Whats this then...

Rob

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Or whats it called. Never seen one before. Used instead of F+E? Pipes going into it OV from cylinder and also feeds the heating.

PictureorVideo001.jpg
 
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Its connected to the hot water outlet on top of the cylinder and to something lower down.

I have not seen one either but would suggest its purpose might be similar to an Essex flange.

But its got a label on the side. Whatever that says might tell us what it is!

Tony
 
ive seen several of these,

it fills, and takes up expansion of the central heating.

just think of it as the internals of a primatic cylinder but fitted outside the cylinder.

if you need to drain the heating just turn off the gatevalve to the cylinder cold feed.

also think twice about adding any inhibitor :eek:
 
Its called a Sparten tank and Freeflow has the correct answer for you. Many are starting to leak now and a second header tank need to be put in the loft for central heating.

Remember No chemicals in the system either.
 
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came across one of these in my auntys flat.
hydro spartan..s=self...p=priming...a=automatic...r=recovery..tank.
only maintaince is to ensure auto vent works.
funnily enough the council heating contractors had no idea how this works so i did some research ok its pretty boring so i shut up.
 
In that case I am glad that I have never come across one.

If I did my advice would be to immediately to get rid of it and install a proper system that enables inhibitor to be put into the heating system.

Tony
 
Still quite a few left around my way. First time I encountered one I checked the air vent cap was loose and the aav sheared off :eek: . Since the original aavs wern't available, at sometime an installer had used a standard vent and an iron elbow. Remember no inhibitors so plenty of corrosion. Best bit was location...council block with no access to cold cistern.


 
Pardon my ignorance / curiosity, but if it is part of the central heating circuit, then why is it connected to the DHW outlet at the top of the cylinder?
 
It uses HW from the cylinder to fill the CH circuit, ostensibly with an air gap in between.

Since they are indeterminably mixed you cannot use any inhibitors on the heating system.

Hence my view that the sooner they are removed the better.

Tony
 
All heating systems must have....

a method of creating a minimum static pressure in the system...to bleed out air and ensure pump bearings run ok etc

a method of allowing the water to expand in volume as it is heated without an excessive pressure rise

a safety system in case of excerssive pressure rise

And there are two common and one not so common system setups to provide the above requirements.....

A conventional open vented system incorporating a feed and expansion cistern. The vessel height provides a static pressure, the open vessel accomodates expansion water (as the system heats up) via the feed pipe. And the safety vent pipe provides addtional safety when things go wrong. Some varients may allow combined feed and vent but generally only when other safety systems are incorporated ie overheat stats.

The sealed system. A vessel containing pressurised air (or nitrogen) provides the static pressure. The vessel also accomodates expansion water and a moderate pressure increase is allowed for as the air is further compressed. A safety valve provides additional safety as does the overheat stat on the boiler.

The third and rare method (by todays standards) is the "semi-sealed" setup. These are the Hydro Spartens, Primatic cylinders, some Elsons and Harton combined cisterns. Here the static pressure is created by the cold cistern, the expansion water is accomodated by compressing a trapped air bubble (within the units above) and to provide additional safety the system is open to the atmosphere via the cylinder safety vent pipe on the cylinder. Since primary and secondary water could mix (do to lack of air bubble etc) no inhibitors should be used since the hot water could become contaminated.
 
Pardon my ignorance / curiosity, but if it is part of the central heating circuit, then why is it connected to the DHW outlet at the top of the cylinder?
It arranges a bubble of air to separate the DHW and CH circuits.
See how a Primatic works.
 
Ok, me comprendez...doesn't look like the sort of setup one wants to stumble upon if expecting an early finish to the day...!
 

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