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my neighbour has just installed a condensation boiler, the external flue is about 8ft from my boundary and seating area in my garden, it is very noisy and can be heard indoors and bedroom when windows are open, is there any way of reducing this noise other then fitting flue extensions which is costly, would a simple elbow plastic joint divert the noise ?, would be grateful for any ideas, what would be the regs for this installation.i do not wish my neighour any further cost.

The fan of our 2 years old Radient Condensing Boiler is working almost non stop. Is this normal?

Is there any way of connecting a water cylinder to a condensing boiler system, without bringing the gas boiler on? a friend of mine is having his roof covered with solar panels, to generate electricity only and they have told him he will get his electricity free, the problem is he had the water tank, and cylinder removed when the condensing boiler was fitted a couple of years ago, there is plenty of room in his attic to put the water tank and cylinder back, but how could it be connected to the system? to feed the bathroom, and kitchen, without putting new separate taps, and NOT bring the gas boiler on, (unless he wants the heating on as well of course,) we don't want to interfere with the boiler side in any way, just to get free hot water through an electric immersion heater in a cylinder without using any gas etc. hope you can advise me on this.

Kind Regards
J M

I have an ideal boiler approx 8 years old and was serviced approx 2 years ago by a diffent supplier to that who installed it.
It has never been right and continually clicks on and off every few seconds during operation. I have been told it could be the air sensor, gas supply tube diameter, internal elec connection lead to CB or even the circuit board itself. Please explain why my boiler is doing this and how to solve it using plain English

are there any externally mounted gas condensing boilers on the marketsuitable to run 18 radiators?

Hi

My water is discharged on to a flat roof and drains down a drain pipe.
My neighbour on the advice of a 'plumber' asserted two things, firstly the water has melted a hole in the lead flashings and secondly that this condensed water cannot be discharged into the drains a it is toxic! I would appreciate your professional view on this

regards

Jon

Hello
I found your article very interesting as our boiler condensate pipe froze in the winter. I asked British Gas about the siphon but the said it was a sort of pump used where the boiler is not on an outside wall. I don't think that is what you mean. What is this item called and who stocks them?

I am writing about an old large thick-walled house house which had a Yorkstar 20 condensing boiler fitted 14 years ago in a boiler room next to an outside wall. The air intake through the outside wall opens directly onto the u-bend of the condensed water outlet pipe which then goes through the wall just below it. In the cold this recently the outlet pipe therefore froze from where it exited the boiler to the wall and is probably frozen inside the wall too. This made the boiler gurgle and then set off all the smoke alarms. It has not been possible to thaw the pipe so we have disconnected it at the boiler and diverted it to drain into a bucket indoors.
I have two questions:
1. Will any noxious gasses be coming out of the condensate pipe?
2. How can this all be avoided next winter?

Hi, my daughter has just bought a flat with a condensing boiler - the water comes through hot and cold alternately and no consistent hot water can be obtained. Any ideas why???

Hi
I had a Baxi Condenser boiler (Combi 105 E) put in about 3 years age, hoping it would save a bit of money. I can see the outlet pipe for the condensate clearly from my window. In all this time I have never seen a single drop of condensate come out of the outlet. I have talked to service men about this. They assure me it is not a problem, and that the condensate is being expelled through the exhaust outlet, and that the boiler is working efficiently. I puzzle, because if it is called a condensing boiler, why does no condensing seem to be talking place? The house radiator system was originally installed about 40 years ago, with two pipes feeding each radiator.

Hi Stuart,

Experience would suggest that if you have a working system then many problems could possibly arise from changing it.

One thing to consider is going from open vented system to combi, means the system would be pressurised. This can result in leaks.

With regard to rad temperatures, with many boilers the heating water temperature can be turned down so that rads never get too hot.

Big Picture
The idea of scrappage scheme is to reduce Co2. New A rated boilers also mean fuel savings for householders (these can be over 20%).

A good installer would be able to make sure the new system works correctly its just a matter of if your budget can cover the costs.

Vaillant boiler installation …..Vaillant boilers are a very good make.


I hope this helps


www.londonboilerreplacement.co.uk

We presently have a Baxi Solo G Rated boiler with 70 BTU output (in sitting room cupboard), 10 radiators (old stone house) with vented system heating a good insulated tank in airing cupboard pressure feed with cold water attic tank. The Baxi switches on every 3-4 minutes to heat rads which can be minor noise in the sitting room, BUT the large rads never get too hot to touch as seen in neigbours house with new condensing Vaillant and smaller much hotter Rads.Considered scrappage scheme but now reading your article having my doubts.
As the Baxi is well maintained/serviced - other than a bit noisy is it really worth renewing in scrappage scheme for new A rated 24KW boiler (outlay £1500) as new rads may now also be required ?.

Thanks for advice.

hello, can you tell me what happens if the return temperature is lower than the 55degrees mentioned, does this cause problems or make the boiler even more efficent because the flue gas temp would be lower still. also what relationship is there between dewpoint and the temperature of combustion. didnt really understand the whole "59degrees when the air to gas ratio is sufficent" explanation

It occurs to me that part of the problem could be that the wall to which the thermostat is fixed may be acting as a storage heater, ie the wall has warmed up when the heating was on and cools down more slowly than the air in the room.
You might consider spacing the thermostat off the wall by a small amount allowing air to circulate behind it, a gap of around 6mm should be enough.
(As a TEMPORARY measure you could just remove the fixing screws and let the thermostat be supported by the wiring, to see if there is an improvement, but BE CAREFUL)
 

I was wondering if any body cold answer, why, when my combi boiler reaches the temp set on the wall thermostat, it cuts out like it should. but then the rads go cold and the rooms go cold, but the temp on thermo(digital) takes ages to go down. we have tried 3 thermostats and they are all the same. I have got nothing obstructing the thermostat and there is no heat source near it.
In theory as soon as the rooms cool, the thermostat should drop, but it takes up to a couple of hours sometimes for it to drop to the temperature it was set at for the boiler to kick in again.
I have got a VOKERA COMBI BOILER..

 

Simply make sure there are not other heat sources affecting your thermostat (e.g close to a fridge). Also make sure there are no obstructions in front of it. very important to leave the area around clear

i was wondering if any body cold answer, why, when my combi boiler reaches the temp set on the wall thermostat, it cuts out like it should. but then the rads go cold and the rooms go cold, but the temp on thermo(digital) takes ages to go down. we have tried 3 thermostats and they are all th same.

DURING THE COLD SPELL MY BOILER CONDENSATE BOTTLE SYPHON FROZE AND THE BOILER SHUT DOWN - HOW AS THEY ARE NO ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS TO THIS DOES THE BOILER SHUT DOWN
 

During the recent cold weather, the water in the plastic pipe taking the condensate drain off from my father's Ideal Condensing Boiler, froze up causing the boiler to automatically cut off. This was despite the fact that the pipe had been insulated, following a similar incident last winter. The British Gas Maintenance Engineer called out to investigate the problem, used a kettle of hot water to pour over the pipe and melt the ice. This cured the problem and the boiler fired up again. He said he had been out to many other cases like this, and this problem was also featured on a recent local TV news item in the Midlands.

Surely there is an installation issue here - the condensate drain pipe must be located in such a position that the water cannot be subject to freezing. Should there not be guidance in the instructions for installing condensing boilers that ensure this is not an issue?

In reply to Mrs P ref boiler in the roofspace.
Mrs P is concerned about her heating bill and so would I be! My boiler is also fitted with a frost stat but it works in a different way. The frost stat should be connected into the system so if the temp drops below a set figure the programmer is over riden and the boiler cuts in BUT ONLY WARMS THE BOILER UP FROM ANY DANGEROUS TEMPERATURE AND ONCE THE BOILER IS OUT OF THE DANGER AREA (REGARDING TEMPERATURE) WILL SWITCH OFF In this way the boiler is protected and the programmer runs as normal. Suggest you get a competent electrician to take a look - it should not be a big job - good luck!!

My question is the same as No.16 would appreciate help thankyou

We had a New Condensing Boiler Installed under the Warm Front Scheme approx. 18mths ago. The Boiler is up in the loft space we are in a bungalow.It was fitted with a Frost Stat. Now the weather is constantly under the minimum of 3degrees(ON THE CONTROL)boiler stays on for most of 24hrs a day. We therefore have hot radiators ALL DAY %26 NIGHT and we are dreading the Gas Bill after this cold spell. We have been informed that when the Frost Statkicks in then the heat has to go somewhere - in our case the radiators. Being disabled we cannot get up into the loft to turn the boiler off plus surely we shouldn't have to do this anyway. It is supposed to be cost effective + energy efficient!! I don't think so. Any help will be appreciated.

I have a new build house and have been in it for 6 months. The condensing boiler (Ideal) ceased working and when we had the plumber in to look at it he said that the burners were flooded with 'condensate'
I can understand this thanks to your articles but I don't understand why they didnt drain away. In addition he said that there was an unusual amount of dirty 'silt' which had accumulated and he cleared it away. He said that this should not happen after only 6 months of a new installation.
More worringly as the flue outlet was only 6" away from a garage wall it has stained the wall quite considerable and is very noticable. The area is about the size of a dustbin lid and when it rains the stain runs down the wall. It looks really bad because the wall is rendered.
The builder says he'll get the wall pressure washed but this is strange as if it recurs he'll just keep pressure washing away the rendering. my question is, does the flue outlet contain anything that will stain walls which are very close? the colour of the wall is now greenish.
thanks in advance.

Everything is working fine, but the pressure guage is going up to the top limit. Before it used to drop and we opened up the valve to increase the pressure, but how do you reverse this? I have turned the room stat down and the control on the boiler. We have opened up rads upstairs that were previously shut. I just worry because it seems to go off the scsle.

we are currently renting and have a condenser boiler and a hot water tank, which is where the hot water is fed. It also runs the contral heating. We only can get approx. half a bath full of hot water, before the tank is empty. It the takes almost 2 hours to have enough hot water again. This problem is compounded if we use the hot water to wash up the puts after tea. As we are a family of 2 adults and 3 children, as such we do not have enough hot water for us all to have a bath in an evening, even when sharing.
Is this setup normal? i cant see any reason for it. I would have thought such a system wouldnt need a boiler. I have asked the landlord to check it out and they have said the only way to get more hot water is to fit a larger tank, which they wont do.

Any help is greatly recieved... i believe the landlords agents just cant be bothered, and are trying to ignore us.

Hi Any advice please. Neighbours have installed a condensing boiler which seems to produce an enormous amount of "steam". Unfortunately they also placed the flue on top of the garage flat roof which is directly beside and level with my front door and kitchen window. Very unsightly yes but is this within regulations. The oil tank was also placed 1m from my house but according to them it had to be 1.8m from theres!!

Hi, I live in an old house with a lead drain pipe to the utility room sink. I was hoping to let the condensate drain (from a Baxi HE)drip into the sink and away down the plug hole. The regs say not to use copper or mild steel pipes. Does this apply to lead as well?

A fantastic read, Does anyone know where I can buy Commerical Atmospheric Condening Boiler?
Please feel free to contact me via email or in Australia on +61423552445

After reading your article on condensing boiler efficiency it would seem to me one answere would be to undersize the replacement boiler,therfore making the boiler work harder to maintain a constant output temprature to return temprature of the existing system.
Cheers G.A.Coates

I have to keep feeding water in weekly as pressure falls below 1 bar, do you think this is a major problem

why do they constantly breakdown?is it bad instulation or a company buisness scheme

Your explanation of the condensing boiler is very interesting although somewhat surprising as far as the 'efficiency' aspect goes.
However, this is just a gripe really and was wondering if you or anyone out there has any similar feelings - My gripe is that, having been a gas (corgi registered) boiler installer for many years, when CORGI decided to re-vamp the 'units' of registration i.e. one for gas boilers, one for gas cookers etc etc, I decided that I didn't want to go back to college any more considering I was 100% confident in my work and could tech the instructors a thing or three!! As a result, I now have to contract a young inexperienced lad, who did his unit training, to connect and test the gas to the appliances. On several occasions I have had to correct some minor possible future problems (whilst he is still in attendance) and point them out. He too is baffled as to why I neeeded to return to college! It would seem to me that the colleges are the only people that are making a good income nowadays.......Thanks.

I love condensing boilers i want to make love to one. It wouild be magical.

Quite interesting and useful information (partly confirming my thoughts.

Having read this article it is clear to me that replacing a 10 year old combi boiler with a condensing variety is not practical due to increased piping for the condensate waste etc. The savings will be minimal. Instead I will invest in a boiler with a storage tank to boost water to multiple showers / sinks etc.

Thanks for saving me some money.