Baby inquest told of water fault

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It's certainly a tragedy, but with (probably) about 10 million thermostats out there the 10 million to 1 chance will occasionally happen. Not much you can do really.

BTW Why were the parents named Matthew and Charlie? And why were they asleep downstairs fully dressed?
 
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Maybe they will make it law that cylinders are fitted downstairs in future!

They will have to sort out the pressure problems I know.

One death is one too many and preventative action should be taken. :(
 
It is not an uncommon fault.
Normally for it to get that hot that the tank collapses the noise would have been very loud like someone hitting pipes with a hammer as the water boiled up through the pipes. But baring in mind it had probably been a hectic day moving in etc it woukd be quite easy to sleep through this.

Just sheer bad luck that the babys bed was right under it. There was another fatality earlier in the year when the same thing happened to a couple in bed .

Stats now come with an overheat trip on them but it will be decades before the old stats are changed i
 
Bahco it was the plastic header tank that got that hot that it collapsed so cylinder downstairs would not make any difference.
 
I suspect the previous occupants would have known there was a problem, but the new people moved in and left the immersion heater on overnight, giving it time to overheat and bubble up into the CWC. I imagine this would have taken quite a long time.
 
Maybe they will make it law that cylinders are fitted downstairs in future!

They will have to sort out the pressure problems I know.

One death is one too many and preventative action should be taken. :(

How about we vent to outside and terminate in the same manner as we do for combis :idea: :idea:
Cylinder and boiler could be done this way could they not :?:
 
How long will it be before we hear Messrs Bodgit and Scarper will jump on the band wagon and doing some cold calling ?
 
How long will it be before we hear Messrs Bodgit and Scarper will jump on the band wagon and doing some cold calling ?

Not long i'll bet, but that said joe-public is more aware these days of cowboys and con artist though it dont stop some people being hoodwinked :rolleyes:
 
Bahco it was the plastic header tank that got that hot that it collapsed so cylinder downstairs would not make any difference.
How about a temperature gauge alarm fitted to the water tank as a back up with the bell ringer inside the house or shut down the immersion heater?

Would having a metal tank prevent it?
 
An absolute tragedy ... Can anyone take me through from a technical point of view what happened?

I'm guessing it was a copper tank with an electrical immersion heater?..The temp stat on the copper tank failed?..The water then started to boil and then boiled up through the vent pipe to the plastic tank in the loft which subesequently failed??

Have I got this correct?..As folk have said i'd have thought in this day and age there would be a cheap way of doing a redesign to have a backup safety stat or redesign of vent??
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Just been reading elsewhere on the forum in the plumbing section ..and I now see that immersion heater stats fitted from 2004 have a secondary safety cut out device fitted..
 
Bahco it was the plastic header tank that got that hot that it collapsed so cylinder downstairs would not make any difference.

Sorry I didn't know.

Maybe these plastic cisterns need new designs to make them withstand more heat / pressure.

Also CLF gas has a good point too.
 
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