Galvanised steel water storage tank in loft

[jsw]

Just wondering, been looking at buying a house and the home report states that there is still an original galvanised steel water storage tank in loft, a baxi boiler on wall in kitchen and a lagged water tank in cupboard in bedroom. Is this unsafe/illegal now of just old fashioned? House is around 43 years old, ex-council.

Am I right in thinking that this old fashioned system would be the type where you had to switch on the hot water an hour or so before you needed to use it. I have a mucky toddler who often needs to be bathed at short notice!!

Is it correct that the kitchen cold water comes from the mains and all other water from the tank?

Would installing a combi boiler mean there would no longer be a need for the tank in loft and lagged tank in bedroom?

Thanks for any help, need to know whether its worth viewing this house.

 

[John506]

They are just old fashioned, generally not insulated and no lid (I've seen plywood and pieces of carpet as lids for these).

If you got a combi, you could remove the hot water cylinder and the smaller header tank in the cupboard.

Yes only your kitchen tap should be mains fed, but it's entirely up to you if you want to keep the tank in the loft for the rest of the house, you could take it all out and have it mains fed if you wanted. Pros and cons to both types of system

 

[Burnerman]

I'm surprised its not leaking by now - I'd make a priority of changing that one. Seen them go without any warning at all.
John

 

[echoes]

You're right in thinking that the HW has to be heated before you can use it, but there should be a timer that you can programme to give you a tank full of hot water at the correct times - how long this takes is dependent mainly on the cylinder's age. Modern ones will recover in 20 mins. Older ones take longer. If it has no factory installed insulation, but just a red jacket over the copper then it's not going to recover fast, and will lose heat much quicker than a modern cylinder. A factory-lagged cylinder will keep the water hot for a remarkably long time - certainly over a 24 hour period.

It will probably also have a immersion heater in case your boiler fails for some reason.

I've lived with this type of system for many years and with mucky little people, cannot remember running out of hot water. I would not change it for a combi, but I happily concede it's a matter of personal choice.

(My parents for example, prefer a combi for hot water/heating and an 10kW electric shower. The shower is rubbish and the combi takes longer to fill a bath than my gravity HW cyl.)

 

[dcawkwell]

No this system is a traditional system and perfectly workable.
In fact it will give faster hot water delivery than a combi will to
fill a bath. Hot tank should take about an hour to heat up
and if boiler fails you have the immersion heater in the tank
as a backup for hot water.
Stick with it while it is working. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
When something starts to go your options are then to go for
a combi if you should wish to do so. Electric shower if fitting a combi
as a backup for boiler failure.

 

[TicklyT]

Redundant galvanised tanks are frequently left in lofts with replacement plastic tanks installed alongside them..... Why?... Because they were originally placed in the loft as the roof was built, and there is no way of getting them out short of either cutting them up in situ or pulling the roof apart.