Cold water tank boiling?

10-10-20

Does anybody know what happened here?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7175037.stm

I'm assuming that the thermostat in the hot water cylinder went faulty, forcing boiling water up the vent pipe and into the cold water tank where it cycled back down to the cylinder only to be forced back up through the vent again?

My CWS is directly above my son's cot and the vent pipe enters it directly.
I'm not overly concerned, just wondering if this is common? Can anybody advise?

JamesM

I would say that it is not common. Not wanting to criticise the parents, but this must have been going on for a while. The immersion must have failed, so the water in the cylinder boiled and started pitching up to the cold water tank in the attic. This must have been going on for quite a while to boil all the water in the tank. Finally the plastic tank softened and burst. I would have though that there would have been an awful lot of bubbling and boiling noises from the cylinder and pipes
In the cases I have heard about, people have found the water in the cold water tank to be warm - having heard bubbling noises - and found that the water from the taps is boiling.
Jim.

bushy...

Just divert the pipe out through the roof ?
Maybe not be too much noise with attic insulation and if the tip of the pipe was near the water level in the tank like it shouldn't be , maybe it'd circulate away happily.

useeme

it would freeze

crosstownk

JamesM wrote: »

Not wanting to criticise the parents, but this must have been going on for a while.

Agreed - except.......

BBC wrote:

Matthew Hardie and his partner, Charlie Haworth, both 22, were spending their first night in the house in Wellington Road with their two children when the accident happened on 19 November 2006.

So I suppose they could be forgiven as they were completely unaware of the problem.

Mellor

JamesM wrote: »

Not wanting to criticise the parents, but this must have been going on for a while. The immersion must have failed, so the water in the cylinder boiled and started pitching up to the cold water tank in the attic.

This isn't what happened, I heard about this at the time.
Anyway, the incident in the op could of happened quick enough. The house didnt have a hot water system like you would expect here. The immersion isn't in a first floor hotpress, its actually in the attic. So if there was a fault, hot water compromise the CWS tank quicker than if it was a regular set up.

This may have happened all in the one night.



But the statement "could affect up to 3.5 million homes" is in bad taste, its going to scare people with no cause.

JamesM

Mellor wrote: »

This isn't what happened, I heard about this at the time.
Anyway, the incident in the op could of happened quick enough. The house didnt have a hot water system like you would expect here. The immersion isn't in a first floor hotpress, its actually in the attic. So if there was a fault, hot water compromise the CWS tank quicker than if it was a regular set up.

This may have happened all in the one night.

But the statement "could affect up to 3.5 million homes" is in bad taste, its going to scare people with no cause.

The child was scalded - so the thermostat failed, and things went on long enough to boil the water in the hot water tank - not just heat it enough to "compromise" the plastic tank - in fact the tank lasted until the water completely boiled.
However the fact that it was their first night meant that they were not used to strange sounds in the house.
Jim.

AngryHippie

Similar one happened to a flat I lived in once. Thermostat was busted, boiled the hot cylinder, which heated the cold, Only copped it when there was steam coming outta the jacks cistern, Feckin ESB bill was astronomical. Landlord wouldn't pay any of it. cnut:mad: