Ancient HW Cylinder - replacement
 

We have a an old solid fuel heating system (which works well and
cheaply too), but the hot water cylinder has corroded and is now
leaking.

The plumber who came to look at it said we needed a 'specially made'
cylinder for solid fuel heating and was going to order one but he's
been rushed into hospital.

I think I could do this job myself if all I had to do was disconnect
it and reconnect the new cylinder....but I suspect the connections are
old BSP fittings rather than metric which might complicate things a
bit.

Suggestions for a supplier would be helpful, and am I likely to be
able to get a cylinder with suitable threads on the connections ?

TIA

Ancient HW Cylinder - replacement
 

"Britannica" wrote in message
...
We have a an old solid fuel heating system (which works well and
cheaply too), but the hot water cylinder has corroded and is now
leaking.

The plumber who came to look at it said we needed a 'specially made'
cylinder for solid fuel heating and was going to order one but he's
been rushed into hospital.

I think I could do this job myself if all I had to do was disconnect
it and reconnect the new cylinder....but I suspect the connections are
old BSP fittings rather than metric which might complicate things a
bit.

Threads are still the same. BSP.

Suggestions for a supplier would be helpful, and am I likely to be
able to get a cylinder with suitable threads on the connections ?

I don't know what he means by a special cylinder. It will be most likely
gravity primaries, but that does not mean a special cylinder. he may have
meant a primatic cylinder. Than mean no F&E tank.

Ancient HW Cylinder - replacement
 

IMM wrote

I don't know what he means by a special cylinder. It will be most likely
gravity primaries, but that does not mean a special cylinder. he may have
meant a primatic cylinder. Than mean no F&E tank.

He probably means a direct cylinder. Or maybe the diameter of the F & R pipes
is larger than normal.

Ancient HW Cylinder - replacement
 

Britannica wrote in message . ..
We have a an old solid fuel heating system (which works well and
cheaply too), but the hot water cylinder has corroded and is now
leaking.

The plumber who came to look at it said we needed a 'specially made'
cylinder for solid fuel heating and was going to order one but he's
been rushed into hospital.

I think I could do this job myself if all I had to do was disconnect
it and reconnect the new cylinder....but I suspect the connections are
old BSP fittings rather than metric which might complicate things a
bit.

Suggestions for a supplier would be helpful, and am I likely to be
able to get a cylinder with suitable threads on the connections ?

TIA

Sometimes when a "professional" says that something needs to be
"specially made" for your system it turns out that they wait a long
time then sell you an off-the-shelf item at an inflated price. I
would be tempted to get another plumber in to quote for replacing the
cylinder - and ask nonchalantly if it is a standard part he will be
using (he will probably say that it is a normal "direct" cylinder as
this is what you almost certainly need).

If the cylinder is off-the shelf and not much needs changing to make
it fit then you are probably looking at no more than about £100 for
parts and a few hours labour. There is a good chance that a couple of
the pipes might need moving a little to make the new cylinder fit, so
if you are not into plumbing it may not be a DIY job - and probably
not the best one to start a hobby with!

Ancient HW Cylinder - replacement
 

Britannica wrote in
:


Suggestions for a supplier would be helpful, and am I likely to be
able to get a cylinder with suitable threads on the connections ?

TIA

I went the other way and had a solid fuel back boiler replaced by gas.

The same cylinder was used, in fact the pipes to it were untouched at
the cylinder end; so it's hard to see what's "special" - it's worked
pretty well for about five years, and was elderly then.

Which led to the next problem, the original DHW gravity system has
gradually been uprated to a fully pumped CH/DHW system, with the
original pipes still in place, so an upgrade is needed that has to start
with a new cylinder and move out to central area piping. (or should it
be the other way round?)

(BTW, they are still 1" BSP, see the thread "confused about BSP
threads" starting on the 22nd for lots more info and a bit of
entertaining infighting)

The most accessible cylinders AFAICS are Albion, available in many sizes
and from many online dealers - I can't reccommend as I haven't made my
purchase yet, ther's also Range cylinders

http://rangecylinders.co.uk

but they don't appear as easy to acquire.

Screwfix supply a limited range from the rcm group

http://www.rcmgroup.co.uk

My problem now is that I can get no help at all from plumbers'
merchants, I'm convinced that the blokes are all cloned off the same
combi enthusuast, and Albion seem to be the only firm with a good online
selling network, so now you know just as much as I do

HTH

mike

Ancient HW Cylinder - replacement
 

"Britannica" wrote in message
...

The plumber who came to look at it said we needed a 'specially made'
cylinder for solid fuel heating and was going to order one but he's
been rushed into hospital.

Suggestions for a supplier would be helpful, and am I likely to be
able to get a cylinder with suitable threads on the connections ?

http://www.solidfuel.co.uk/frame/main.html ?

I think the tank, in an emergency, has to take the maxium output
from the solid fuel fire and dump the heat somewhere.

Ancient HW Cylinder - replacement
 

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 23:02:49 +0100, Nick Finnigan wrote:

I think the tank, in an emergency, has to take the maxium output
from the solid fuel fire and dump the heat somewhere.

You certainly need some form of automatic heat dump on the primary of
a solid fuel boiler so when (note: when not if) the tank starts to
boil you can dump the heat and not have to suffer the banging and
bumping from the cylinder (or a loft full of steam).

As for a special cylinder not heard that one before, always assuming
that this is a correctly installed system with gravity primary, heat
dump radiator etc.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Ancient HW Cylinder - replacement
 

In article om,
"Dave Liquorice" writes:

As for a special cylinder not heard that one before, always assuming

It's a term that's used, just after the sharp intake of breath through
the teeth, to prepare you for being ripped off.

A friend in London needed a "special cylinder" as his wasn't a standard
size (more bull****). When it had been fitted, I worked out what was
special about it (in addition to the price of course); it has a strange
property of being able to pump boiling hot water round the coil for
ages without it giving up any heat to the water in the cylinder.
So, special meant it had been ripped out of someone else's house, and
has several inches of hard water scale encasing the coil, no doubt.

--
Andrew Gabriel

Ancient HW Cylinder - replacement
 

On 25 Jun 2004 06:27:57 -0700, (Matt Beard) wrote:

Sometimes when a "professional" says that something needs to be
"specially made" for your system it turns out that they wait a long
time then sell you an off-the-shelf item at an inflated price. I
would be tempted to get another plumber in to quote for replacing the
cylinder - and ask nonchalantly if it is a standard part he will be
using (he will probably say that it is a normal "direct" cylinder as
this is what you almost certainly need).

If the cylinder is off-the shelf and not much needs changing to make
it fit then you are probably looking at no more than about £100 for
parts and a few hours labour. There is a good chance that a couple of
the pipes might need moving a little to make the new cylinder fit, so
if you are not into plumbing it may not be a DIY job - and probably
not the best one to start a hobby with!


A belated thanks to those who offered advice.

In fact the plumber who eventually did the job just got a 'stock' tank
to fit the space available and altered the pipework to suit.

With draining down and refilling etc. it took him just three hours,
(including only one coffe break of 15 mins