Can anyone tell me what this is?

[sburt]

My daughter and her husband bought a 17th century grade 2 listed property in South Wales some years ago.

We spent some time on the electrics, some of which were still from god knows when and included live cables cut off and left in the walls and loose under the floors.

Part of that was to remove unconnected heater switches in an upstairs cupboard which looked like they were from at least the 1950s.

They recently had reason to pull up a carpet in the same room and found an old scortch mark in the floorboards.

After pulling up a few boards we discovered a large steel tube that has both plumbing and electrical connections (Hotpoint on the one end we can see).

The diameter of the cylinder is around 8 inches and is about 6 feet long with steel brackets holding it to the joist.

Both ends have what looks like a large scale immersion (Hotpoint) withe an old cloth twisted flex that had been connectedt to the switches we previsously removed

It weights a ton when we tried lifting one end.

The plumbing connections and electrics are long since disconnected but we would like to know what it is or was used for.

Thanks in advance

 

[jj4091]

Does it look like the room ever had a washbasin in it. Presumably it is a water heater to supply something or other.

 

[sburt]

The room has changed so much over the years that we don't see any obvious signs of a basin in the room.
However it is plausible that the room was a bathroom for the house at some point because the extension that now houses the bathroom was only added in the 1980s or so.
In which case it makes sense that it was a water heater for the house before the extension was added.

 

[morqthana]

If it was a water heater, it looks like it must have been an instantaneous one, as it's got precious little volume for stored hot water, and it has a plumbing fitting at each end....

Is it about to get gutted, cleaned up, rattle-canned or powder coated, and turned into a steampunk lamp?

And is that your cloth under the floor?

 

[AdrianUK]

I guess it could be a take on the "Willis" immersion heater?

The electric showers of the day were only around 4 - 5 kW so, with two (3kW?) immersions it would have had an impressive 6kW capacity - it could have been an early 'instantaneous' water heater.

 

[sburt]

Hi All,
Thanks for you thoughts my money was heading towards an instantaneous water heater but didn't have the terminology.
The cloth was already there when we lifted the boards, looks like it was left there along with all the other detritus from previous mods to pipework and wiring.
Due to the sheer weight of the cylinder and the number of boards that would need to be removed it is still in place fro future generations to wonder at.

 

[morqthana]

The cloth was already there when we lifted the boards, looks like it was left there along with all the other detritus from previous mods to pipework

Asbestos?

Due to the sheer weight of the cylinder and the number of boards that would need to be removed it is still in place fro future generations to

Only 1 to cut, by the looks of it (although I don't know how far away the ends of some of the existing cut ones are).

I'd be tempted....