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No drain off tap on hot water cylinder...new cylinder required?

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psychopomp1

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Hi,
A few days ago I was getting a tiny water leak on my Range Tribune HE hot water cylinder, i called a plumber, he ascertained the immersion heater was faulty (corroded) and needed to be replaced. He told me afterwards there's no drain off tap on the cylinder so he pulled the immersion coil out which caused the water to gush out, come through the ceiling and nearly flood the kitchen downstairs. The plumbing company have agreed to fix the damage to my property at their own cost. In the end they managed to get a new immersion heater installed.

My question is, to stop this happening again do i need to ensure i have a drain off tap fitted to the cylinder/pipework and is my only option to buy a new cylinder? The cylinder was installed By Barratts homes when i bought the house in Nov 2008, obviously Barratts don't want to know now (only offer a 2 year warranty). NHBC 10 year warranty won't cover this as water cylinder is classed as a fitting/fixture. Perhaps if my plumbing knowledge was more than zilch then i would have noticed this far sooner, so need to know what are my options now.
Thanks
IMG_0106.jpg
 
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plumben said:
I'd want the flooring under the cylinder replaced to 18mm ply wood as part of the repair works, from my experience with chipboard floor it might not look wet and might seem fine, but that didn't stop my legs dangling through a kitchen ceiling after I took a bath out and stood where the bath was
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Thanks for the advice. Probably a silly question, but will the cylinder (& fixings) need to be removed in order to replace the flooring?
 
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psychopomp1 said:
Thanks for the advice. Probably a silly question, but will the cylinder (& fixings) need to come off in order to replace the flooring?
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Yes the cylinder as minimum would need to come out and then the old flooring removed and ply put in place, although it might not be as urgent a job as more than likely the cylinder will be sitting over two floor joist so it isn't going anywhere fast but is a job that would be priority for me
 
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plumben said:
Yes the cylinder as minimum would need to come out and then the old flooring removed and ply put in place, although it might not be as urgent a job as more than likely the cylinder will be sitting over two floor joist so it isn't going anywhere fast but is a job that would be priority for me
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But then the Plumbing company would send the same plumber to remove the cylinder, and considering I don't want Mikey the plumber anywhere near my home again I guess I'm in a catch 22 situation...
 
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Just insist they send a proper plumber - (also to be G3 qualified) this time as you are not accepting anyone who takes an immersion out of side of a cylinder that's full of water.
That wasn't a simple error, it is inexcusable.
 
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psychopomp1 said:
But then the Plumbing company would send the same plumber to remove the cylinder, and considering I don't want Mikey the plumber anywhere near my home again I guess I'm in a catch 22 situation...
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Not at all catch 22 you haven't paid them anything yet have you?
Just tell the company that your happy for them to carry out the repair works for the damage there plumber has caused but you do not want that plumber back in your house which is more than understandable
 
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What was this so called plumber thinking, "yeah ill be able to snatch that" or "Hmmm if I put my hand over it that will stop the water from coming out" - what a donut! He needs to look the word siphon up in the dictionary:

siphon

noun: syphon
1.
a tube used to convey liquid upwards from a reservoir and then down to a lower level of its own accord. Once the liquid has been forced into the tube, typically by suction or immersion, flow continues unaided.

verb: syphon
1.
draw off or convey (liquid) by means of a siphon.
"a piece of tubing was used to siphon petrol"
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I would of even cut a drain cock in once it had all been drained down anyways just to cover my own arse.

Out of curiosity do you even use your immersion that much to warrant it changing?
 
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PriestyUK said:
What was this so called plumber thinking, "yeah ill be able to snatch that" or "Hmmm if I put my hand over it that will stop the water from coming out" - what a donut! He needs to look the word siphon up in the dictionary:



I would of even cut a drain cock in once it had all been drained down anyways just to cover my own arse.

Out of curiosity do you even use your immersion that much to warrant it changing?
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Nup, the immersion has never been used for long periods ever since the house was built (though it was working when i tested it back in Dec 2008) however over the last few weeks there were water droplets appearing near the immersion. The immersion was definitely knackered (badly corroded) and needed replacing, which was done and the leaks have stopped. But all this came at a cost of course.... :(

@lame plumber
I will call the plumbing co first thing on monday and ask them to replace the chipboard either as a like for like replacement or if they're happy, i will pay the difference to upgrade to 18mm thick plywood. Like you said I can't use this incident to get free material upgrades.
 
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Riley said:
Sorry see what you mean now. Yes it does. I'm guessing PRV for boiler if its above
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Thanks for the reply. I am in fact trying to interpret this as found in the MI for an unvented hot water cylinder.

3.53 Where valves other than the temperature and pressure relief valve from a single unvented hot water system discharge by way of the same manifold that is used by the safety devices, the manifold should be factory fitted as part of the hot water storage system unit or package.

What is the "factory fitted" manifold of which they speak?

Sorry if I'm missing something obvious. I have my UHW10 as required by the Approved Document G3 but I have not had to combine more than one appliance into the discharge system and wish to understand this requirement.
 
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No idea?

I used to do immersions live quite often and they were 9KW ones on 2000ltr cylinders.
They were in tanked external plant rooms though!
would gently undo then quickly rip out and offer up 4'' waste to direct water out the door.
Cut a days work to 2-3 hours (need a change of clothes too).

Things are very different now!
 
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