Leaking Hot Water Cylinder

theShire

Hi all,
Just a quick question about my Hot Water Cylinder. I may need a new one but hoping i don't.
I've got a leak from the Cylinder where the heating system feeds into it. The leak is not comming from the heating pipes, it's comming from around the connection on the tank.
I've attached a picture to show where my leak is.

Does this mean that I need a new Cylinder?

At the moment I've turned off the feed from the tank in the attic and the leak is barely noticeable, this just means that i've got nothing comming from my Hot Taps at the moment, which i can do without for the time being.

Any ideas on how much for a new Cylinder and where I can get one reasonably cheap?

Thanks

Sparkpea

Can u post an actual pic of your leak so I can tell u if I think it can be repaired? I've a sneaking suspicion it's a sidewinder u may have

ntpm

You might get away with draining down the heating system and disconnecting and re-doing the fitting..... plumber will need to see it to know.

Note: The leak might be from the heating system.
This water supply would be from the smaller Feed tank in the attic ( if open vented system) or from a filling loop/ mains pressure reducer valve if its a selaed system.
So you may need to check out the heating system.

Depending on age of cylinder and condition of fitting or if the cylinder skin was strained when the fitting was put on then the cylinder will have to be replaced.

Shop round for quotes on materials and labour.
Ask for replacement of cylinder also allow for new immersion heater and fittings.
Now is the time to maybe consider a larger cylinder depending on your needs... labour cost should be about the same.

theShire

Sparkpea wrote: »

Can u post an actual pic of your leak so I can tell u if I think it can be repaired? I've a sneaking suspicion it's a sidewinder u may have

I've highlighted whereabouts the water is comming from in red.

Sorry about the pic, only have my camera phone to get it.

theShire

ntpm wrote: »

You might get away with draining down the heating system and disconnecting and re-doing the fitting..... plumber will need to see it to know.

I'm pretty sure it's not the Heating system that's leaking.
I was just hoping to not have to replace the cylinder

Sorry, meant to reply on the age of the Cylinder.
The house was built around 2001/2002 so Cylinder isn't more than 8/9years.
Would it be likely for the cylinder to need replacing a this age?

Sparkpea

it looks to me like its the heating pipe also, well the fitting where the heating pipe goes into the tank. if the heating is drained down and the female straight is taken off and resealed with flex and jointing paste it will hopefully fix the problem. though if u think its not this u may be better taking the fitting off anyway to give u a better look

worth a try before replacing the tank

theShire

Thanks lads,

would my best bet be to get a plumber in?

Never drained the heating system but i'm assuming the drain would be close to the boiler as there's no sign of any connectors to drain near the Cylinder.

Sparkpea

likely, unless theres a drain off from a radiator/radiator valve

like this for example

it looks like the plumber has used PTFE tape around the fittings which is something i personally wouldnt use on the threads of a cylinder and thats why I use flex&jointing

theShire

No sign of a drain off from any of the radiator valves in the house.

I can see about replacing the PTFE tape when/if i give draining the system a go.

But as you said, it's probably worth a try.

Will probably be the weekend before i can try this anyhow.

Cheers for the advice.

ntpm

theShire wrote: »

I've highlighted whereabouts the water is comming from in red.

Sorry about the pic, only have my camera phone to get it.

If it is the fitting then you will need to drain heating system and I would suggest you drain the cylinder as well. If the leak is on the fitting/cylinder weld you could stress it even more when trying to fix it and you could end up with a split and any water in the cylinder would leak as there is a potential to stress the seam of the cylinder/fitting because of the pressure inside- SAFETY FIRST).
Also as you have isolated the Domestic cold feed to the cylinder ensure that the electric immersion is switched off this includes theimmersion timeclock( if fitted).

theShire

Thanks for pointing that out - immersion is manual switch and is off.
Better put some Red tape over it so that the missus doesn't go turning it on while I'm in work.