Water Tank

dwaned

Are they really required?
from what I can see mine is supplying my immersion tank and toilet. Will it damage the immersion if there was a direct supply from the mains? Also might be ( guessing ) supplying the expansion tank for the heating.

Thanks in advance

Pete67

DO NOT connect a standard hot water cylinder directly to the mains. It will burst.

It is possible to have an unvented cylinder installed which is supplied directly from the mains but it is a specialist job and requires a much stronger cylinder to withstand the higher mains pressure, and additional safety devices to prevent it exploding in the event of a fault.

dwaned

Thanks Pete67... Thats why I asked Better to be sure.

Ah well, will have to find some way of insulating the pipes and tank.

Thanks again.

Joey the lips

Its also against building regulations to by pass the tank in the attic this way meaning it will most likely invalidate your house insurence. I have seen this done when systems are pressurised and despite the fact they are sealed it caused no end of grief to do away with the storage tank. I dont know if the regulations changed recently on this but the irony with pressurised systems is you actually end up with a bigger tank out your back just to move the attic one.

heinbloed

The tank's content (the thermal energy storing water) does not have to be pressurised to run a pressurised water system.
But the pipes passing through the tank - the heat exchangers - can be pressurised, provided they are designed for the purpose.

Joey the lips wrote:

Its also against building regulations to by pass the tank in the attic this way meaning it will most likely invalidate your house insurence.

This is simply not true.
And was never so.

I have the building regulations (including the guidelines) here in front of me, so I'm sure about this.



@ Joey the lips: where did you hear this ?

I dont know if the regulations changed recently on this ...

No, they did not change, see above.

heinbloed

@ the OP:

About the water tank:

Are they really required?

Absolutly not. They are in fact banned in most EU countries, are not allowed for drinking water purpose.
Only Ireland and the UK allow them, the UK is phasing them out. Ireland is about 100 years behind the min. hygene requirements for drinking water.
A hopeless case.

Will it damage the immersion if there was a direct supply from the mains?

Absolutly not. But it might demage the cylinder if this is not designed for pressurised water.

As Pete67 said: the old fashioned Irish standard copper tin is very likely not suitable to hold the pressure from the main water pipe.

But the coils , the heat exchangers running through the cylinder (through the copper tin) might be suitable to hold the pressure.
Check this out with the manufacturer. Ask for the product data sheet.

dwaned

Thanks for that heinbloed, some conflicting information but definitely worth looking further into. My tank is outdoors on a flat roof extension and not only is it an eyesore but also prone to freezing. To get rid of it would really be a plus.

Joey the lips

If i am wrong on by-passing the tank i apologise. I tried to do this on a development with dcc when i was installing electric myson boilers and this is what i was told.

I will have a gander of the regulations on moday.

Plombier

Joey

I think they are bye-laws with dcc.

We should try and find out which trumps which bye-laws or building regs.

Plombier

heinbloed

Here some samples of energy efficient cylinders suitable for pressurised water, straight from the main pipe:

http://www.topten.eu/english/building_components/electric_water_heaters.html

There are many more out there.

For modern installations a secondary heat exchanger/coil (for example for the usage of solar thermal energy or stove with water connection next to the CH boiler) should be considered.

Joey the lips

Plombier wrote: »

Joey

I think they are bye-laws with dcc.

We should try and find out which trumps which bye-laws or building regs.

Plombier

That would make sense. Thanks. I will check both.

JohnnieK

Building regs are by far stronger. BUT in this country local authority's are a law on to them selves. They would not get away with it in any other country but for some reason here they do. Had a lot of problems with DCC on a housing development I worked on with a previous employer, they just wanted stuff done there way because some over paid suit wanted it that way. The boss quoted building regs but he was just Pi**ing against the wind.