Condensate pipe?

[gilford]

I have recently had a condensing oil boiler fitted in my house. The fitter has run a pipe just over a meter long outside of the boiler room in to a gravel pit I have. When I had it commissioned I was told that this should be run in to some sort of soakaway? The pipe is lagged, but I have read some awful stories of the condensate freezing! If the pipe has to be run 1 meter outside of the property what do people expect!?

What is the best thing to do?

Thanks for your help.

 

[monoxide62]

Running into soak away or not it's still gonna freeze,unavoidable @ times,32mm would stand a better chance as opposed to 20mm , all condensate discharge should be run in 32mm when terminating to outside.

 

[gilford]

Running into soak away or not it's still gonna freeze , unavoidable @ times , 32mm would stand a better chance as opposed to 20mm , all condensate discharge should be run in 32mm when terminating to outside.

If it's unavoidable to stop making it freeze isn't the whole thing flawed? I've heard it damages the boiler and Worcester sometimes are funny about warranty claims??

I'm not sure off the top of my head the diameter of the external pipe, if it was 20mm would I not slide a 32mm pipe over and then lag that or am I just being stupid

 

[Beerlover]

You can always get electric trace heating fitted to the pipe.

Not dear to run and it will never freeze then

 

[bengasman]

The fitter has run a pipe just over a meter long outside of the boiler room in to a gravel pit I have.

When I had it commissioned I was told that this should be run in to some sort of soakaway?

Bit strange, why didn't he do it properly if he knew it was no good this way?

 

[gilford]

It was fitted by a Gas Safe registered engineer, he doesn't do oil really, but as his price was so keen he fitted the boiler and appointed an Oftec engineer to commission it.

He is going to come back and rectify asap F.O.C., I just thought it was a bit ridiculous that if it is a known fault of the condensate freezing and damaging the boilers why do it this way at all??

 

[ianniann]

Is that a (near) horizontal pipe running a metre away from the boiler room? The closer to horizontal and the further away from any source of heat (like a house wall) and the more likely it is to freeze. Insulation is good, not to say essential on an outside run. Don't mess with the sleeve pipe, it is less effective than the proper thickness of lagging. Make sure joints are not open and don't leave gaps at either end.

A soakaway is, give or take, just a gravel pit. It should really be limestone gravel, since the condensate is quite acidic. There are guidelines on how and where it should be constructed, partly to minimise the risk of the soakaway itself freezing. You can also buy purpose made canisters which you just fill with limestone chips and bury. Condensate pipe goes in the top and "treated" water exits from the bottom.

You might be lucky on Anglesey. One of the warmest places to be in a cold snap. I bet it wasn't -17C there this winter! Remember the water running through the pipe is quite warm. It is quite possible to run condensate pipes outside without them freezing, but a bare plastic pipe isn't the way to do it.

 

[gremlin16]

It was fitted by a Gas Safe registered engineer, he doesn't do oil really, but as his price was so keen he fitted the boiler and appointed an Oftec engineer to commission it.

Rather obvious his price was keen, the tw*ts not OFTEC registered and no doubt hes one of the islands ever growing line of cowboy installers.

Standards for condensate pipe work on gas and oil boilers are virtually the same. A reputable installer would have known how to run a condensate pipe.

 

[bengasman]

It was fitted by a Gas Safe registered engineer, he doesn't do oil really, but as his price was so keen he fitted the boiler

Sounds like a typical case of: buy cheap get cheap

 

[gilford]

It was fitted by a Gas Safe registered engineer, he doesn't do oil really, but as his price was so keen he fitted the boiler and appointed an Oftec engineer to commission it.

Rather obvious his price was keen, the tw*ts not OFTEC registered and no doubt hes one of the islands ever growing line of cowboy installers.

Standards for condensate pipe work on gas and oil boilers are virtually the same. A reputable installer would have known how to run a condensate pipe.

The boiler has now been signed off by an OFTEC engineer, the only issue is this soakaway, the rest of the job is perfect.

I dont think it is very fair for anyone to call the installer a cowboy, the cowboys are the people who were quoting me over £4k for work which I have had done for half that

If people were realistic with there prices they may get more work around here!

 

[bengasman]

I dont think it is very fair for anyone to call the installer a cowboy,

He is not qualified to work on oilboilers, yet he did.
That makes him a proper cowboy, and in all likelihood, you've got a boiler install that is far from perfect.

 

[gilford]

I dont think it is very fair for anyone to call the installer a cowboy,

He is not qualified to work on oilboilers, yet he did.
That makes him a proper cowboy, and in all likelihood, you've got a boiler install that is far from perfect.

If it was a "far from perfect" install as you say then surely the high and mighty OFTEC engineer would have picked up on this shoddy work and charged me the earth for rectifying it? In actual fact he was singing the guys praises as to what a good job he had done (bar the soakaway obviously).

Thanks for all your help regarding this matter.....................

 

[gremlin16]

If people were realistic with there prices they may get more work around here!

Quality comes at a price.
Rather obvious your installer was a cheap chuck it in cowboy who had no clue how to correctly install boilers. If he was that good you would not be on here checking out his cockups.
££££ notes does not mean you got a bargain price.

Considering the installer got the condensate wrong, its not surprising that he has an OFTEC registered friend willing to sort of sign off his work for a price. His friend sure ain't going to knock his installation, is he.

Checking combustion, and a quick look over boiler does not mean naff all if the installer has not completed a CD10 or a TI/133.

Bet you will never see a BC compliance certificate.

ps OFTEC has the same stance as GSR with regards to signing off other peoples work.
Its just not acceptable.

 

[bengasman]

If it was a "far from perfect" install as you say then surely the high and mighty OFTEC engineer would have picked up on this shoddy work and charged me the earth for rectifying it? In actual fact he was singing the guys praises as to what a good job he had done (bar the soakaway obviously).

The cowboy worked well below the normal price to get the job, which leaves very little to pay the other bloke, who is almost surely NOT an OFTEC inspector, but just another OFTEC registered installer looking for some easy money.
The commone scenario:
As the bloke signing the job off doesn't want to kill the goose with the golden eggs, he will sing the installer praises.
Rather than carefully look at the whole install quality, he just makes sure there is nothing that can be proven to his/their fault, and does a runner.
It all works fine for a couple of years, and then the repair bills start coming in. I've seen it happen, not once or twice but dozens of times.
Like I said earlier, you get what you pay for and you paid the cheapest you could find.
Good luck matey.

 

[gilford]

All the guy has done is change an old oil boiler for a new combi. The pipework hasn't really been touched and all he needed to do was get the hot and cold feed to the boiler, it's not rocket science and is why I was resilient to pay big money for simple work.

I can see some of your points of view, and time will tell I suppose!