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Pipe off hot water tank

canalsiderenovation

By canalsiderenovation
in General Plumbing

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canalsiderenovation Advanced Member

canalsiderenovation

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A lot of you will know we bought a narrowboat, though this is a plumbing question and hopefully someone can answer as it's not too dissimilar to what's on a property albeit smaller.

 

IMG_20210911_091844.thumb.jpg.527d057d6d028d45d326f2d977d67e3b.jpg

 

We had a bit of an incident just now when we couldn't get water - pump working no water from taps. We soon discovered the problem and the red pipe had come off the tank filling up part of the bottom with water (now removed and there was quite a bit)! The jubilee clip was a bit loose but the issue seems to be that this is under the seat area which pulls out to be the bed and the bottom of the bed is almost rubbing along the top of the grey plastic/red pipe which I think has contributed to it coming loose.

 

We ultimately need to make the pipe bit lower as without quite a bit of joinery work to higher the bed/batons though for now we have just tightened the jubilee clips and pushed the pipe on more.

 

Any suggestions please?

 

 

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joe90 Advanced Member

joe90

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That looks like a 15mm compression fitting into the tank, if you loosened the nut and removed the plastic 90’ fitting and replaced it with one of these and a piece of 15mm copper pipe, as long as that red pipe will fit onto 15mm copper.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/endex-copper-end-feed-equal-90-street-elbows-15mm-10-pack/38275
 

might be good if you let your tame (new) plumber have a look (not your old one) he will know and have all the bits.

Edited by joe90
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Onoff Advanced Member

Onoff

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You're supposed to use a metal insert in the ends of the grey plastic pipes. It sort of reinforces the end where it goes into the plastic elbow. Indeed it would help at the red rubber pipe junction:

 

1624304581_images(1).jpeg.3e4e2e56363dd6833cb443d54e86ebc4.jpeg

 

hep2o2.jpg.5ddaa580ce1b6bfe6556b135cbcf76e2.jpg

 

Or as said above use a short bit of copper pipe instead of the plastic (going into the red).

 

As an aside if you haven't already then invest in a cheap Vernier type caliper, invaluable for measuring pipe dia etc when asking questions. Random link. You can often pick up Lidl/Aldi for a tenner:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LEDLUX-Professional-Stainless-Digital-Caliper/dp/B08ZJDVPLJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_10?

 

 

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joe90 Advanced Member

joe90

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3 hours ago, TonyT said:

Isn’t that a street fitting that would be a thicker wall construction?

Yes these don’t need an insert.

 

9 hours ago, TonyT said:

Take the plastic fitting out and cut 1/2” off the end and reintstall.

yes with a new “o” ring. No need to disturb the joint to the red pipe.

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ProDave Advanced Member

ProDave

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30 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

I assume this is a typical ‘boat’ hot water system, but if there is no vent then I wonder how expansion / contraction, when the water heats up and cools down, is overcome? :/ 

What temperature does the water get to?

Yes and typical caravan system.

 

Hot and cold water piping in red and blue "garden hose"

 

There are 2 systems commonly in use.  One is "pressurised" where there is a pressure switch and the pump runs until a certain pressure is reached then shuts off.  that system as soon as you turn a tap on the pressure drops and the pump starts to maintain flow.  I assume there is a small expansion vessel somewhere if nothing else to prevent short cycling of the pump.

 

The other system which my caravan has is all the taps have a switch that closes when you open the tap to turn on the pump.  I have not seen any expansion vessel in mine so assume the HW cylinder expansion just vents back through the pump into the water tank.

 

On a boat or in a caravan it's a bit like wiring, rigid stuff does not stand up well to vibration so multi strand flex for wiring and a lot of "hose" used for water.

 

On a typical boat like this with an engine that tank will be a "calorifier" which heats the water from the diesel engine cooling water.  On a caravan it's more likely to be a gas / electric heater directly heating the small tank.

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canalsiderenovation Advanced Member

canalsiderenovation

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3 hours ago, ProDave said:

On a typical boat like this with an engine that tank will be a "calorifier" which heats the water from the diesel engine cooling water.  On a caravan it's more likely to be a gas / electric heater directly heating the small tank.

 

Yes you're correct. Our hot water is heated by the engine and the tank is a calorifier. Bigger and fancier boats have water heaters but not for us at 26.5ft. We also only have 12v (fridge is 12v and oven is gas). We have found 12v is fine for us even for a week away as the only real things we charge is our phones.

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canalsiderenovation Advanced Member

canalsiderenovation

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23 hours ago, Onoff said:

You're supposed to use a metal insert in the ends of the grey plastic pipes. It sort of reinforces the end where it goes into the plastic elbow. Indeed it would help at the red rubber pipe junction:

 

Any idea where I can source these from? I think the best option is going to be cut down the plastic grey bit, new olive and refit and see if that's made it lower.

 

Or alternatively if this doesn't give us the height we need do what @Nickfromwalessuggested and fit an new elbow and move the grey thing further down as well.

 

We made it home safely either way for now so need to do a couple of jobs before our next trip.

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Onoff Advanced Member

Onoff

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6 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

Any idea where I can source these from?

 

I only mean inserts both ends on the short horizontal pipe. 

 

Is there anything written on it, maybe "Hep2O"..."15mm"?

 

When the red pipe came off, did you notice an insert in the end of the grey pipe, (they can be metal or plastic)? 

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Onoff Advanced Member

Onoff

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2 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

 

I'll double check tomorrow and see thanks ? 

 

I'd bung you a short length in the post with a couple of inserts but I don't think anyone wants anything I've just tested positive for at the moment!

 

A clue, it's not twins / @pocster's

 

 

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Pocster Advanced Member

Pocster

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1 hour ago, Onoff said:

 

I'd bung you a short length in the post with a couple of inserts but I don't think anyone wants anything I've just tested positive for at the moment!

 

A clue, it's not twins / @pocster's

 

 

B a s t a r d - you’ll still be paying the child maintenance 

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canalsiderenovation Advanced Member

canalsiderenovation

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Okey dokey.

 

Here are some pics. The end of the red hose looks like this so I think has the inserts already.

 

IMG_20210913_171159.thumb.jpg.a33685a14913d96fea256b2f272a08d3.jpg

 

When removing the plastic pipe I can't get the brass bit off it as it has a bit of a lip on the plastic thing they fixes onto the tank and even cutting it I don't think would reduce the height much. So cutting it I think wouldn't work.

 

Hmmm, not sure what to do.

 

IMG_20210913_171300.thumb.jpg.e2533bd9107bab4c8e19d5eb85edc6bb.jpg

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