Boiler advice

[TitanTim]

Hi all,

After some central heating advice again and hoping for some pointers before committing.

I'm currently having a slow cleanse chemical flush done, been running the chemical around the heating system (open vent) for past few weeks and will be asking the plumber to come back in the next week or so to drain the system down etc, he's already fitted me a filter which all seems good, pic below.



When the plumber does his second visit I would like to discuss replacement of the existing boiler which is 14 years old and non condensing. Current boiler is a Gloworm and has been pretty much faultless, pic below,



The boiler currently sits in a walk in cupboard and I have no real alternative to relocate it so its stuck in its current position. My slight comcern is where the condensate pipe on the new boiler would go. The cupboard is located in the centre of the house so to the right is the hall, otherside of the back wall is living room and the left wall is the kitchen with the wall being tiled and having a radiator and pipework on that wall. Potentially a pipe could be run through the kitchen/boiler cupboard wall and along the kitchen wall and into the washing machine drain but along the kitchen wall is the cooker/washing machine etc so don't know if that is feasible depending on how large the pipe is. An alternative but unsure if possible is to have a condensate pump and to run the pipe up through the ceiling across the loft to an external wall. Could this be a solution? I would imagine not all boilers are convieniently located on an external wall for the condensate pipe. I didn't want to ask the plumber until I have more info to hand as I'm no expert on the install.

Many thanks,

Tim.

 

[Angie4m]

Bloody hell Tim! We need a separate sub section just for your questions like this.

Once again I saw the title and thought that's Tim, isn't it? :lol:

I'm sure the lads will come good on this as always

 

[TitanTim]

Bloody hell Tim! We need a separate sub section just for your questions like this.

Once again I saw the title and thought that's Tim, isn't it? :lol:

I'm sure the lads will come good on this as always

:lol: Its the only reason I ask Angie, as peeps are always so knowlegeable and helpful and saves joining any plumbing forums I will only ever visit once lol.

Tim.

 

[john-e89]

Leave your boiler alone until it packs up Tim, might do another 10-15 yrs yet.

If you must change it the condensing pipe is 15mm and as you say run it into the kitchen where it can be run into the sink waste or washing machine waste.

 

[Angie4m]

Bloody hell Tim! We need a separate sub section just for your questions like this.

Once again I saw the title and thought that's Tim, isn't it? :lol:

I'm sure the lads will come good on this as always

:lol: Its the only reason I ask Angie, as peeps are always so knowlegeable and helpful and saves joining any plumbing forums I will only ever visit once lol.

Tim.

A plumbing forum. They have these things for everything these days don't they.

 

[TitanTim]

Leave your boiler alone until it packs up Tim, might do another 10-15 yrs yet.

If you must change it the condensing pipe is 15mm and as you say run it into the kitchen where it can be run into the sink waste or washing machine waste.

Thanks John, this is my slight quandry whether to replace at all as its running fine, always has done apart from requiring a new fan 2 years back, I'm just wandering if a new boiler would save on the energy bills etc although would probably cost 1200 or so to replace including fitting from a plumber, British Gas quoted me 2900

Tim.

 

[TitanTim]

Bloody hell Tim! We need a separate sub section just for your questions like this.

Once again I saw the title and thought that's Tim, isn't it? :lol:

I'm sure the lads will come good on this as always

:lol: Its the only reason I ask Angie, as peeps are always so knowlegeable and helpful and saves joining any plumbing forums I will only ever visit once lol.

Tim.

A plumbing forum. They have these things for everything these days don't they.

They might tell me to get lost though if I start discussing Z4s :lol:

Tim.

 

[john-e89]

British Gas are a modern day Dick Turpin, bloody bandits.

£1200 is on the low side to replace a boiler Tim, think in the region £1500-1800 or so.

Seriously leave it be until it goes bang. Things move forward at a decent pace and by the time it waves the white flag there will be an even more efficient boiler available than now. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[pvr]

I had to replace mine (oil - Grant boiler, supposedly the best - yeah, right …). The previous boiler had been in the house 40 years, so when I moved in I replaced it with a new Grant one.

10 years later the main chamber was rusted through - so much for quality there … anyway, I digress.

I was not allowed to house the new boiler in the boiler room in the house as it was in the centre, right next to the hall. I have had to put it in an out building now to allow the condensing part … right pain.

So in your case, you have the same issue - not allowed to replace in the same place.

 

[Angie4m]

:lol: Its the only reason I ask Angie, as peeps are always so knowlegeable and helpful and saves joining any plumbing forums I will only ever visit once lol.

Tim.

A plumbing forum. They have these things for everything these days don't they.

They might tell me to get lost though if I start discussing Z4s :lol:

Tim.

Probably, especially when you have to confess you no longer own one!

 

[TitanTim]

I had to replace mine (oil - Grant boiler, supposedly the best - yeah, right …). The previous boiler had been in the house 40 years, so when I moved in I replaced it with a new Grant one.

10 years later the main chamber was rusted through - so much for quality there … anyway, I digress.

I was not allowed to house the new boiler in the boiler room in the house as it was in the centre, right next to the hall. I have had to put it in an out building now to allow the condensing part … right pain.

So in your case, you have the same issue - not allowed to replace in the same place.

Thanks pvr, in my case I think the boiler could stay in the same place so long as the condensate pipe can be routed OK, no reason why the boiler position has to change, its just the pipe challenge although as John says I could just leave it and face that problem when it rears its head. I was interested to hear if anyone knows much about condensate pumps and how they work as I'm guessing you have them where you can't route the condensate pipe with a fall to facilitate the drain.

Tim.

 

[pvr]

Don't forget the water is acidic so I had to route it where nobody could get to it..

 

[markplant]

Shouldn't the new boiler have a fresh air supply as in PVR quote , it normally would have a twin sleeved vent to draw fresh air in , an vent the carbon out, could be wrong

 

[TitanTim]

Shouldn't the new boiler have a fresh air supply as in PVR quote , it normally would have a twin sleeved vent to draw fresh air in , an vent the carbon out, could be wrong

Unsure mark, this is why I would like to know so I don't get the plumber wanting to do unecessary work. There is no where else in the house the boiler could go so would have to stay in the same position.

Tim.

 

[john-e89]

His current boiler has a flue pipe to atmosphere so just use the same route out and in.

 

[PerryGunn]

Shouldn't the new boiler have a fresh air supply as in PVR quote , it normally would have a twin sleeved vent to draw fresh air in , an vent the carbon out, could be wrong

Unsure mark, this is why I would like to know so I don't get the plumber wanting to do unecessary work. There is no where else in the house the boiler could go so would have to stay in the same position.

Tim.

Doesn't have to be 'in' the house - when we replaced ours we relocated it from our utility room to the attic. It was fairly straightforward to run the gas supply up to it and the condensate pipe outside to discharge into the guttering downpipes

Only issue we had was that as the condensate has a small and sporadic flow it's very easy for the small diameter condensate pipe to freeze up in very cold winters. When we had our bathroom replaced we rerouted the condensate to discharge via same (larger diameter) waste pipe as the bath

 

[TitanTim]

His current boiler has a flue pipe to atmosphere so just use the same route out and in.

Thanks John yes it has a flue and chimney.

All these regs can be a pain sometimes :| We had a gas fire for 30 years and then all of a sudden British Gas condemned it as they said the Flue chimney had to be taller as the regs had changed, problem is as its a bungalow it meant having a ridiculous chimney height. Also exascerbated with a house being bult next door which they said had affected the airflow and draw on the flue :? We replaced the gas fire with electric after that which is great if you have a power cut in winter.

Tim.

 

[TitanTim]

Shouldn't the new boiler have a fresh air supply as in PVR quote , it normally would have a twin sleeved vent to draw fresh air in , an vent the carbon out, could be wrong

Unsure mark, this is why I would like to know so I don't get the plumber wanting to do unecessary work. There is no where else in the house the boiler could go so would have to stay in the same position.

Tim.

Doesn't have to be 'in' the house - when we replaced ours we relocated it from our utility room to the attic. It was fairly straightforward to run the gas supply up to it and the condensate pipe outside to discharge into the guttering downpipes

Only issue we had was that as the condensate has a small and sporadic flow it's very easy for the small diameter condensate pipe to freeze up in very cold winters. When we had our bathroom replaced we rerouted the condensate to discharge via same (larger diameter) waste pipe as the bath

Thanks for the idea Perry, I don't think relocating to the attic would be feasible to be honest for ease of access or servicing if needed as being a bungalow the roof pitch is very shallow ie you can't stand up in the attic unless in the middle if the roof centreline lol.

Tim.

 

[chris6]

Tim
The condensate pipe can be pumped if no alternative . Tank & pump installed with a switch to control pump when condensate reaches a set level.If passing through loft pipe should be well insulated to avoid freezing. Termination of condensate pipe must meet regs as per normal.
Chris

 

[cj10jeeper]

So Tim after being adamant that you were sticking with the boiler now you're changing God move though as you'll save money and avoid the invitable January break down, rush job and related costs...

My advice would be to relocate the boiler to the garage. That's what we did and made it real easy to install a big water tank too , convert to pressured system and comply with all the regs of the drain pipe and air in/ out.

It's not as complex as you'd imagine and gets the boiler out of the way.