to go back and look around the house, do so. If you still cant find the overflow pipe, ask the vendor to point it out. Bring a ladder and poke your head up in the loft if you want to. Dont be shy.

I have requested another viewing. It's just I always feel a bit guilty disrupting people in their homes. But as hubby always says: we're about to give them £XXXXXX, so they can be accommodating

Ellie83

FireWyrm wrote: »

You do know the OP is French right? :rotfl::eek:

Corelli wrote: »

HA! I didn't. How appropriate. OP would be safe from fire in an English house because of the activities of our ancestors on both sides of the chanel. I don't think my posting was offensive, was it? It certainly wasn't meant to be.

.... Not that having tanks of water making us have feeble showers seems to have ever saved anyone's house from burning down ... quite possibly I need correcting on this too .:rotfl:

:rotfl: HAHA, don't worry, it takes much more than for me to be offended. It's actually quite funny: if my ancestors could talk I wonder what they would say :rotfl:

Or maybe I am a spy trying to work out the dark system of British cold water tanks

ed110220

I don't think this system, though a little oldfashioned, is anything to worry about. I have it in my loft, but I think it's quite unusual for a relatively modern house.

Does anyone know though what the idea of it was? It seems like an unnecessarily complicated system. Someone told me that it was to prevent dirty water being sucked back into the mains supply if there was a sudden loss of mains pressure, but unless you had a hose on the tap I can't see how that would happen, except from the garden which typically isn't supplied from a header tank.

FireWyrm

Ellie83 wrote: »

:rotfl: HAHA, don't worry, it takes much more than for me to be offended. It's actually quite funny: if my ancestors could talk I wonder what they would say :rotfl:

Or maybe I am a spy trying to work out the dark system of British cold water tanks

Mon dieu? :cool: