Condensing boiler

SallyG

Worcester Bosch website says:
"Building regulations that have come into force since 1st April 2005 state that any replacement or new gas or oil boiler must be a condensing boiler. Rare exceptions can apply."
Anyone know what the exceptions are?


I'd be grateful to hear people's experiences of frozen condensate outlet last winter - how to avoid same - British Gas quotation included price for some sort of electrical heating for the external pipe/outlet - is it necessary?

Any experiences of the Worcester Bosch 7 year guarantee?

daveyjp

Tell the plumber you want the condensate drain plumbing into internal pipework. It may cause some hassle for the plumber, but you are the customer.

A neighbour had a new condensing boiler fitted earlier this year. It's in a bedroom and the pipe exits the wall, runs under the bedroom window and drains into a downpipe. The pipe run is about 5m on a north facing wall. Come winter this pipe will freeze up and the 80+ year old gentleman won't be able to unfreeze it.

If the plumber had any brains he would have run the pipe into the bathroom which is adjacent to the bedroom, or the kitchen which is directly below.

Inner_Zone

Either get the electrical heating (if outside) or make sure the condensate pipe fitted is the correct diameter 32mm, most plumbers fit 20mm which will freeze up.

SallyG

Thanks for the information.
The plan is to put the new boiler in the garage - ie same place as the old one - the proposal from 4 quotations so far is to run the condensate pipe through the wall to a soakaway drain directly outside the garage wall- frozen solid for weeks last winter.
No internal drain available - relocating boiler pricey and problematic.

Apparently WBosch free guarantee involves an annual service costing me £118 per year?

SallyG

http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/specifier/customer-service/register-your-guarantee/guarantee-terms-and-conditions

Apparently the boiler would have a 2 year guarantee anyway?

macman

But that won't cover condensate pipe freezing if not installed to spec.

SallyG

Does the WB spec. specify some sort of heating to the condensate pipe if it's outside?

http://www.idhee.org.uk/ExceptionsGuide.pdf
This talks about condensate pipe location/insulation.

gas4you

WB are one of the worst affected boilers for condensate freezing because the constantly trickle discharge the condensate, where as other makes such as Vaillant use a siphon action, to dump it all in one quick go when the trap in the boiler gets full

bengasman

SallyG wrote: »

Worcester Bosch website says:
"Building regulations that have come into force since 1st April 2005 state that any replacement or new gas or oil boiler must be a condensing boiler. Rare exceptions can apply."

No such building regs exist, the only requirement is for the boiler to achieve a minimum efficiency

SallyG wrote: »

Anyone know what the exceptions are?

Very rare situations that make it technically extremely difficult to install a condensing boiler. I've never seen a building that had those conditions.

SallyG wrote: »

I'd be grateful to hear people's experiences of frozen condensate outlet last winter - how to avoid same - British Gas quotation included price for some sort of electrical heating for the external pipe/outlet - is it necessary?

A correctly installed condensing boiler will have no problem with frozen condensates. Electric condensate heating is a very poor way to stop it from freezing up, and expensive as well. You will be pleasantly surprised when you compare BG's detailed quote with local companies. BG usually quote for "junior" or "i-series" WB models, which compare to the CDI as an A-class Mercedes compares to a S-class; a cheap budget version of the real thing.

SallyG wrote: »

Any experiences of the Worcester Bosch 7 year guarantee?

WB warranty is very good. The WB CDI series are good boilers, but very expensive; the boiler plus flue and timer alone can come to around £1600, NOT including labour. The other WB boilers are decidedly less good, and I would not recommend them at all.
The best value for money is Viessmann; slightly better than WB CDI, much better than the other WB models, and several hundred pounds less expensive. 5/10 year warranty.

SallyG

My best quote [in Yorkshire] for a WB Greenstar 30 CDi combi from a WB accredited local installer of good repute is £2,400 inc VAT - £400 lower than British Gas quote for installing WB Greenstar 28iHigh [that boiler priced at £863]
"A correctly installed condensing boiler will have no problem with frozen condensates" - does "correctly installed" mean not draining externally [in my case through garage wall to open gully immediately next to garage wall] or a bigger pipe properly insulated if external?

Canucklehead

OP: see page 42 onward here. My OH has been fitting Viessmann products for several years now....value for money.

HTH

Canucklehead