Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[JD450A]

Y'all do stuff differently. Stupid question,(my specialty) but what purpose does this tub of water serve?

Rat Bath House. Or a RBH tub for short. The idea is the water from the mains goes into the large open topped tank in the attic where the rats can bathe themselves in the chlorinated water, this improves there personal hygiene. The water is then recycled and used for human consumption which helps increase there Immunity.

 

[V8Druid]

Y'all do stuff differently. Stupid question,(my specialty) but what purpose does this tub of water serve?

Hi Keif ...... it's an old style system with a hot water storage tank, which can also be heated electrically, with an immersion heater coil, built into the tank.

the header tank is as high as you can get it in the property .. provides a good head of water to the tank, a floor below and keeps it totally full, with a rising expansion drain back into the header .... then the hot tank feeds the boiler's hot water jacket/loop, that supplies the hot water system, when the heating is on.
The hot water is stored in the lagged / insulated hot tank.

The boiler has a separate water jacket which heats the sealed/closed heating circuit, feeding all the radiators, which is pumped around the system when on... this too has an expansion/header tank to keep that system full.
each tank has an overflow to atmosphere, should they over fill, due to expansion (or ball float valve failure) and their own rising main feed on a ball float valve, to maintain a correct pre-set level in each. ... I ought to take a look at this smaller tank too, next time I'm in the attic/loft as it's the same age as the failed one ... but much smaller and so not under such stress .. the failed one is 15 gallons ...... hope that's a bit clearer

without the hot water header tank installed you can't run the boiler safely

 

[V8Druid]

Rat Bath House. Or a RBH tub for short. The idea is the water from the mains goes into the large open topped tank in the attic where the rats can bathe themselves in the chlorinated water, this improves their personal hygiene. The water is then recycled and used for human consumption which helps increase their Immunity.

almost right Rory ...
there's 'sposed to be a lid on the expansion tanks .....
's also why you should never drink water from a hot tap in a house ... it's not fresh, having been stood in the tank/system for prolonged periods ...
and possibly pee-ed/shat in, in your scenario

 

[Jimoz]

Don't older houses also sometimes have the cold on basins from the tank. Just the kitchen tap straight from mains?

 

[V8Druid]

Don't older houses also sometimes have the cold on basins from the tank. Just the kitchen tap straight from mains?

quite correct Jim ... I'd forgotten that ... not unusual for the bathroom cold taps to be supplied from that same tank, to provide a head of pressure. At one time the only potable water tap in a house was as you say in the kitchen - straight off the rising main

'course with the advent of combi boilers, no tanks and everything coming straight off the rising main, fresh as, a lot of this no longer applies

 

[Cyberprog]

Yep, no tank for either hot or cold in our house - it had clearly had one in the attic but was long gone by the time I bought the gaff.

 

[V8Druid]

Yep, no tank for either hot or cold in our house - it had clearly had one in the attic but was long gone by the time I bought the gaff.

gas combis are fine/great Alex .. already expressed my sentiments about oil fired ones earlier in the thread - C R A P !! ....I will not be replacing our Grant oil fired combi, when the time comes .. will be propane or conventional oil fired with tank system

 

[Cyberprog]

You could just build your own. They all use the same Riello burners for the most part!

 

[V8Druid]

You could just build your own. They all use the same Riello burners for the most part!

have considered converting this Grant from combi to conventional .. great water heater/boiler ... but the tortuous cycle it tries to run every time Pam flicks a hot tap on .... off, 'fore it has its head together, makes me cringe .... and educating her not to do it is like juggling soup even after explaining why not to do it

 

[Cyberprog]

have considered converting this Grant from combi to conventional .. great water heater/boiler ... but the tortuous cycle it tries to run every time Pam flicks a hot tap on .... off, 'fore it has its head together, makes me cringe .... and educating her not to do it is like juggling soup even after explaining why not to do it

Women don't get mechanical sympathy. Mind you, she is liking the Nest thermostat I installed.

 

[pettsy]

As an apprentice I watched my boss try to get a blockage out of a cold water feed pipe with some hose. As he sucked small pieces came out..... what the bits were only became apparent once we found what was floating on and at the bottom of the tank

have considered converting this Grant from combi to conventional .. great water heater/boiler ... but the tortuous cycle it tries to run every time Pam flicks a hot tap on .... off, 'fore it has its head together, makes me cringe .... and educating her not to do it is like juggling soup even after explaining why not to do it

I’ve seen it done where houses have outgrown an existing combi. You keep the combi dhw supply for a certain tap, but add an additional heating zone that heats up an unvented cylinder.

 

[Cyberprog]

As an apprentice I watched my boss try to get a blockage out of a cold water feed pipe with some hose. As he sucked small pieces came out..... what the bits were only became apparent once we found what was floating on and at the bottom of the tank




I’ve seen it done where houses have outgrown an existing combi. You keep the combi dhw supply for a certain tap, but add an additional heating zone that heats up an unvented cylinder.

Bet you learnt something that day!

 

[V8Druid]

Bet you learnt something that day!

yeh ...... blow, don't suck

 

[V8Druid]

I’ve seen it done where houses have outgrown an existing combi. You keep the combi dhw supply for a certain tap, but add an additional heating zone that heats up an unvented cylinder.

presumably through an indirect coil, like / as if it were another radiator ? and draw off from the top, with a rising main topping it up, from the bottom ?

 

[pettsy]

presumably through an indirect coil, like / as if it were another radiator ? and draw off from the top, with a rising main topping it up, from the bottom ?

yes, piped up like a regular boiler with two zone valves for heating/hot water control. If your water main is sufficient I’d fit a mains pressure hot water cylinder. The hot water part of the combi provides hot to a certain part of the system and the unvented cylinder does the rest. If you got a twin coil cylinder you could add another heating source too.

 

[V8Druid]

yes, piped up like a regular boiler with two zone valves for heating/hot water control. If your water main is sufficient I’d fit a mains pressure hot water cylinder. The hot water part of the combi provides hot to a certain part of the system and the unvented cylinder does the rest. If you got a twin coil cylinder you could add another heating source too.

sadly I am on a spring supply with pumped pressure, on a demand valve system ... open tap, pressure drops, pump runs ... close tap, pump continues until 1.5 bar reached in the system, pump turns off ... effectively the same as mains, but more self reliant

 

[pettsy]

Unvented is normally limited to 3 bar with a pressure reducer anyway so would in theory still work.

 

[V8Druid]

Didn't hear from Vicki yesterday 'til lunch time so was assuming all the water was where it's supposed to be.

we have had her brother, his wife and their two children here for a couple of days .. arrived late Sat. night ... and Vicki and Clara were due here for lunch

so was gonna find out
I 'd have been very pissed off if the second 'repair' hadn't been effective ... and annoyed if she hasn't told me sooner so i could have done something about it

However .. transpired all water was where it should be

and all working fine ......
'cept my boiler decided to have a hiccup an hour after she arrived

.......
seems OK now after sticking it on manual, giving it some HEAT and topping up the pressure a bit .. which did look fine, but an extra 0.2 bar seems to have settled it

we'll see .... just didn't sound right ... but does now

.......
funny how your ear will pick up the slightest thing when it's in tune with regular background noises

She brought Clara up this morning at 07:45 before work and it's still fine .. and DRY ... so got some breathing space to sort the new one

 

[V8Druid]

As said Josh and family here, over the weekend ... his Birthday shortly and we're not going to see them for three months ... off traveling later in the month, having saved up holidays, maternity and paternity allowances .. off round Europe ... again .. possibly not the greatest time to choose but all planned months in advance and they'll just keep away from people as much as poss.

little un's growing

daddy didn't get a look in on the candles ... four or five times, Sunday afternoon ..

Clara and Shem decorated his cake ..... bit random ... but they didn't pinch any, whilst they were doing it .. much to Pam's amazement

they departed about lunchtime, after I'd fetched Clara back from nursery yesterday ...... then it was treatment time, bit later than the usual Monday morning, after we'd had lunch ..... Clara loves to get in on the act .....

gonna be a while 'fore she gets anywhere near my arm, with a canular ...... she's dangerous enough with a thermometer

 

[V8Druid]

As said Josh and family here, over the weekend ... his Birthday shortly and we're not going to see them for three months ... off traveling later in the month, having saved up holidays, maternity and paternity allowances .. off round Europe ... again

well I don't think they'll be going anywhere somehow be lucky if anyone'll be able to get off our island next week ..... or better still, arrive here

Another interesting one, that has occurred to me this last week ...... we're under the flight / glide paths for several airports, Bristol, Cardiff, Brum, etc..They'm a long way up when they come over us - audible, but not at a nuisance level and forever criss cross each other ... anyway .. not unusual to see half a dozen in the air above us at all time s of the day and evening ... usually .... the last week or so yer's lucky to see one, and pretty infrequently ... just seen the first 747 in days ... usually several a day, plus all the smaller charter sizes .....
last time the skies were this quiet was when that volcano erupted

recall reading somewhere a while ago that if all the aircraft in the world had/were to be grounded .... there ain't enough parking spaces at the world's airports to accommodate them all ........ by summat like 40-50 % most of them spend the majority of their time aloft