vented thermal store cylinder query

[Dan the plumber]

Evening all,

After a bit of advice from you knowledgeable lot please!

AI am currently working on a maintanance contract at a friends offices. One job he asked me to look at is a leaking immersion heater on what I think may be a vented thermal store cylinder (gledhill).

The cylinder is mounted horizontally and suspended above a false ceiling. It has 2 entering the cylinder from above & 2 exiting below.
The reason I believe this is a thermal store is; it looks as if it is being mains fed. The label on the cylinder jacket says it is vented but cannot see that the cylinder has a vent pipe!?

I have never worked on one of these before so in regards to changing the immersion heater fibre washer, is it the same principle of a normal direct / indirect cylinder? To make matters worse, no drain off has been installed so looks like undoing the immersion heater & draining down that way.

Thanks in advance for your help all.

Dan

 

[diamondgas]

That's a lot of water I'd imagine! A picture would help Dan

 

[Dan the plumber]

That's a lot of water I'd imagine! A picture would help Dan

 

[Dan the plumber]

I attached a pic but from my phone so may not work! Will sort a few out later when I'm home! The commissioning checklist stuck on the lagging says that the tank size is 42 x 18....I think it is bigger than this so will drop my tape on it when I arrive there today.

My thoughts exactly regarding a lot of water so reckon I'll have sore shoulders by the end of the day from holding a bucket under the immersion outlet-lol

The cylinder feeds 7 basins in total over 3 floors!

 

[Dan the plumber]

Hmmmm the plot thickens!!!!

I have turned off a gate valve which I believed was the mains feed going into the top of the cylinder. I opened the hot taps at a few basins only to find that water is still flowing freely!
Obviously I don't fancy cracking open the immersion heater if water is still flowing!

Any ideas guys & gals!?

 

[diamondgas]

Hi dan, if it's thermal store you'll need to drain down the heating side of the system. The hot water will run freely as its, in effect, a massive coil inside the vat of heated water. Bit like an indirect cylinder in reverse if that makes sense?

 

[AWheating]

as diamond has stated the heating side needs to be drained down. The water to the taps is via a coil which wont need draining to change the immersion heater . If it is a thermal store of course. There should be a doc around the base of the cylinder?

 

[Dan the plumber]

Thanks guys. Yeah I get what your saying about a kind of reverse indirect cylinder diamondgas.....bit of a thick question here but if the hot water runs freely inside a coil, once that hot has been used, cold water will need to then sit inside the coil for x amount of time to be heated again?

How would I confirm that it is actually a thermal store cylinder!? The label on the jacket says that it is a vented cylinder & in the checklist both "cylinder" and "indirect P or G" looks as if it could have been ticked but ink is smudged! there does not appear to be a vent pipe coming out of the cylinder!? Where would a vent pipe be vented to if the cylinder is not been tank fed!?
Dont know if this is relevant but on the "size" line, it says 42x18 bell-kindrton!?

 

[diamondgas]

Hi Dan, with thermal store you have a vast amount of external heat to draw from in comparison to the amount of water being drawn off. The 'vat' of water is kept at central heating circulation temp 80 degC plus! So the mains fed coil will extract some heat but rarely runs cold!

Never seen a thermal store mounted horizontally by-the-way, but then these cylinder manufacturers will overcome anything to do the job ... have you tried contacting Gledhill?

If the cylinder ain't tank fed then it's sealed .. If that's te case you'd be expecting to find some kind of expansion vessel somewhere or tother yeh?

Still waiting for the pictures, by-the-way

 

[Dan the plumber]

Hi Dan, with thermal store you have a vast amount of external heat to draw from in comparison to the amount of water being drawn off. The 'vat' of water is kept at central heating circulation temp 80 degC plus! So the mains fed coil will extract some heat but rarely runs cold!

Never seen a thermal store mounted horizontally by-the-way, but then these cylinder manufacturers will overcome anything to do the job ... have you tried contacting Gledhill?

If the cylinder ain't tank fed then it's sealed .. If that's te case you'd be expecting to find some kind of expansion vessel somewhere or tother yeh?

Still waiting for the pictures, by-the-way

So during these beautiful summer months that we get here in England :bigcry: when the heating gets turned off, the immersion heater will still suffice?

Regarding being a sealed system, there is no expansion vessel to be seen hence is more confusing!

Sorry about the pic quality, was balancing on a ladder with my head poking through a ceiling tile...lol :

 

[Dan the plumber]

and another.....

 

[diamondgas]

Looks like a launch pic from NASSA :lol:

Whish I could be of more help Dan ! It's an unusual set up for sure! No chance of getting hold of the installers is there! Been many a time in my past I've rang folk just to ask WTF is this I'm looking at? lol

 

[Dan the plumber]

Looks like a launch pic from NASSA :lol:

Whish I could be of more help Dan ! It's an unusual set up for sure! No chance of getting hold of the installers is there! Been many a time in my past I've rang folk just to ask WTF is this I'm looking at? lol

lol that was my artistic photography skills coming into play.......i dont think :leaving:


Im glad you agree it is an unusual set up cos I was starting to think it was me being a complete d1ck and its something simple staring at me!

I think the owner may still have the installers details (i hope anyway!) as the cylinder was only installed last year i believe so may go down that route and have a chat to them......the owner did advise today it took the plumber a good few hours to drain down when this new cylinder was installed so may have that to look forward to "if" it is a thermal store...lol

 

[diamondgas]

lol that was my artistic photography skills coming into play.......i dont think :leaving:


Im glad you agree it is an unusual set up cos I was starting to think it was me being a complete d1ck and its something simple staring at me!

I think the owner may still have the installers details (i hope anyway!) as the cylinder was only installed last year i believe so may go down that route and have a chat to them......the owner did advise today it took the plumber a good few hours to drain down when this new cylinder was installed so may have that to look forward to "if" it is a thermal store...lol

If the custard can't help, such a new install, Gledhill will have a record of the spec I'd guess Dan!

 

[Dan the plumber]

If the custard can't help, such a new install, Gledhill will have a record of the spec I'd guess Dan!

Magic, thanks for your help on this mate, appreciate it.

Wont be going back to the job till next Tuesday now but might just ring gledhill between now & then to see if they can shed any light on the situation!

Thanks again