Question about heating and water systems in house

Clav

I'm not sure if I have a problem or not and wanted some advice about how the heating and fresh water circuits are connected in a house.

I moved into a 40 year old house last year and I have a gas fired central heating system. I have a typical set up with the boiler downstaires, an immersion tank upstaires and 1 water tank in the attic.
The attic tank appears to feed both the taps/shower/bath upstaires and the central heating system.

I have a query about this setup as after recently having my boiler serviced I have convinced myself that the water from the upstaires taps is not as clean as it once was.

I have checked in the attic and the valve on the pipe from the tank to the heating top-up is set to open.

I am nearly positive that valve was previously set to clsed.

Is there a possibility that somehow there is back flow from the heating system into the tank in the attic?

aujopimur

The heating should have its own header tank, it appears your heating system is expanding into the storage tank, if inhibitor has been added to the heating it could be very unhealthy for cooking and drinking.
If the above is the case I'd advise getting it sorted immediatly (use a different plumber).

Clav

Thanks, I'll call someone out asap.

Cicero

aujopimur wrote: »

The heating should have its own header tank, it appears your heating system is expanding into the storage tank, if inhibitor has been added to the heating it could be very unhealthy for cooking and drinking.
If the above is the case I'd advise getting it sorted immediatly (use a different plumber).

I know this thread is a few months old but I wouldn't mind hearing some opinions from experienced plumbers/ gas boiler installers...I've spoken to a few plumbers/RGI's lately who have differing views as to whether the central heating system should have it's own separate water tank in the attic...could I throw out this question for debate again please?

aujopimur

aujopimur wrote: »

The heating should have its own header tank, it appears your heating system is expanding into the storage tank, if inhibitor has been added to the heating it could be very unhealthy for cooking and drinking.
If the above is the case I'd advise getting it sorted immediatly (use a different plumber).

This opinion was from an experienced plumber.

JohnnieK

Cicero wrote: »

I know this thread is a few months old but I wouldn't mind hearing some opinions from experienced plumbers/ gas boiler installers...I've spoken to a few plumbers/RGI's lately who have differing views as to whether the central heating system should have it's own separate water tank in the attic...could I throw out this question for debate again please?

Every plumber in the land is thought in collage that an open vented heating system has a small header tank at high level (mostly in the attic on it's own support i.e. not sitting on top of the cold tank) and feeds the heating system through a feed & expansion pipe with no restrictions on it. The open vent then looks into the tank.

A semi-sealed system (an Irish answer) is a sealed heating system that too is fed from a header tank in the loft with a feed pipe attached to the system with an isolation valve and non-return valve.

A sealed system is a heating system fed from the mains or boosted cold feed using a filling loop, this filling loop should be disconnected after filling and both valves capped.

A heating system should NOT be fed from the domestic cold storage tank or any feed pipe coming from it.

Cicero

Thanks for the replies guys...is an open vented system better than a semi sealed system or are there pros\ cons of both?