Any Plumbers lurking here??

[Damon]

Hi all, I have a question for you plumbing lot...

I am soon to be installing a hot water system into the house we are in the process of buying. What I'll be doing is essentially moving around and adapting the current system albeit with all new pipework and cold water storage tank. The current setup includes a hot water cylinder which takes up half of the kitchen (i'm not exaggerating, it has its own plasterboard room)! + a bathroom that is a part of the 60's extension to the rear of the property. We are going to be changing the current bathroom to a pantry/ storage room and fit a bathroom to one of the upstairs bedrooms.

The setup is an vented cylinder with a cold water tank heated indirectly by an oil boiler. The water pressure isn't great enough for a unvented cylinder and to be honest I'd rather have a system that I can personally work on and maintain without calling out a "specialist" every year for a checkup.

The main question I have is that I would like to keep the hot water cylinder down on the ground floor. My understanding is that this wouldn't be a problem as it is only the cold water head that needs to be kept as large as possible. The hot water cylinder will be next to the oil boiler for simplicity and space reasons.

The second question I have is that we have a beautiful 200ltr freestanding roll top to fit in the bathroom. The bath's cold will be mains fed whilst hot water is from the cylinder. I'm going to buy a new cold water tank anyway so I know exactly when it was fitted and how old it is. Would a 150L tank be sufficient for this? I'm not 100% sure on the size of the hot water cylinder at present but it's not a small one!

Finally, (thank god I hear you say) We plan to fit a gravity fed shower with it's cold supplied from the cold water tank via 22mm pipes. Would the proposed 150L cold water tank be big enough for this purpose or should I just fit a biggun/ piggyback a couple of them just to be safe?

Below is an image of the setup I plan to use. Can anyone in the know confirm this would be ok or give me a slap? I haven't included any of the heating circuit into the diagram other than an expansion vessel to show it's a sealed pressurised system.

Any help would be appreciated as always! Damo



[img]https://s27.postimg.org/vbcw6rnxb/Scan.jpg[/img]

[colink98]

https://s27.postimg.org/x35v1o7ab/Scan.jpg
____________________
PCX125 (stolen) - CBF600 (current)
Ride it like you stole it.
ride sensible and not like an idiot and you wont get 6 points in one week.

[colink98]

The main question I have is that I would like to keep the hot water cylinder down on the ground floor. My understanding is that this wouldn't be a problem as it is only the cold water head that needs to be kept as large as possible. The hot water cylinder will be next to the oil boiler for simplicity and space reasons.

Its going to be the difference in height between the Cold Water tank and the Shower/Bath/Sink (on the first floor) that is going to dictate what pressure you get out of the taps.

The second question I have is that we have a beautiful 200ltr freestanding roll top to fit in the bathroom. The bath's cold will be mains fed whilst hot water is from the cylinder. I'm going to buy a new cold water tank anyway so I know exactly when it was fitted and how old it is. Would a 150L tank be sufficient for this? I'm not 100% sure on the size of the hot water cylinder at present but it's not a small one!

The Cold water tank is going to start filling (from cold water mains) as soon as the ball cock drops.
Plus according to your diagram the cold feed to the bath is going to be mains fed, so all the cold water tanks needs to replenish is the hot water cylinder.
i suspect you would run out of hot water before the cold water tank would run low.

Finally, (thank god I hear you say) We plan to fit a gravity fed shower with it's cold supplied from the cold water tank via 22mm pipes. Would the proposed 150L cold water tank be big enough for this purpose or should I just fit a biggun/ piggyback a couple of them just to be safe?

The cold water tank is going to fill at such a rate that you are unlikely going to be able to run it low with just the shower.
Are you planning to have a power shower and hence better to run from a tank ?

Below is an image of the setup I plan to use. Can anyone in the know confirm this would be ok or give me a slap? I haven't included any of the heating circuit into the diagram other than an expansion vessel to show it's a sealed pressurised system.

its a work of art no ?
____________________
PCX125 (stolen) - CBF600 (current)
Ride it like you stole it.
ride sensible and not like an idiot and you wont get 6 points in one week.

[bugeye_bob]

looking at your picture you have a mixer shower(Hot and cold water fed to it), if you are fixed on this, then I suggest a pump to boost the pressure, or swap this for an instant electric shower, as this will be off the mains cold water, and the pressure will be higher(unless you fit the pump I mentioned),
also what is the red hot water pipe from the cold tank to the sink ?

[colink98]

[Damon]

Thanks for the input guys. Much appreciated

An electric shower does make much more sense. I always thought they were massive white plastic boxes but after looking it seems times have changed and they are much better now.

Problem solved as long as I have enough mains pressure

[G]

You can have a pump running on just one side - so pump the hot, but not the mains-pressure cold.

Had to do this at my mum's, whiched worked fine on a basic mixer, but didn't work very well at all with a thermostatic mixer.

Got a pressure tester, then got a single rather than dual pump. Works nicely and I'd say the end result is better than an electric shower, which can leave you with pressure vs temperature issues.