Hi, looking for advice about unvented cylinder. I had one installed as part of a horrific modular loft conversion that was recently finished. The water pressure in the bathrooms is poor, probably worse than when just had combi and I cant use two showers/bathrooms at one time which was the point in having it installed. When first installed it seemed good but then there was a leak in the system. Leak was fixed but pressure now poor. The tested cold incoming measures at 22 lpm and 3 bar but when i check this in bathrooms its less than 8lpm. The plumber is refusing to return as loft company arent paying him(think theyre going under) and his only advice is that the incoming supply is the issue. Im not convinced though due to rate during test and i've recently tested outside tap and its 3 times quicker than inside. The new shower in loft occassionally has fluntuating pressure that you can see by eye. Does anyone have any advice?
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The incoming supply has never been touched and has old stopcock so think its 15mm. The cold cylinder incoming was taken from the cold pipe under the stairs which is also 15mm (photo attached). From the first floor i believe they are all 22mm pipes up to cylinder which is horizontal in loft eaves.
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That stopcock is going to reduce the flow
Also the cylinder isn't rated for horizontal install best get the plumbing firm back as install is not to regs also not fit for purpose
Also the cylinder isn't rated for horizontal install best get the plumbing firm back as install is not to regs also not fit for purpose
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Tell him the insulation isn't to spec and regs and needs to be re done at his own cost
I’d play devils advocate and tell him that the install is incorrect and potentially unsafe and that you’ll be going to local building authority as it’s a notifiable install. That is not installed to G3 regs
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Seen it all now get em back thats not fitted correctly or report em to gas safe they will force them to put it right or give you your money back so you can employ another engineer to sort it, do you have a compliance certificate ? Kop
They clearly weren’t G3 qualified then as it’s a right hash and hadn’t speced the right pipework changes or a horizontal cylinder
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Horizontal cylinders have all the connections on the top so they can be serviced easily and have internal dip tubes so they don't suck cold water
No i have nothing from them. Apart from vertical cylinder can you explain other issues? I would be surprised if loft company would have used them if not gas safe as all part of contract for sign off and commissioning. Could they get away with it by saying they didnt specify cylinder (the loft company did?)
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Somantics it’s a vertical cylinder fitted horizontally. IF he’s qualified he should know
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I seriously cant believe this. Should i highlight anything other than the cylinder direction. He had discussed putting a pump on the cold water(under the stairs)? Is the pressure on outside tap good because all on 15mm pipe? If cylinder pipework was 15mm would it have been better pressure?
Is that a vertical Tempest cylinder that has been turned on its side and mounted horizontally?
If so, WTF???
Time to get a new, G3 qualified, plumber in to survey the installation and quote for fixing any issues.
I hope you haven't paid the loft conversion company yet... :-(
If so, WTF???
Time to get a new, G3 qualified, plumber in to survey the installation and quote for fixing any issues.
I hope you haven't paid the loft conversion company yet... :-(
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He’s a cowboy. Should’ve done the cold feed right at the start. An accumulator or similar could help solve your problem but it certainly shouldn’t be at your expense. And no. Pressure and flow rate are key don’t drop to 15
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Landmark lofts are the loft firm and landmark heating managed the cylinder installation. I dont think landmark heating are in trouble but think landmark lofts are. So incoming goes straight through house and under kitchen tiles. This and feed to cylinder(once correct) would all need to be replaced to get a good flow? The loft firms "engineer" that scoped the job and did pressure and flow tests never mentioned anything about incoming.
Well he clearly wasn’t qualified. He should as a minimum have tested static and dynamic pressure as well as lpm did he do any tests or just turn on a tap and say ooh that’s good
Well if they’ve installed a potential bomb like that one would be remiss not to ask about the rest of it
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I may be hedging my bets here but is there a chance that these cowboys have actually accidentally bypassed the cylinder and your hot water is all coming from the Combi still
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No warranty could split due to not designed for that
Have they allowed for the weight load in that area
It’s not installed to spec. It won’t heat correctly, your drawing off hot water from half way up so it won’t be hottest if cylinder is going through a reheat
Based on what you’ve told us I wouldn’t trust any of it and would be getting it independently signed off
I don’t think it matters mate. Get it fixed properly and safely. Let us know how you go
Just one further question. The plumber put a pump on the cold water supply because he said without it i wouldnt get many showers worth. Is this kind of pump needed on vertically installed units or did he know what he was doing was rubbish and decided to get the best out of it? He advised at the time that he was going to tell the loft firm that it needed one.
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That pump is a secondary return pump
Only way they could install it is from the cold cylinder connection to the hot
But that won't work on your cylinder
If it's plumbed into the cold eg cold is flowing from the stop tap to this then out to your cylinder then that would add some restriction
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I mean I’d be intrigued how he explains it all. I would ask him for a formal written explanation
If he was using it just as a secondary pump it could be to ensure no huge water draw off before you get hot at a tap
Another interesting part of the puzzle is that he said that loft firm owe him 10k and were trying to get him to sign contact retrospectively which said they were just an agent and the contract was between me and him. He was saying there was no way hes going to sign it...not sure where this leaves me legally!
These are the questions you need to ask. I would still say as he’s physically installed there is liability. Particularly as he’s installed it so wrong. Also it’s funny that he’s coming up with the excuses already
Doesn't help the home owner but if the loft company put the wrong cylinder up there before the plumber started. They owe him money and are about to go bust and told him to make it work or he will never see his money
He may be stuck between a rock and hard place.
I see your point mate but to do a dangerous install doesn’t exactly exonerate him
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