There are 3 power showers in our house and I had a bigger hot water tank put in to cope, but it turns out that the cold water tank empties before the hot water tank does! So I plan to put in a second cold water tank. I am at a 'pre-planning' stage and would like to seek some advice before I start planning proper.
I have read as many related posts that I can find and came across links to MiTek's "The World of Roof Technology" and the TRA handbook (although I can only download page 19 and it looks identical to what is in the MiTek book). It is clear that the central section of my roof uses standard Fink trusses and it appears that the cold water tank is supported correctly: According to my measurements the tank holds about 220 litres and is supported over 3 trusses with 600mm spacing. The span between nodes is 2.2m.
Now to one side there is a lot of piping and then the loft hatch so I can't really locate a second tank there. On the other side there are two more trusses and then the end wall of the house (so one of those trusses is only about 50mm from the wall). Additionally the spacing of these last 2 trusses is 470mm instead of the 600mm for all the others. This is the only place that I could sensibly put a second tank.
So now I am trying to interpret the information so that I can correctly support a tank over 2 trusses, but I am having trouble. My 'bay' size is 2.2m so that exceeds the 2m maximum for the 'small span' example given. Whilst I am tempted to use reason such as "if I can put 220 litres over 3 trusses then surely I can put up to about 140 litres over 2?" I feel very nervous about it. Hence this post to seek some advice.
Some key questions I have are:
1) Is it better for me to independently support a second tank on the next 2 trusses, or in fact treat it as an extension of the main tank's support by joining the supports with suitable metalwork?
2) Should I consider using the wall for additional support? If so how can I do this effectively (I'm not sure I want to 'drive' supports into the blockwork).
3) Is adding a second tank actually a sensible option compared to replacing the current tank with a bigger one? The key thing for me is that I am prepared to do the second tank myself, but replacing the current tank and supports (so that the new one would be over 4 trusses) is not something I really want to do myself.
Also, concerning the whole concept of adding a second tank, I am aware that I would need to replumb the inlet so that the second tank fills with fresh water which is then fed to the main tank, but is there anything else I need to know about.
As I stated this is 'pre-planning' so all comments & criticisms are very welcome
.
I have read as many related posts that I can find and came across links to MiTek's "The World of Roof Technology" and the TRA handbook (although I can only download page 19 and it looks identical to what is in the MiTek book). It is clear that the central section of my roof uses standard Fink trusses and it appears that the cold water tank is supported correctly: According to my measurements the tank holds about 220 litres and is supported over 3 trusses with 600mm spacing. The span between nodes is 2.2m.
Now to one side there is a lot of piping and then the loft hatch so I can't really locate a second tank there. On the other side there are two more trusses and then the end wall of the house (so one of those trusses is only about 50mm from the wall). Additionally the spacing of these last 2 trusses is 470mm instead of the 600mm for all the others. This is the only place that I could sensibly put a second tank.
So now I am trying to interpret the information so that I can correctly support a tank over 2 trusses, but I am having trouble. My 'bay' size is 2.2m so that exceeds the 2m maximum for the 'small span' example given. Whilst I am tempted to use reason such as "if I can put 220 litres over 3 trusses then surely I can put up to about 140 litres over 2?" I feel very nervous about it. Hence this post to seek some advice.
Some key questions I have are:
1) Is it better for me to independently support a second tank on the next 2 trusses, or in fact treat it as an extension of the main tank's support by joining the supports with suitable metalwork?
2) Should I consider using the wall for additional support? If so how can I do this effectively (I'm not sure I want to 'drive' supports into the blockwork).
3) Is adding a second tank actually a sensible option compared to replacing the current tank with a bigger one? The key thing for me is that I am prepared to do the second tank myself, but replacing the current tank and supports (so that the new one would be over 4 trusses) is not something I really want to do myself.
Also, concerning the whole concept of adding a second tank, I am aware that I would need to replumb the inlet so that the second tank fills with fresh water which is then fed to the main tank, but is there anything else I need to know about.
As I stated this is 'pre-planning' so all comments & criticisms are very welcome
.