Old water heater? Pipe identification

[Louis.]

In our spare bedroom there was a cupboard which had what I presume was a water heater. There's a circular water mark on the shelf where I presume it was sat and leaking.

In the attic there is a water tank which must have fed into it.

All this has been replaced with a gas boiler in the kitchen, but the pipework legs remain in the bedroom.

There is 1 22mm pipe that's uncapped, then 3 15mm pipes with 2 uncapped and 1 capped.

I'm removing this cupboard and wanting to chop the legs under the floor. I presume on the uncapped I can just cut back under the floor then fit a compression stop, but I'm worried the fourth one that is capped won't be as easy?

Is this likely to be gas or be under water pressure?

Any helps appreciated! It's a shame they didn't do the job properly when the boiler was fitted.

 

[Exedon]

Looks like that's the old airing cupboard.
The capped pipe needs tracing back once you know what it is cap off .
If gas G S R registration required.
I would actually suspect its cold mains but who knows?

 

[Louis.]

Looks like that's the old airing cupboard.
The capped pipe needs tracing back once you know what it is cap off .
If gas G S R registration required.
I would actually suspect its cold mains but who knows?

If it's gas I obviously won't be touching it.

 

[Madrab]

Very unlikely to be gas and probably the old cold rising mains though as suggested if there's a concern then you'll need a GSR engineer in to check, just get one that's also a plumber and they can do both at the same time.

 

[thetman]

If the capped one is one of the two 15mm that are together I would suggest its the return to the heating system from what was the connections to the cylinder. Was likely tee'd into the heating return rather than going back to the boiler.

Like others have said, needs tracing out to be sure.

 

[Louis.]

Yesh the capped is one of the ones that's parallel to another.

The other pipes that run parallel are the 22mm and the 15mm that are perpendicular to the others.

Out of interest, what are the 4 pipes likely to be? In terms of arrangement so I can trace them.

If the capped one is water will this still be under pressure or likely terminated elsewhere since the new boiler went in?

 

[thetman]

Yesh the capped is one of the ones that's parallel to another.

The other pipes that run parallel are the 22mm and the 15mm that are perpendicular to the others.

Out of interest, what are the 4 pipes likely to be? In terms of arrangement so I can trace them.

If the capped one is water will this still be under pressure or likely terminated elsewhere since the new boiler went in?

Without know what was there before it's a guess but I would say, the 2 15mm together will be the heating flow and return, the 22mm will be the hot water flow and the 15mm the mains water supply.

If they have gone to the bother of capping it it's likely still full and under pressure.

Out of interest, do you have any loft tanks (or any evidence there was one)

 

[Louis.]

Without know what was there before it's a guess but I would say, the 2 15mm together will be the heating flow and return, the 22mm will be the hot water flow and the 15mm the mains water supply.

If they have gone to the bother of capping it it's likely still full and under pressure.

Out of interest, do you have any loft tanks (or any evidence there was one)

Yes there's a tank in the loft that's been disconnected.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

If it's gas I obviously won't be touching it.

You can get a bit of a clue which, by warming the pipe with your hand - a gas filled pipe will warm much more easily, than water filled one.

 

[Louis.]

You can get a bit of a clue which, by warming the pipe with your hand - a gas filled pipe will warm much more easily, than water filled one.

I say the same to my mrs, never works.

Unfortunately I don't know how fast a water pipe warms

 

[Louis.]

So delving deeper into the floor the 15mm and 22mm pipes that are running together are both 'free moving' under the floor. I am tempted to pull them out but as I can't trace them under the floor I'll just cap them.

I would rip the carpet up but it's freshly laid in the hallway and goes back quite the same!

The other 2 15mm pipes, of which 1 is capped are both fixed under the floor. I'll chop the uncapped one back to cap it then call a plumber in for the capped one.

 

[Louis.]

A photo I took before the carpet went down was this (photo taken from room where airing cupboard was).

But It's impossible to tell if the gas had a line off it

 

[denso13]

If any of the pipes are hot or cold (not heating) then they should be capped off at the source. Dead legs on pipework should be avoided.

 

[Louis.]

If any of the pipes are hot or cold (not heating) then they should be capped off at the source. Dead legs on pipework should be avoided.

I'm not going to chase pipework around the house as I've no idea where source is? What's the issue with dead legs?

Surely what I'm doing now is better than was originally done?

 

[Madrab]

The other thing I would always say to a DIY'er is, don't be afraid of carpet. If it's been laid properly and gripper is used then after a week or 2 for it to rest and relax the carpet can easily be lifted and when laid back down it will go back the way it was without issue. Just have a nice clean bolster to hand to edge it properly.