boxing in my boiler-will it help?

mrs_baggins

I must live in dip or something as despite all my efforts to make it warmer it is just sooo cold! Lsst year I had a new condensing boiler to replace 20 year old one. To keep costs down I had it in same place-garage- and this is where my problem lies.

I know last winter was extreme but the boiler has a frost stat on and I was waking up in the middle of night last winter with all the radiators blasting out. Despite the timer switches not being on at that time. I even went home one lunchtime and they were all on then.

I think its because my unheated concrete garage just gets so cold and retains the cold that the boiler was switching all the radiators on to stop it from freezing which was costing me money.

I have now had frost stat turned down but man says I cant turn it lower or I will risk freezing.

My thoughts were that If i made (ie got someone else to!) a large box around it I could line it with insulating board?

so my questions are can i in fact box in a boiler? I am aware I would need some ventilation. and more importantly would it help.

The boiler is a greenstar and its not a combi boiler. It has vent pipes to outside wall if this helps.

Last year I resorted to leaving a fan heater in the room to bring temp up a bit but it wasnt that sucessful and cost a lot of money.

I dont want to move the boiler as there is really nowhere else for it without a lot of work and expense

ziggyman99

Yes you can box it in. Observe the maunfacturers clearances so that the boiler can be serviced. You shouldn't need any ventilation. Make sure the pipe work outside of the boxing is adequately insulated.

gas4you

Make sure you have a pipe stat fitted as well in series with the frost stat.

karl-123

there are only a couple of litres of water in your boiler whats the chances of that water freezing and expanding
enough ( water expands 10 % ) when frozen so will burst uninsulated pipework like the pipes in your boiler

personally i would take a chance however having your frost thermostat on a bypass switch
or even installing (good quality lever ballofix valves ) on the flow and return to the house and isolate
the house side in extreme cold weather, the frost stat will kick in and not be on for so long open them back up in the morning do not worry about the boiler going into overheat ( it should have a small bypass pipe in the boiler linking the flow and return together *** check the microfiche type manual to see if thats the case *** siya karl

mrs_baggins

can I ask what a pipe stat does? In easy terms LOL

jennifernil

The main purpose of the frost stat is to protect the boiler and its pipework. As most people have their boiler in the house, the heat will also protect the plumbing etc in the house.

As your boiler is in a very cold area, as well as the frost stat to protect the boiler, your installer really should have fitted a pipe stat to stop the boiler trying to heat a very cold, uninsulated area.

The pipe stat measures the temperature of the water in the pipe as it returns to the boiler and turns off the boiler when the set temperature is reached.

We have them (we have 3 boilers) fitted in our Guide Hall, they have saved us a lot on our bills.

http://www.honeywelluk.com/products/Temperature-Controls/Pipe-and-Cylinder/L641B/

This is what you need, costs around £25.

ziggyman99

karl-123 wrote: »

there are only a couple of litres of water in your boiler whats the chances of that water freezing and expanding
enough ( water expands 10 % ) when frozen so will burst uninsulated pipework like the pipes in your boiler

One of my customers left the heating off in her cottage over Christmas last year. £500 later the damage to her boiler and pipe work was sorted and her boiler working again. I doubt if she'll do that again in a hurry.

mrs_baggins

thanks all think i will get plumber to fit one for me

welda

My NG boiler is in an outhouse, where oil burner used to live, outhoue is insulated best it can be, withut interfering with boiler functioning, pipe and frost stat in place too.

If yu have pipe stat installed, system will still kick in via frost stat, however, rads do get hot, but nothing near as hot if pipe stat was not installed, does a few cyles, then cuts out.....

:beer:

Jaynne

karl-123 wrote: »

there are only a couple of litres of water in your boiler whats the chances of that water freezing and expanding
enough ( water expands 10 % ) when frozen so will burst uninsulated pipework like the pipes in your boiler

Tell that to my boiler which got a frost leak last year in Glasgow. It wasn't in a garage but an uninsulated ex-coal cupboard which gets very cold.

DVardysShadow

gas4you wrote: »

Make sure you have a pipe stat fitted as well in series with the frost stat.

mrs_baggins wrote: »

can I ask what a pipe stat does? In easy terms LOL

OK, I would fit a pipestat on the return pipework of the system.

Fitted in series with the frost stat, the logic is

• Boiler ON = [air temp cold] AND [water temp cold]
• Boiler OFF = [air temp not cold] OR [water temp not cold]

So with just a frost stat, the boiler runs until the air temperature rises sufficiently not to threaten the boiler. But this is much more than you need. If the return water temperature is reasonably warm [eg over 25degC], you know that the heating system is warm enough to be safe from freezing, even though the air temperature could do some serious damage to the plumbing of a brass monkey. So this will be far more economic in terms of gas consumption.