Dripping hot water tank - engineer coming tomorrow

BargainJunky

Our central heating system is roughly 15 years old and up until last year had been covered by a local company for breakdown and annual services. Unfortunately this company went bust and we could not get anyone else to cover the system due to its age even though it was reliable.

At the weekend I noticed a musty smell coming from the airing cupboard and today have pulled everything out to find water running down from where the thermostat is attached to the hot water tank. There are also brown lines which I assume are from water on another part of the tank but these appear dry.

I have phoned a local central heating company that I had to use last year to service the boiler for them to come and have a look at it. I'm assuming the cylinder needs replacing due to its age but I am also wary that we may need a new complete system. Any tips/advice on what I should be asking the engineer tomorrow would be appreciated. Also a rough idea on cost of a new cylinder or system (4 bed detached house) would be appreciated.

In fact any advice whatsoever as hubby just keeps saying get it done!

unclebulgaria

Well if hubby thinks you can afford it, get it done!
It may not be capput anyway, it may just be a loose compression fitting that needs tightening or re-doing.
As for prices for a new cylinder, we can't guess that as we don't know how big it is or what connections it has for heating etc.

southcoastrgi

as UB says it might just need tightening or a new immersion heater (i guess this is what you mean by thermostat), worst case is you need a new cylinder i can't see why you need a new system

Owain_Moneysaver

A new vented cylinder would typically be around £200-300, more if it's very big or has multiple coils for solar etc. Plus fitting costs etc.

Unvented cylinders like 'megaflo' are rather more expensive.