Help identifying pipes

[gerbils]

Looking to replace my CWS tanks in the loft, they are 35 years old, full of silt, have a broken float and have stretched so much now that the makeshift covers are not fitting well and close to falling in!

We have 2 main CWS tanks - approx 56x56x108 - I make that approx 75 gallons capacity though they do taper down a bit so it will be less than that and they are about 85% full.

What's confusing is we have 2 of these connected by a copper pipe. The furthest away has a float and an overflow out into the garden. The second doesn't have this.

We have many pipes going up into the loft but these appear to go into the hosing that the tanks are sat on, so I can't quite figure out what's what is doing what and need to identify before I rip things out.

We have a seperate shower feed for cold water which is the middle gate valve, the one to the right of that is the cold water for the bathroom, out of sight is the cylinder and cold water feed. I am wondering if one tank is exclusively for the showers? They are particularly poor, far worse than the bathroom taps for both hot & cold.

Anyway - do you think it would be OK to remove these 2 and replace with a single coffin tank or is it best to stick with 2x tanks as we have now?

Pics below if it helps.

 

[cross thread]

You must have a small expansion tank for the heating as well.
Have you multiple bathrooms ? If not and you have decent cold mains one should do.

 

[gerbils]

You must have a small expansion tank for the heating as well.
Have you multiple bathrooms ? If not and you have decent cold mains one should do.

Sorry, yes we have a small expansion tank, it's just to the right of the first tank in the photo. Hard to see but it's there.

We have a main bathroom with bath & shower and an ensuite with shower.

 

[cross thread]

If cold mains supply ok to refill tank one should be adequate,unless you have high water usage

 

[roguetrader]

If you have any shower pumps, the manufacturers usually state minimum 50 gallons of storage.

 

[Exedon]

Before you get new tank/tanks ready carefully measure loft access,
You cannot normally make loft access any bigger on a truss roof.

 

[MNW67]

What's confusing is we have 2 of these connected by a copper pipe. The furthest away has a float and an overflow out into the garden. The second doesn't have this.

We had the same setup in our old house. We only needed one float and overflow because the two tanks were connected by the pipe and so would always reach the same level. They essentially acted as one big tank. I think that both of the cold feeds from the cold tank to the bathroom (one power shower, one for everything else) came out of just one tank - but I'm not 100% sure on that.

We have a seperate shower feed for cold water which is the middle gate valve, the one to the right of that is the cold water for the bathroom, out of sight is the cylinder and cold water feed

I would imagine the one with the stopcock is the cold mains feed to the tanks. Other pipes could well be any of the following. Feed to CH, CH vent pipe, cylinder vent pipe, hot water pipes from cylinder. Where is the cylinder located? I think I could take a guess at most of them!

Is that a 28mm pipe going to the bathrooms. That might partly explain better flow. And I think you mentioned before that the shower valves might actually be for a combi?