Hot Water Disaster/New System Pondering

alipops1986

Dear All,

On Thursday night our boiler stopped working properly, so we turned on our immersion heater. However, the thermostat failed, as a result our hot water tank in the loft burst and has pretty much flooded half of our upstairs from the roof down. [We're a 4 bed detached house if that is important]. This was particularly frightening, as when we woke up our landing was filled with steam, and our little boy's room had hot, steaming water running down the wall near his bed.

Currently, insurance have been informed, carpets ripped out where necessary and now starting the lengthy drying out process before redecoration/new carpets/new loft insulation. We currently have cold water & heating.

We've spoken to our plumber and there appear to be two options: 1. New water tank in loft, fix the thermostat on the immersion heater.
or
2. Have a new pressurised system fitted.


We were saving for a new bathroom, so have savings to use, so really cost isn't a potential issue. What would people suggest? After the whole incident, i'm learning towards a pressurised system, as ours is clearly 10-15 years old, we've lived here 3 years and the boiler, although now fixed, has been playing up of late. Should we use this chance as an opportunity to upgrade the whole system, inc boiler?

Any thoughts/points to consider are welcomed.

Thanks,
Alipops x

Hoploz

What does the plumber say caused the problem? You seem to have identified several things which appear to have gone wrong ... Boiler, thermostat, burst tank. It'll depend whether the whole system needs replacing or whether parts can be replaced.

I'm going to get my system replaced with a pressurised hot water system shortly, main reason for me is my house is currently using two separate heating and water systems and I want them combined. We are going to re-use one of the existing boilers, though. Could this be an option for you? I'm upgrading mainly because I have three bathrooms to renovate as well, so rather than buying three separate showers with pumps I'm replacing the system with mains fed so the cost difference will be negligible for the new hot water system.

Bear in mind the insurance will want quotes for repairing the existing system, so you'll be paying only the difference. It could be a good opportunity.

Owain_Moneysaver

All new/replacement immersion heaters must have thermostats with a secondary safety cut-out which has to be manually reset when it trips.

I would surmise it was actually a cold water tank in the loft which became filled with hot water through the expansion pipe and then melted, rather than it actually burst.

You were actually quite lucky; a baby died after this happened.

If you do have an unvented hot water system fitted then this must be done by a plumber with an unvented hot water certificate, and it must also have an annual safety inspection.

alipops1986

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

All new/replacement immersion heaters must have thermostats with a secondary safety cut-out which has to be manually reset when it trips.

I would surmise it was actually a cold water tank in the loft which became filled with hot water through the expansion pipe and then melted, rather than it actually burst.

You were actually quite lucky; a baby died after this happened.

This is exactly the situation Owain - however the tank has what effectively looks like a crack down the side of it - sorry for my confusing explanation previously.

The boiler initially wasn't work - it's now been fixed, plumber reckons maybe two years left in it if we're fortunate.

The insurance will only fix the damage caused by the water, not the leak itself - so we'll need to pay to have either a new tank, or the pressurised system. I am wondering if it's worth going for pressurised and having new boiler at the same time?

alipops1986

Hoploz wrote: »

What does the plumber say caused the problem? You seem to have identified several things which appear to have gone wrong ... Boiler, thermostat, burst tank. It'll depend whether the whole system needs replacing or whether parts can be replaced.

I'm going to get my system replaced with a pressurised hot water system shortly, main reason for me is my house is currently using two separate heating and water systems and I want them combined. We are going to re-use one of the existing boilers, though. Could this be an option for you? I'm upgrading mainly because I have three bathrooms to renovate as well, so rather than buying three separate showers with pumps I'm replacing the system with mains fed so the cost difference will be negligible for the new hot water system.

Bear in mind the insurance will want quotes for repairing the existing system, so you'll be paying only the difference. It could be a good opportunity.

Plumber said thermostat caused the issue, it didn't switch off when it should have. We only used the immersion heater, because the boiler was awaiting a part to be fitted so wasn't in use - boiler has now been sorted.

Insurance will only pay for the damage caused by the water, not to repair the leak itself. But, I am wondering whether this would be a good opportunity to go for pressurised system and new boiler. Insurance will cover the new insulation needed in loft area, x3 carpets & lots of redecoration!

Owain_Moneysaver

Before considering unvented you need to check your mains pressure and flow, as these will limit what is available from an unvented cylinder. If they're inadequate you'd be better sticking with a vented cylinder and a cold water header tank.

Unvented cylinders cost a lot more than vented ones. If you want a new cylinder and want to stick with vented, get one with a rapid recovery hot water coil as this will make best use of your new boiler when you get it (but you wouldn't need a new boiler immediately).