Header tank overflowing - suspected hot tank coil holed?

[LeeBoyle]

Hello

I have a problem and I think it may be worse than I first thought.

My small header tank is overflowing, dripping / trickling constantly, and has been doing this since yesterday. Having looked inside the tank the water level is very high, so I bailed it out into a bucket and it is now 1/3 full again. The oerflowing has now stopped.

The ball-valve though seems fine, and having thought for a few minutes, I believe my hot water cylinder must have a hole in its coil is there anyway to double check this to be absolute sure ? I can hear the cold water tank (large one) constantly trickling, like it is always filling slowly. But not in as noisy a way as it does when i run a bath / flush the toilet, etc.

Has my fear come true?

If it is the hot water tank's coil that has holed, i will need to replace it won't I? And this will be a really long, fiddly job as my hot water tank connections are in very confined spaces!

Thank you for reading and any help would be really nice,

All the best

Lee

 

[kidgreen61]

You can prove the coil is defective by turning off the mains cold water, and seeing if the water in the header tank still rises. This will normally only happen if the level of the water in the domestic cold waterstorage tank is higher than the ch storage tank.

Yes you will need a new cylinder.

 

[LeeBoyle]

I shut off the cold feed gate valve (to the hot water tank) and it has stopped, but i bailed out water so it wil not overflow until the overflow level has been reached again.

If it is the hot water tank's coil holed, can i still use the boiler to heat hot water tonight, as i will have all day friday saturday and sunday to fix it (my cylinder is in a very awkward place)!! and will take my a while to renew.

 

[kidgreen61]

yes you can; you may prefer to use your electric immersion heater if you have one.

Good luck

Phil

 

[LeeBoyle]

Thanks for helping

OK glad i can use the hot water still it still and it won't damage the pump or anything !

I have an immersion, but it is not working (no power to it, i believe years ago, when the electric cooker was installed, they pinched the supply to the immersion to use for the cooker)!!!

sorry to keep asking you questions - but when i drain down, i will obviously need to drain down the CH/Primary circuit as well as the hot water cylinder itself. Then I will need to remove all connections to the cylinder, install the new cylinder (do the tank connections comes with new cylinders or do you buy them separately? ) and I believe i will need to cut back some pipes and re-pipe them to the new connections (as probably will be at different heights)??

I have done some plumbing before, and can bend/cut/solder/fix copper pipe, but any tips would be useful to know as i have never changed a hot water tank before!!

Thanks again, all the best.

 

[kidgreen61]

You will need new connections for the cylinder as the old ones may not come off easily.
You will also need a new immersion element, and some suitable jointing compound for the new connections.
You will probably need a pipe bender to make existing pipes fit new cylinder.
Don't forget to add inhibitor to ch system after you have checked for any leaks

Have fun.

Phil

 

[mogget]

A little tip in case no drain cock is fitted, or if it won't open.

Once the CWSC and pipework are drained, you can syphon the water from the old cylinder. Cut the cold feed pipe, above the level of the cylinder dome. Solder on a reducer and a short length of 15mm tube. Attach a garden hose to the stub, the other end in the bath/loo/out the window, and suck!

 

[LeeBoyle]

Thanks for your help / tips


I was thinking of just closing the gate valve to the hot water tank and not draining the whole cold water tank as well? Is it better to drain the whole cold water tank then?

Thanks for the siphoning tip!! It will come in handy if the drain cock doesn't open!

 

[kidgreen61]

Unless you are superhuman, you may find the cylinder a little on the heavy side unless drained [/quote]

 

[LeeBoyle]

I was going to drain the cylinder, just not the cold water tank itself!

 

[seco services]

drain just the cylinder if thats what your changing