So all these frozen condensate drains were figments of the owners imagination?
Tim
So all these frozen condensate drains were figments of the owners imagination?
Tim
Daily Mail bolleaux.
Plumbing trade secrets; 1) water freezes at 0 degC and
2) shit flows downhill.Is this too technical for the UK plumbing industry? Yes, apparently it is. What do they do in Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, USA, etc., where they use condensing boilers AND they have serious amounts of snow and ice in winters that last for months? Simple; run the condense pipe indoors OR lag it and trace heat it. Lagging alone will reduce the risk of freezing, but will not prevent it. The pipe has to be open to the atmosphere and the air inside will be freezing.
I said "many" not all, maybe all the ones that froze were condensing and wouldn't have frozen if the owner knew that they could wind the return temp up and avoid condensate going down the pipe? There you are just wind them up to be non condensing when they are using most gas, easy if somewhat expensive.
Why does it have to be open? Inside ones are not always open so why external ones.
Ah - the Bile Duct strikes again.
The statement under the photo:
"In cold weather, the pipe that takes waste water from the back of the condensing boiler - which isn?t there in a normal boiler - freezes solid, shutting down the system."
Inaccurate scaremongering bollocks. It's not the boiler manufacturers' fault if it is installed incompetently.
So how did the condensate pipe manage to freeze then?
But enough about Kevin Lunn.
It's popular because it allows comments. The bigots can rehearse their prejudices and the rest of us can show our superior intellect
Not a lot. When I installed my first condensing boiler - sad choice, a Potterton Envoy - I was in a hurry to have it working so the condensate drain went into a bucket on the kitchen worktop. From memory I collected a bucket full every 3-4 days. The recovered energy is roughly equal to what it would take to boil this quantity of water away as steam.
So does the Independent online.
'Illegal to fit any other kind' - exceptions apply I thought.
'£2000 for a better new boiler' - £1000 nearer the mark.
Most of the first half, and the final sentence, of the article refers to installation problems, not the boiler or its technology.
'No point replacing a functioning older boiler' - 2 points - scrappage, cheaper to run.
A number of points require technical knowledge - condensing temps, acidic water and corrosion. I see little point trusting that source, although from what little I know I do think the whole condensing boiler issue has been poorly thought through.
Rob
Yes, I don't follow that, and as I posted, gallons of condensate has come out of my boiler in the past week or two.
My plumber told me 1L p/hour at full tilt . . .
Rob
Don
There's a big difference between the plume from a condensing and non condensing boiler.
Which parts of this 'unnecessary complexity' do you think will fail? I know the PCBs on some badly designed boilers give trouble - but then so did those on some non condensing types.
Because those buying crappy boilers will use crappy installers. The latter sadly seems to be most.
I dunno about other boilers, but mine gives explicit instructions on how to install the drain. To prevent it freezing.
In article , Rob writes
Hint for dennis: *warm* condensate.
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