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Central heating vent dripping

Pic below..

This vent which I am sure is normal has loads of condensation this last month due to colder weather. the problem is it drips onto the window below and the paintwork (wooden frame) now I suspect the frame would require painting every year at this rate, it also causes a bit of `moss` on the wall beow as it drips of the cill.

  1. Is the construction of the vent ok.
  2. How best to deal with this, can I extend the pipe coming out of the house? say by 6 inches and then remount the brown part onto it.

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Reply to
ss
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part of the brown section.

Reply to
ss

If so the flu should slope back towards the boiler to stop condensate dripping.

Reply to
dennis

That is the air inlet bit of it...

What make and model of boiler is it?

Reply to
John Rumm

Its a Baxi combi 100 HE plus, there is a condensate pipe lower down the wall.

Reply to
ss

Indeed.

I would check carefully where the water is coming from. The flue gas which contains moisture should be in the inner pipe which is the part which protrudes. The shape of the end of this is designed to not allow water to drip off. If water is present in the outer pipe (which is the boiler's air inlet), that would imply the inner pipe is leaking. Any condensate running back into the boiler through the outer pipe might damage the boiler as it's more corrosive than plain water, and the boiler isn't deigned to handle water coming in through the air inlet.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Ok Andrew I can understand what you are saying, although the water is dripping off the `outer` pipe (intake) I will take a closer look tomorrow, it does sound as if the exhaust pipe has a leak or not sealed properly which wouldnt surpise me considering the calibre of work on other parts of the house. I moved an island in the kitchen and it had no floorboards undrneath it!

Reply to
ss

Reminds me of my first house. It looked quite respectable on viewing, but I found when I moved in that there was no carpet under the freestanding wardrobe and no wall paper behind it. Needless to say, they took the wardrobe with them...

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I would have thought they could cope with driving rain or melting snow or just plain fog, all of which is wet.

Looking at the photo the I think that if the flu is exactly horizontal condensate could run around the end and onto the inlet where it could drip. I don't see any drip groove to prevent it and it shouldn't need one. A bit of grease (Vaseline?) dabbed on the end would force it to drip from the inner if that's where its coming from until the flu can be fixed.

Reply to
dennis

I was wondering if the dark coloured end-piece might not be fitted properly, but looking at the installation instructions*, it looks like the flue comes with that already attached.

The flue should slope up at 3°, or 1 in 20.

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Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I once saw a very innovative solution to this on the side of a house. They had put a drain pipe under the area which dripped with a wide funnel on the top of it to catch the drips. It was in an unfortunate place on a narrow footway between house and a wall and I suspect the occupants got fed up with it dripping on them when they walked underneath it. This was some years ago, and as I'd not be able to see now I have no idea how well it solved the issue. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Reminds me of someone here years ago when condensing boilers were only just entering the domestic market. They had the condensate drain dripping onto their conservatory roof, which was fine until the first winter when a 3' long icicle came smashing through the glass.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Yes, and a fiend showed a similar lack of forsight by building his greenouse under a fruit tree.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Does this not result in freezing of the water inside ona cold day though?

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Of course if this is water from the outside air condensing due to heat on the flu, some kind of non metallic pipe would be the order of the day so it does not get so hot, but you need to actually know for sure that the water is not coming from within really.

Down at Post office I notice that the folk who are elderly seem to have stopped passing gossip about number 54 or whatever and are now exchanging stories of boiler faults. Must be a good business to be in!

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

The flue is warm. With my boiler, the flue temp is 5C higher than the return water temperature, which is never anywhere near freezing.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Its worth noting that some boiler makers (like Vaillant) design their concentric flues such that the slope is built into the inner section. Hence you install the pipe level without a slope, but the collars at the ends hold the inner at an angle as it runs through the outer pipe.

Reply to
John Rumm

window? I have the same problem, the vent is directly above the bathroom window and I get loads of dribbles on the glass. Bungalow. I don't know what to do about it.

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Reply to
Mr Pounder

It is the steam from the vent but as mentioned earlier that exits through the central pipe and the water is dripping from the lower vented part of the outer tube, so its either dripping from the central tube and running onto the outer tube or it is leaking at some point onto the outer tube. Even if it were normal it is dripping on to my paintwork and for that alone I want to get a cure as I dont think the paintwork would last a couple of winters at this rate.

Reply to
ss

install a drip board above the window

lead covered wooden eyebrow is good.

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Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

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