Cost of removing cold water tank?

Maddie88

Hello everyone,

We bought our first house a few months ago which has been used and abused by landlords for many years. One of the things we recently came across is that we have a cold water tank in the attic supplying the bathroom, which is full of dead spiders. It also mucks the pressure up so we can’t get a normal temp on the shower. A look about on the internet tells me it should be possible to get rid of it since we have a decent combi boiler, up does anyone have an idea how much a plumber will charge for that?

Cheers!

grumbler

I guess it's a hot water cylinder as well, not just the tank.

nofoollikeold

1. If it feeds the bathroom, the bath, shower, wash basin and WC may well be fed with cold at low pressure.
2. If you also have a hot water cylinder (unlikely with a combi, but not unknown) then again the bath, shower, wash basin and WC may well be low pressure hot.
3. The cost of removing the cold water storage cistern will depend on:
3a. How much pipework needs to be changed to make all outlets mains pressure hot and cold.
3b. Whether the WC inlet valve need to be changed / altered to allow for high pressure.
3c. Whether any of the taps / shower have to be changed for high pressure. Taps pretty unlikely, shower fairly unlikely.
3d. If you want the tank physically removed from the loft, what it is made of if it needs to be cut up. Galvanised steel is a real pig, and some tanks may contain asbestos.
4. As grumbler has already said, if you have a hot water cylinder, do you want that removed as well?
5. What it costs will also depend on where you are. Central London you are probably looking at around £100 per hour, more rural areas probably 1/2 to 1/3 of that.

JimmyChanga

Do either of you have basic DIY skills? Then you could probably do it yourself.

The simplest would be to cut and marry up the two pipes connected to the tank. Those being the mains feed pipe (15mm) to the outlet (usually 22mm). It's not the cleanest solution but would do the job. This is assuming you don't have a hot water cylinder at all.

Mistral001

Ask a plumber what you need and they will more likely than not tell you need the most expensive option which seems to be getting rid of the tank and changing the whole water supply system.

If the only problems are the shower pressure and spiders in the tank, then it might be less expensive to get those fixed with a shower pump to increase pressure and to clean out the tank and make the lid more secure. The second item can be done yourself and the first is a simple job for any plumber.

TELLIT01

If the tank is full of dead spiders is there actually any water in it? As you have a combi boiler it is likely that tank was the header for the old boiler.