Plumber in Henleaze and Westbury on Trym

If your Henleaze home still has a loft tank, your hot water is gravity fed. It is reliable, but showers can be weak upstairs and the tank can freeze or rust. Many owners now switch to an unvented cylinder, which runs at mains pressure, or a combi if there is only one bathroom. Both remove the loft tank. Our post on taking out the loft water tank explains what is involved.

An unvented cylinder must be fitted by someone competent under Building Regulations G3 and notified to building control. It also needs good mains flow, which we test first. Older homes can have narrow or lead supply pipes that hold flow back.

Loft tanks in older BS9 homes are often metal or early plastic, and some have no proper lid or insulation. An uncovered tank lets dust and insects into the water, and a tank with no lagging can freeze in a hard snap. If you are keeping the tank, a fitted lid and insulation are worth doing.

Two bathrooms used at the same time are a lot for a combi. In larger BS9 homes, a system boiler with an unvented cylinder is often the better fit, or a regular boiler if you want to keep the tanks. We look at how your household actually uses hot water, then recommend. Gas work must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and you can check any engineer on the Gas Safe Register.

Bristol's hard water is a factor here too. Bristol Water says its supply is moderately hard to very hard, so we fit scale protection with new boilers and cylinders.

Mature gardens bring roots, and roots find old clay drain joints. Slow drains and repeat blockages are the warning signs. We clear the drain and, if it keeps happening, run a camera to find the defect. Drains serving only your home are yours to fix, while shared ones are usually Wessex Water's.

If you are replacing a bathroom at the same time, it is worth deciding on the hot water system first. An unvented cylinder or combi changes the pipe sizes and valves the bathroom needs.