Attic Tank removal question

Fresh2000

Hello,

I was trying to find this answer by asking people but getting mix responses. Hope community here can help. I would love to get reply. I have moved in to 8 year old house I bought in Ireland and we were getting a lot of noise when flushing water in toilet or using sink. It turned out it was the attic tank sending sound through pipes when filling in. I have mounted air release valve at the mains entrance to tank and that helped greatly with noise BUT here comes my question, why do I need that tank at all? I don't understand I am thinking to connect everything to main and bypass the tank completely. there would be no noise and pressure in sinks and showers should improve greatly.
Am I running to any kind of risk by doing that? Nobody in Europe is using tanks just Ireland and UK and that boggles my mind.

Thanks.

TheBoyConor

Tank serves a few functions.
Lowers pressure in the system so the components last much longer
Balances flows to different demands so that there aren't big fluctuations in flow from outlets when another tap in the house is turned on.
reduces the chance of water being sucked back out into the mains.

You could make it all a mains driven system but you could not pressurise the hot water cylinder as it would split.
You would have to fit a pressure reduction valve and a non return valve.

It would not be worth it really. Just fit a collapsible outlet tube onto the ballcock outlet into the tank. That'll solve the issue with the filling noise.

Fresh2000

hmmm, not sure what you mean by hot water cylinder would split...

what about washtanks, connecting those makes sense for me at least.

and I have already mounted that air release pipe on the mains entrance to tank and it helped a lot but not as much as I would like.

TheBoyConor

Most domestic hot water tanks are for low pressure, tank fed systems. If you connect mains pressure of several bar to that type of tank it may not be able to hold it and could rupture in a spectacular and catastrophic fashion.

You would also need to install an accumulator to even out any pressure surges and prevent water hammer.

I would not recommend setting up a mains fed system. It is not as reliable.
Also, if there is a water outage, the header tank provides a very valuable reserve of water for you to use. You would lose this reserve with a mains only system.

What do you mean by a wash tank?

JamBur

We got rid of ours a few years back, no regrets either. We changed from a standard gas boiler, with electric immersion storage tank, to a combi boiler which provides hot water on demand.

TheBoyConor

Very good. Yeah that is grand and fine as long as everything is going well.
If there is a water or gas outage for any reason, then you are left without.

Tank in attic and a HWC can prove very very useful indeed if there is an outage for whatever reason. With carefully rationed use you could have a few days supply.

landofthetree

Do not connect a power shower to the mains.

Fresh2000

TheBoyConor wrote: »

What do you mean by a wash tank?

the tank for toilets

Seamai

We have no water tank in the attic, anytime I mention it, people seem a bit surprised but in the seven years we've been in the house it's never been an issue. On the plus side we can drink water straight from the toilet bowl.

Fresh2000

landofthetree wrote: »

Do not connect a power shower to the mains.

Didn't even think about this. I have two power showers because pressure from attic tank is so low, like insanely low.

Fresh2000

Seamai wrote: »

We have no water tank in the attic, anytime I mention it, people seem a bit surprised but in the seven years we've been in the house it's never been an issue. On the plus side we can drink water straight from the toilet bowl.

OK so by reading all comments I would like to ask you. When you did that change you had to go through bigger job right? changing boiler, removing power showers and so on. Right?

Seamai

Fresh2000 wrote: »

OK so by reading all comments I would like to ask you. When you did that change you had to go through bigger job right? changing boiler, removing power showers and so on. Right?

I'm afraid I'm not going to be of much use there as it was a new build so there was no changing to be done. I did think it a strange concept when it was mentioned first. The house is in an elevated area and I was convinced that shower pressure was going to be a problem and questioned getting a pump but there is a good strong flow from it. The shower is thermo static and our oil fired boiler is a condenser one.

dathi

the reason we have water storage tanks in Ireland is because it is a requirement under the building regulations this is taken from the building regulations TGDs part G


1.3 The cold water supply to the kitchen sink should be taken directly from the service pipe supplying water to the dwelling; the cold water supply to the bath or shower and the washbasin and to other appliances in the dwelling should be from a cold water storage cistern.

whizbang

Just fit a stopcock to the tank input, and turn the flow down until the filling noise is acceptable.

The tank does not need to be refilled instantly.