Confused Bathroom Project-HELP

[mikeloker]

I am planning a total make over of our small bathroom, first job is to remove the tank from the airing cupboard and relocate into the loft, easy I thought, the tank is immersion only and has the cold water header afixed to the body of the tank. Ha I say, Economy 7 direct coupled will do the job.

Then I look closely at the existing tank, now for the confusion !! The existing tank has the usual cold water mains inbound, but two hot outbound and a cold outbound !! Really confusing !! As far as I can tell, one outbound hot and the outbound cold feed the downstairs kitchen, the second outbound hot feeds the downstairs closet(directly below) and the bathroom. The downstairs closet and upstairs bathroom are fed with cold mains.

With my limited knowledge, I understood that all cold feeds should be mains connected.

The house is ex local authority built late 60ies early 70ies.

The immersion has a separate thermometer rod half way up the tank linked to the mains feed to the immersion itself.

What am I trying to do ?? Remove the tank to the loft, rebuild the cupboard to 50% of the existing footprint, remove the bath and fit a walk in shower in its place. I also intend to move the basin and toilet to corner fittings to maximise the space. However, a further little complication for the shower is that the floor joists run across the bathroom floor rather than length ways (would have made life so much simpler) and the shower waste will be at the furthest point from the down pipe (2.5m)which is in the corner on the outside wall. My initial thoughts are that the shower and basin (or toilet if "Her that shall be obeyed decides thats where she would like it" )will have to be raised on a platform, at least 6 inches, to gain the fall to the soil pipe. Did consider running the waste down the wall into the downstairs closet, linking into the basin waste and hence to the soil pipe, yes you are right Not a good idea !! Have visions of the shower water exiting via the basin itself downstairs !!

Assistance would be greatly appreciated on the tank issue, and any suggestions, ideas on the project itself.

 

[Bahco]

Is there a question hidden somewhere

 

[mikeloker]

Well, forgive me, should have made it clearer:

The tank Issue

Can I do away with the cold feed from the header tank and re-connect the cold feed to the mains. What would be the best type of tank to replace the existing:
A tank direct connected, such as whats advertised as a Economy 7, with two connections ? One for the cold in and one for the hot out ?
Why has the existing immersion have a separate temp probe, do modern ones come as a combined unit ?

Suggestions would be welcomed on how to plum the waste in for the shower tray as the floor joist run the wrong way, across the run of the waste rather than parralel, forgot to add the shower will be electric, is a platform the answer ?

 

[mikeloker]

I have re phrased the question, i hope with some clarity, anyone willing to answer ? or is the question still unclear ?

 

[Bahco]

Can I do away with the cold feed from the header tank and re-connect the cold feed to the mains

Good idea

What would be the best type of tank to replace the existing:

An adequately sized plastic tank (125 l if to supply DHW)

Raise the tray if you can't run waste under the floor.

YOUR CHOICE WHETHER YOU OPT FOR ECONOMY 7. Might be false economy if you do not use much hot water.

 

[Gasguru]

It appears from your description that you have a combi tank ie a copper hot water cylinder with an integral small cold water tank on top.

Are you sure the "thermostat" is not another immersion heater?

It is common for cylinders to have two immersions fitted; the lower to run off cheap "off peak" electricity and the upper heater to run off "peak rate" as a top up during the day.

A few pics. would be useful.

Is is normal practice to connect the mains to only the kitchen cold tap and have all other taps off the tank. However you appear to have the bathroom cold off the mains.

I think you may also be refering to an unvented cylinder in your later posting - this is fed direct from the mains and as a result hot water is at mains pressure. Provided pressures and flowrates are adequate this setup will give mains pressure showers. They are expensive and must be installed by suitably qualified installers.



Have you considered installing a shower bath ie a bath with a flatter standing area at one end that's safer for showering.

If you stick with the combi tank you could consider moving this to the roofspace. A venturi shower may be suitable - this uses mains cold to help boost the hot water pressure to provide a better shower. Trevi and a few other manufacturers do them - check the spec. carefully. Otherwise an electric shower, however you must check the working water pressure (at a particular flowrate) before selecting a shower. Also remember to allow for the cost of the cable/RCD/RCBO/isolator etc.

1st rule of bathroom planning is to keep the WC near the stack - sticking it on a raised platform will look carp. Since you can't notch out the joists for the basin/shower waste can you run them along the edge of a wall and dry line the wall to give a clean appearance.