Help - combi boiler discharge pipe freezing

[doog442]

Hi

My elderly parents had a new combi boiler (Valient) fitted 3 years ago. It was fitted into the upstairs airing cupboard upstairs in a link detached house. The plastic drain pipe goes through the exterior wall and down the outside of the house onto the garage roof.

Needless to say the airing cupboard keeps flooding!!!! It turns out the outside pipe is freezing and its backing up and overflowing into the airing cupboard. Its really bad.

The local company concerned have serviced the boiler twice since installation and when called out reference the latest problems unfroze the pipe and charged £70 call out....the pipe froze again within a few hours. They have stated that when fitted there was nothing in the regs about the location of the pipe despite it clearly stating in the instructions to be aware of the pipe freezing.

Can this be right? We are due more severe weather next week and lagging it im sure wont cure it as it runs down the side of the house.

Can I make representations to this company about the original installation?

many thanks

 

[doog442]

think I have found my answer

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=253340

shabby practice if you ask me

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Best idea is to get the size uprated to at least 32mm. Not guaranteed to prevent it freezing but should help matters.

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1820387&sid=aaa35ac32eedf7a96fefa89b415413ca

 

[doog442]

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1820387&sid=aaa35ac32eedf7a96fefa89b415413ca

thanks for that

Just like the so called corgi registered guy who's certificate ran out 3 months before he fitted my boiler so forged the docs..........

Ive finally realised Im dealing with a profession as corrupt as most others.

They fitted that boiler / external pipe in an installation of a 78 / 76 year old couple who were never told it would flood their airing cupboard if the pipe froze.....they knew it would freeze when they fitted it

Lesson learnt...I will fix the pipe and the company around the corner will be getting a visit.

Thanks for your help

 

[doog442]

Best idea is to get the size uprated to at least 32mm. Not guaranteed to prevent it freezing but should help matters.

cheers

 

[Tibbot]

Ive finally realised Im dealing with a profession as corrupt as most others.

A minority of incompetent people do not make a 'corrupt' profession. Straight people can operate quite freely in this trade. This is plumbing & heating, not international narcotics.

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Ive finally realised Im dealing with a profession as corrupt as most others.

A minority of incompetent people do not make a 'corrupt' profession. Straight people can operate quite freely in this trade. This is plumbing & heating, not international narcotics.

Oh I dunno, I get through a fair amount of Solpadeine, think I am addicted......

 

[doog442]

Ive finally realised Im dealing with a profession as corrupt as most others.

A minority of incompetent people do not make a 'corrupt' profession. Straight people can operate quite freely in this trade. This is plumbing & heating, not international narcotics.

thats strange as the last 2 dealings over the last 3 years with plumbers from my family seem to have resulted in dodgy jobs...no wonder people DIY

I didnt come here for a fight BUT, have just realised some of your profession are screwing up the public. Reading an earlier thread about a member of your profession taking delight in un freezing these pipes tells me there are a load of cowboys operating when installing these boilers.

Are the people who install not the same trade wombling around with kettles the following winter charging £70 for the privilege?

 

[Tibbot]

People not professions screw the public. Someone dis-honest, incompetent or both will operate the same in whatever trade. You've quoted a couple of examples, there are tens maybe hundreds of thousands of people connected with this industry. By not thinking before you write, you'll seem as narrow minded as the blokes who did your condensate pipe.

 

[doog442]

People not professions screw the public. Someone dis-honest, incompetent or both will operate the same in whatever trade. You've quoted a couple of examples, there are tens maybe hundreds of thousands of people connected with this industry. By not thinking before you write, you'll seem as narrow minded as the blokes who did your condensate pipe.

Im thinking clearly thanks.....I will copy and paste my plumbers corgi cert on here if you want...the forged one...will also quote the name and address of the company in Poole who fitted my mums boiler with that plastic pipe running down the outside of the house...the frozen one

Of course not all of your trade are cowboys but enough to cause concern.

 

[Tibbot]

I don't need their details, I've no reason to doubt your misgivings about them. I don't accept your resulting conclusion of a corrupt industry.

 

[doog442]

I don't need their details, I've no reason to doubt your misgivings about them. I don't accept your resulting conclusion of a corrupt industry.

I take that back and apologise for those remarks. However as joe public i asked a simple question and have been directed towards a massive problem, clearly based on negligent fitting of these boilers and subsequent plumbers on this forum gloating about sorting these problems out with kettles.....

its a joke

 

[muggles]

Certainly in the early days of condensing boilers freezing condense pipes was not something that was considered - it was new to everyone and it's not really the first thing you think about when installing a boiler in the middle of summer. It's therefore not all about negligence, some people just didn't know it was an issue, and it took a while to catch on.

Having said that it's now well known that it's an issue and a boiler installed a mere three years ago should have been done properly, but in your case it seems that you quite accidentally employed a cowboy. On that note, the condense should not be discharging onto the garage roof as you seem to suggest that it does, it should be directed into a soil stack or some other means of getting it to a foul drain (IE not into the rainwater system).

Even 32mm condense pipes will freeze if it's cold enough for long enough - we rather annoyingly had a couple on our own installs last year and now fit 40mm externally at all times. Any 32mm ones that freeze up are replaced under warranty, don't really like lagging them as it looks unsightly especially after the birds have pecked bits off for their nests.

As for sorting the immediate problem out with a kettle, it's the best way to do it and yeah, it's a nice little earner (assuming of course it's not a warranty job). Everyone needs to make a living, if we get called out to a problem we fix it and we charge for the work, whatever it is. That's not a sign of corruption, it's a sign of people doing what they can to put food on the table.

 

[GaytonTonner]

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1820387&sid=aaa35ac32eedf7a96fefa89b415413ca

thanks for that

Just like the so called corgi registered guy who's certificate ran out 3 months before he fitted my boiler so forged the docs..........

Ive finally realised Im dealing with a profession as corrupt as most others.

They fitted that boiler / external pipe in an installation of a 78 / 76 year old couple who were never told it would flood their airing cupboard if the pipe froze.....they knew it would freeze when they fitted it

Lesson learnt...I will fix the pipe and the company around the corner will be getting a visit.

Thanks for your help

You could fit a HepVo trap and high temp push-fit drain pipe and fittings, available in B&Q, Wickes, etc. Then it can be teeded into the inside drain.

The industry is incompetent - and corrupt. I would say at least 50% of the installations I visit that are under 5 years old are fitted incorrectly. I worked in London for 6 months and that is cowboy city. The millions of boilers fitted there are just slapped in. I have seen condensate pipes terminating on the concrete floor of back yards, running water free all over, freezing in winter causing a hazzard.

Condensing boilers are a pure nuisance. The plumes create problems, especially in flats, the discharge pipes of condensate and pressure relief are a pain and make the exterior of buildings look plain ugly. Then the stains of water down the side of them.

Using HepVo traps can eliminate pipe penetrations of the exterior walls. Yet few know of or use them.

It all boils down to professional installers, which there are few around.