J
jynweythek
Hi, this may seem like an absurd post but I know nothing about plumbing. Essentially I am after a bit of reassurance.
I have lived in this property (HA) for around 6 years, the building is 9 years old. It's an upstairs flat, with the downstairs flat having a separate water supply/setup. Within the first few weeks of moving in a surveyor came out to inspect the property. He stuck his head in the attic and said to his assistant: "tank is uncovered needs covering ASAP". Since then nothing.
I have had regular heating mishaps since moving here; the boiler bangs and sounds like there is scale or something similar in the pipes (clattering noise). It regularly breaks down and the pump in the cupboard (Grundfos 15-50) makes the same rattling sounds as the boiler. It frequently stops working. A new pump was fitted within a few weeks of moving in and every time a HA plumber comes out they act baffled at the fact the pump keeps breaking down. Often they will turn up unscrew the silver screw and restart the pump. Sometimes when my heating breaks down I can cycle power to the heating and eventually the pump will restart. One HA plumber came out and explained that the noises and failures were due to junk in the system and that I needed to book a full power flush. HA act like I am an idiot whenever I mention this.
Today a friend went up in my attic (I cannot) as i wanted to know which tank was uncovered and whether or not I have been drinking or bathing in putrid water (I have developed bacterial infections). He isn't a plumber but I wanted some evidence to force the HA to fix my heating once and for all. There was one large tank in the attic, lagged and covered with what looked like a black bin liner. There was a second, smaller tank higher up with a ballcock. This is not covered and my friend literally gagged when he looked inside it. There is at least one bird, possibly a rodent or two (we get starlings, squirrels and possibly bats in our attics) in the water, which he said is a foul colour and looks full of sediment, droppings and other nasties.
As far as I can tell (google) I think I have a main cold water tank, which (I think) feeds all the taps, with an expansion tank which serves the central heating. If this sounds correct I have three questions:
1: would a tank full of nasties produce the symptoms I am experiencing with my heating system?
2: (I accept this may be difficult to answer) does the contents of the smaller, putrid little tank get anywhere near the water I use to bathe, shower or wash in?
3: Should the putrid little tank be full of clean water, and should it be covered?
Essentially I need ammunition as the HA don't seem to be taking me seriously; when I called to book a power flush as suggested by one of their own plumbers they acted like I was an idiot. Also, some of the plumbers seem incredulous that my pump/heating keeps failing (one said it would be a battle to get a new pump fitted as mine was only 3 years old and this is unusual). But I have spent quite a lot of time without heating and I am loathe to keep on phoning to have it fixed when they sometimes act like I must be doing something to break the system myself.
Thanks for your time, hopefully this post is not tl;dr!
Cheers
I have lived in this property (HA) for around 6 years, the building is 9 years old. It's an upstairs flat, with the downstairs flat having a separate water supply/setup. Within the first few weeks of moving in a surveyor came out to inspect the property. He stuck his head in the attic and said to his assistant: "tank is uncovered needs covering ASAP". Since then nothing.
I have had regular heating mishaps since moving here; the boiler bangs and sounds like there is scale or something similar in the pipes (clattering noise). It regularly breaks down and the pump in the cupboard (Grundfos 15-50) makes the same rattling sounds as the boiler. It frequently stops working. A new pump was fitted within a few weeks of moving in and every time a HA plumber comes out they act baffled at the fact the pump keeps breaking down. Often they will turn up unscrew the silver screw and restart the pump. Sometimes when my heating breaks down I can cycle power to the heating and eventually the pump will restart. One HA plumber came out and explained that the noises and failures were due to junk in the system and that I needed to book a full power flush. HA act like I am an idiot whenever I mention this.
Today a friend went up in my attic (I cannot) as i wanted to know which tank was uncovered and whether or not I have been drinking or bathing in putrid water (I have developed bacterial infections). He isn't a plumber but I wanted some evidence to force the HA to fix my heating once and for all. There was one large tank in the attic, lagged and covered with what looked like a black bin liner. There was a second, smaller tank higher up with a ballcock. This is not covered and my friend literally gagged when he looked inside it. There is at least one bird, possibly a rodent or two (we get starlings, squirrels and possibly bats in our attics) in the water, which he said is a foul colour and looks full of sediment, droppings and other nasties.
As far as I can tell (google) I think I have a main cold water tank, which (I think) feeds all the taps, with an expansion tank which serves the central heating. If this sounds correct I have three questions:
1: would a tank full of nasties produce the symptoms I am experiencing with my heating system?
2: (I accept this may be difficult to answer) does the contents of the smaller, putrid little tank get anywhere near the water I use to bathe, shower or wash in?
3: Should the putrid little tank be full of clean water, and should it be covered?
Essentially I need ammunition as the HA don't seem to be taking me seriously; when I called to book a power flush as suggested by one of their own plumbers they acted like I was an idiot. Also, some of the plumbers seem incredulous that my pump/heating keeps failing (one said it would be a battle to get a new pump fitted as mine was only 3 years old and this is unusual). But I have spent quite a lot of time without heating and I am loathe to keep on phoning to have it fixed when they sometimes act like I must be doing something to break the system myself.
Thanks for your time, hopefully this post is not tl;dr!
Cheers
