Slate Cold Water Storage Cistern

[Mike Jackson]

Phone pics so not that good but I drained this bad boy today. Never come across one before. Must weigh a ton.

 

[turnpin]

Wow gotta be museum material that Mike ...regards Turnpinunk:

 

[lame plumber]

is that slate? we had an old lead one 3 of us could stand/lie down in at an old school I used to be bursar at, took several hours to cut out and paid for the works team xmas meal one year

doh, just seen the title

 

[Ermintrude]

Blue asbestos looks just like slate

 

[Ray Stafford]

Thats a proper cistern. In the old days, fortified places like castles, and walled towns would have stone lined "cisterns" for the storage of drinking water - but they would have been more like swimming pools than our puny 50 gall affairs.

Please find a way of preserving it!

 

[Mike Jackson]

Blue asbestos looks just like slate

This is too early to be asbestos.

 

[AWheating]

get a stone mason in, it needs a lid.

 

[julesverne]

Get a lid for it and it could be used as a sarcophagus.

 

[turnpin]

Get a lid for it and it could be used as a sarcophagus.

That's easy for you to say....lol regards Turnpin:smile5:

 

[bigads28]

That's impressive!!

 

[lame plumber]

Thats a proper cistern. In the old days, fortified places like castles, and walled towns would have stone lined "cisterns" for the storage of drinking water - but they would have been more like swimming pools than our puny 50 gall affairs.

Please find a way of preserving it!

I'd whip it out and lay it in my downstairs loo, I'm missing some old slate slabs

 

[woodytheplumber]

very impressive obviously its been there for donkeys but I would be worried about the weight out of interest how was it supported

 

[lame plumber]

very impressive obviously its been there for donkeys but I would be worried about the weight out of interest how was it supported

very well

 

[Mike Jackson]

It's sat straight on the ceiling joists! I measured it today and worked out that it held around a 1000 litres of water, that's a tonne and the slate itself weighed around half a tonne. There's an old stud wall coming out below it and the structural engineer said that the wall could come out if the cistern was replaced for a smaller plastic one. Yesterday morning I noticed that now the cistern is empty the vertical studs are now loose in the joints.

I got a few more pics yesterday.

More detail of the joint. The end panel is fitted into a groove on the side panel and sealed with what looks like red lead.


There are also metal studs drilled into the side to support it, also sealed with red lead.


The overflow running through a lead pipe in the bottom.


I'm impressed that the beast has sat there all this time leak free.



This looks like the original ball valve position.



Unfortunately there's no way the cistern will come out whole or break down into a flat pack and come out but I've persuaded the customer to cut it up rather than smash it up and at least save the slate in large enough pieces to be usable.

 

[Gray0689]

It make cracking window sills

 

[Reg Man]

Yabba Dabba Doo, a flint stones job. Impressive.

 

[Paulplumb]

Nice find. Even cut up I bet it would be worth a few bob on the bay