Replacing cold water tank - worth it?

Okey00001

Hello,
Is it worth replacing the old tank with a new water tank in the loft?
The tank is plastic without a loose lid. It is old, at least 40 years old. I noticed debris in the water at the bottom. Although the water comes out clean, it is not a nice thought that I use water from this tank for washing and brushing teeth.
We already have a new boiler system so a combi-boiler is out of the question and thought it might be worth replacing the water tank.
Will it also increase the value of the house?

Le_Kirk

The take off point for the water for washing your teeth is usually above the bottom (up to and inch) so that any debris sits on the bottom and water is taken out above it. A generic diagram is attached, note the height of the outlet pies above the bottom.

Okey00001

Thank you.  So if my water tank has all those parts as shown on your diagram it is not worth to replace it, The debris at the bottom is not a problem because the water used for washing is above it?  The plastic is an old type of plastic with rusty fittings at the bottom. I think the tank must be at 1970s.

grumbler

No chance will it add even 1p to the price of the house.

You are likely to have problems with getting a new big tank to the loft.

There is no point in replacing plastic with plastic only because of the age and some dirt at the bottom. It's much easier to empty it and clean. If you can't find a proper lid for it just use a sheet of plastic film/membrane. Or polycarbonate.

Le_Kirk

Okey00001 said:

Thank you.  So if my water tank has all those parts as shown on your diagram it is not worth to replace it, The debris at the bottom is not a problem because the water used for washing is above it?  The plastic is an old type of plastic with rusty fittings at the bottom. I think the tank must be at 1970s.

Your tank may have more or fewer of those outlets.  If it's not leaking, leave well alone.

stator

I replaced my old plastic water tank with a nice new tank. I did it because my old tank was really dirty, the fixings were rusty and the ballcock valve was failed. Also I wanted to move the tank to a new location.

I think it is definitely worth it, not least because the new tank is compliant with the byelaws and the old tank wasn't.

In theory an old tank might have insects flying in the overflow point and spreading diseases like legionnaires disease

Hermione_Granger

stator said:

In theory an old tank might have insects flying in the overflow point and spreading diseases like legionnaires disease

It would be extremely unlikely to find enough legionella bacteria in a household cold water tank for there to be a problem and even more unlikely to catch the disease from an insect.
Legoinnaires is caught by inhaling the bacteria and not from it being introduced into the body through the skin by way of an insect bite.

chrisw

There is also a frequent flow of water into and out of the tank. So any dirt in the bottom will at least be 'clean' dirt. It really could do with a lid of some sort on it though.

greyteam1959

I was always under the impression that the cold water supply inwin a house was always from the rising main ??
The cold water in the storage tank is to feed the hot water cylinder.
So unless you are drinking hot water you will be drinking water direct from the mains without it entering your open cruddy tank ??
I could of course be wrong.

grumbler

greyteam1959 said:

I was always under the impression that the cold water supply inwin a house was always from the rising main ??

In kitchens only.

Okey00001

stator said:

I think it is definitely worth it, not least because the new tank is compliant with the byelaws and the old tank wasn't.

What are the new cold water tank/system byelaws? If I were selling the house, would they check the water system in the loft?

Thank you for your comments