Hot Water Pressure Tank(?) Burst

[Carl Ott]

Hi - My Brother In Law has had a tank burst. What could cause this please and could recent work to fix showers have any bearing on it?

Having to advise him from a distance.


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[dcawkwell]

I suggest you tell your brother to stop any heating of hot water and
turn the hot water off.
That has been caused by a high water pressure.
Get someone in who knows what they are doing with unvented hot water tanks. Unvented water certificate.

 

[Carl Ott]

Emergency plumber due later tonight. I was wondering what may have caused it.

 

[dcawkwell]

Emergency plumber due later tonight. I was wondering what may have caused it.

High water pressure caused by no expansion space or pressure relief.
Lucky the small tank went instead of the big one or it would have taken the house with it.

 

[GavThePlumber]

Lucky boy.

 

[roguetrader]

Possibly caused by unbalanced cold main supply backfeeding through sanitary fittings. Eg taps, showers etc.

 

[Gasguru]

Or the diaphragms failed for a long time and the vessel has failed due to internal corrosion.

 

[picasso]

Expansion vessels are normally put on the cold inlet, I guess to protect the diaphragm from very hot water, as already said lack of maintenance probably caused the failure of the vessel.

 

[Carl Ott]

Can I thank you for all the helpful comments. The house is just out of the 10 Year NHBC guarantee period and they only recently managed to get the builders to get all the showers working correctly.

The emergency plumber sent out managed to get cold water restored and they now await the installation of new parts or parts.

Again thanks.

 

[Madrab]

Yep, have to agree with Picasso, normally, where an EV is needed, on every un-vented installation I've seen, it would be on the cold inlet side and not on the hot outlet side.
I would be mentioning it to your brother-in-law to confirm that the guys doing the work are qualified to work on unvented hot water cylinders.

 

[redpis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bU-I2ZiML0

 

[DP]

Madrab , EV does not HAVE to go on the cold inlet pipe. There many many cylinders out there that have the EV fitted on top of the cylinder similar to that shown in the picture

 

[Carl Ott]

Update - Help Required Urgently.

Insurance say they are not covered for the tank replacement. It now seems likely that they will need an emergency fix as they have two young children in the house. That and the fact that we are supposed to be going to them for Christmas Day.

They live near Auchenkilns just Sth of Cumbernauld.

Any advice gratefully received; though knowing them they may ignore me totally.


PS Homeserve [sent by Direct Line] came out on the night then yesterday but today Homeserve turned up to fix a leak not replace the tank.

 

[Madrab]

Not sure what you expect from the forum Carl if looking for urgent help.

The only help that is required is that they get a plumber who is qualified to work on un-vented hot water cylinders in to replace the Expansion Vessel and test/pass the hot water system.

Unless you are looking for someone on here near 'what's it called' that is G3 qualy'd if they can visit?