Gas Combi Boiler inexpensive Insulation.

Saver0811

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cajef

Hate to say this but it is the horizontal pipe at the bottom where water will most likely lodge and freeze that needs insulating as it appears to have a slight upward slope and water will lay in the pipe.

penrhyn

I concur, a horizontal run will freeze very quickly, I'd pull the right angled connector off when its very cold and let it drip on the patio.
Or get a load more pipe insulation.

SYNERGY

As Cajef said ^

1) The fall of the condensate pipe should be 50mm per meter of pipe from the elbow to where it enters the drain.

2) How long is the external pipe ?

3) Paint rollers and fleece sleeves will absorb the smallest amount of water over time unless 100% insulated from the ingress of water resulting in a nice block of ice around that elbow.

4) The ' over flow ' isn't an overflow, it's the exit pipe for the pressure relief valve, one of the safety feature of the boiler. If the boiler is maintained as it should be and nothing goes wrong you should never see water issuing from this pipe. If something does go wrong, and excess pressure / water is vented from here you don't want it restricted. :eek:

I'm all for saving money, however in this instance I think your best way would to be to have the fall of the pipe corrected to at least 50mm per meter, easily done by shortening the vertical pipe then re-clipping the horizontal pipe to give a good fall.

Invest in the correct external pipe insulation which is waterproof.

May be cheaper than having to boil kettles and provide some other means of heat whilst the boiler is unusable due to a blocked condensate drain.

jalexa

Saver0811 wrote: »

I only needed about 6" at most, out of a 3 x 1 metre pack.

B&Q sell pipe insulation in single lengths.

eeeeeee

if have any problems this winter with this ;disconnect your condense pipe under the boiler or cut the plastic ( some are rubber)pipe ... and have it running into a bucket as and when quick soloution ... not as much fuss ; no matter whatever amount of insulation you have put on it will still be prone too freezing again ; hope this helps someone

jalexa

Saver0811 wrote: »

As you can see, adjacent overflow ? pipe

As mentioned in an earlier post probably the pressure relief discharge (I assume black painted copper and not plastic?).

Should never discharge unless you have a serious fault.

payless

eeeeeee wrote: »

if have any problems this winter with this ;disconnect your condense pipe under the boiler or cut the plastic ( some are rubber)pipe ... and have it running into a bucket as and when quick soloution ... not as much fuss ; no matter whatever amount of insulation you have put on it will still be prone too freezing again ; hope this helps someone

yep thats what I did one winter until could do a perm job

SYNERGY

eeeeeee wrote: »

if have any problems this winter with this ;disconnect your condense pipe under the boiler or cut the plastic ( some are rubber)pipe ... and have it running into a bucket as and when quick soloution ... not as much fuss ; no matter whatever amount of insulation you have put on it will still be prone too freezing again ; hope this helps someone

... and have it running into a bucket as and when quick soloution

Just make sure that you remember to empty the bucket of what is now acidic water frequently and size the bucket correctly, a condensing boiler, when operating in condensing mode can produce .1liter per hour per KW.May not sound much but say .1 x 25KW ( average boiler ) x 8 hours = potentially 20 liters. :eek:

rogerblack

In addition, If cutting the pipe inside, I'd be very concerned that this breaks the seal on the boiler, and could allow combustion gasses to leak out.
I would not do this without two seperate known working CO alarms.
Alternatively, the pipe could be let into a bucket with at least 6" water in, with the pipe at the bottom, so there isn't a way for gas to leak out, it's held in by the water.

You can reduce the amount of condensate (at the cost of efficiency) by increasing the boiler set temperature.

redboy1

So how much on average does a 35kw condenseing boiler chuck out in water ?
I'll be having one fitted this week and were fitting the water pipe into an acko drain that runs down the side of the house. The drain doesnt go into a proper drain it just goes into the ground.