Water Expansion Tank in Attic

bloke91

Hi,

When I moved into my 1970's property, I found what I presume to be plastic black cold water expansion tank in my attic.

It’s connected up but not in use. i.e No water in the tank.  Suspect it could be an old legacy tank from before the property was fitted with a combi boiler.

The tank takes up room in what is already a low height attic.  Therefore thinking of having it removed to provide more space and allow me to crawl to that side of the attic to top up the loft insulation.  Currently the tank is stopping me from getting to that side of the attic.

Presume there is no reason not to do this? As an example it wouldn’t be needed again in the future if moved to a heat pump system in 10 years’ time or something.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments.

grumbler

A big tank is  for cold water storage, not hot water 'expansion'.

No point in keeping it, but I always thought that it could be good to have some independent water supply purely for the toilet(s) and the basin - and for this not only the tank is needed, but some plumbing has to be rearranged as well.

Bendy_House

Hi Bloke.

What size is this tank, roughly? Wondering if it is an F&E (expansion) tank, or a CWS - storage. Either way, it ain't being used. So it can be taken out.

The only pipe of concern is the 'inlet', the one that supplies the fill valve. So have a gander at that, check what the valve is doing (it hasn't just been tied up, has it?!), and then trace that pipe to either find an isolating valve, or where the pipe has been cut!

Once you KNOW that there's no water supply to that tank, you can remove it. There is no good reason to keep it.

If it's in good order, you'll very likely even get a £iver or so for it - and it'll be collected for free

GDB2222

A fiver for a plastic tank? Really?

MouldyOldDough

How will it be removed intact?
I assume that it will not fit through your loft hatch?
I have the same problem only mine is steel 

Ebe_Scrooge

MouldyOldDough said:

How will it be removed intact?
I assume that it will not fit through your loft hatch?
I have the same problem only mine is steel 

I had exactly the same thing in my old house, years ago, a big steel tank, redundant after we had a combi fitted.  Once the plumber had done his stuff, I set about it with a hacksaw - quickly realised that was going to take about 3 years to chop it up into small enough bits!  Out with the angle grinder ...... yeah, I was pretty worried about the sparks, but hey, fibreglass isn't flammable :-)  OK, yes, I was very careful to shield anything that wasn't covered in fibreglass wool, and kept a garden sprayer full of water handy to spray everything every few minutes.  Took me a couple of hours, but job was a good-un eventually.

OP, if it's plastic then a hacksaw should make pretty short work of it - once you've confirmed, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that none of the pipework is "live", as alluded to by the previous posters.

Bendy_House

GDB2222 said:

A fiver for a plastic tank? Really?

Ok, a £enner - and that's my final offer.

Section62

Ebe_Scrooge said:

OP, if it's plastic then a hacksaw should make pretty short work of it - once you've confirmed, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that none of the pipework is "live", as alluded to by the previous posters.

A panel saw would be quicker on plastic and there's no (hacksaw) frame to get in the way. It might be possible to just cut the sides and then fold the tank back on itself across the bottom, rather than having to cut all round.

I would check to make sure it is plastic (not coated asbestos) and would think twice before sawing GRP in an enclosed space.  Hopefully there's still a manufacturers label to say exactly what it is.

I also agree about 'beyond any shadow of a doubt' - an empty tank doesn't automatically mean no longer used.  The presence of a combi boiler doesn't mean there couldn't be a vented system operating, and the lack of water inside could just mean there's a heating system which is getting worryingly low on water.

Eldi_Dos

MouldyOldDough said:

How will it be removed intact?
I assume that it will not fit through your loft hatch?
I have the same problem only mine is steel 

Sorry meant to post earlier.

When you come to take tank out a nibbler tool would do the job, can get them in hire shops.

Bendy_House

I'm betting these tanks will come straight down through the hatch as they are, just as they went up.