Boiler gas pipe location from meter - outside house?

martyp

Hi all,

As a follow on to my last posting about the boiler quote I've been advised a pipe will need to run from the gas meter in the outside cupboard across the wall at the front of the house and over the front window and into a new hole in the wall in the kitchen. Is that normal? It just sounds like it would look quite odd or unattractive having a pipe running across the wall at the front of the house?

Bettie

martyp wrote: »

Hi all,

As a follow on to my last posting about the boiler quote I've been advised a pipe will need to run from the gas meter in the outside cupboard across the wall at the front of the house and over the front window and into a new hole in the wall in the kitchen. Is that normal? It just sounds like it would look quite odd or unattractive having a pipe running across the wall at the front of the house?

my neighbour has this. The pipe is covered with white tape and runs under his window. It looks awful. I have mine on the side of my house, it has yellow tape and is hideous but at least its not in the front though my drawback is the box sticks out a bit taking width off my very narrow drive.I wanted it moved but the cost was not worth it.

martyp

Many thanks Bettie, I've not noticed in on the front of other houses in my neighbourhood so not sure how theirs are set up as the houses are all much the same design and I think many have new boilers that have that requirement. I thought if it's a white pipe I could paint it to look less obvious? Unfortunately it's a mid terrace house so going round the side wouldn't be an option.

penrhyn

Thats one of the problems with Combination boilers, they need a larger diameter pipe. If you were to have a conventional heat only boiler it would run off the existing 15 mm pipe. You would need hot water storage tank though.

anna_24

penrhyn wrote: »

Thats one of the problems with Combination boilers, they need a larger diameter pipe. If you were to have a conventional heat only boiler it would run off the existing 15 mm pipe. You would need hot water storage tank though.

It is a problem with condensing boilers - whether combi or not. Unfortunately in the vast majority of cases you can only have a condensing boiler fitted these days. It was something that I put off for a while as I knew I needed new pipes, but I wasn't willing to have my beautiful floor boards taken up!
I'm in a mid terrace, but luckily have a side entry, so the pipes mainly run down there. They do however run from the meter across the house, and run up parallel to the guttering. It didn't long for the pipes to "tarnish", so doesn't look too bad - especially as I've put some plants in front!
A friend had her's done last year too, she doesn't have the side access, and they still managed to run the pipes around - no idea how though!

keystone

martyp wrote: »

Hi all,

As a follow on to my last posting about the boiler quote I've been advised a pipe will need to run from the gas meter in the outside cupboard across the wall at the front of the house and over the front window and into a new hole in the wall in the kitchen. Is that normal? It just sounds like it would look quite odd or unattractive having a pipe running across the wall at the front of the house?

Todays' condensing boilers of whatever ilk require a greater gas flow rate than older boilers. The only way to achieve that is to upsize the pipework - normally from 15mm to 22mm.

There are two choices. Do it outside the building or do it inside the building. Doing it outside is simpler for the installer and cheaper for you and in response to your "is this normal" question the answer is its very common. Doing it inside means lifting floorboards etc to replace the existing pipe run. You may not want that. If you do then discuss it with your installer but be prepared for your install price to go up to accommodate the additional work.

Cheers

keystone

penrhyn wrote: »

I think you are wrong. Heat only boilers unless they are very high output only need a standard gas pipe.

Far too generalistic IMO. It depends entirely on the individual boiler and the installation circumstances. In every case the installer will do the necessary calculation for the boiler's required flow rate and the restrictions to flow in the pipe run from meter to boiler. The two are not mutually exclusive. Its true that some will work with a (very short) existing piperun in 15mm. Thats the only thing that can be said TBH.

Cheers

keystone

martyp wrote: »

I thought if it's a white pipe I could paint it to look less obvious?

It has to be in copper but there is no reason whwy you can't paint it. Hi-Gloss paint straight onto clean (and I do means clean) copper sans primer or undercoat works fine or you can use a Multi-Surface paint like the BEDEC one. In any event if you leave it au naturel it will soon darken down. Your alternative would be to box it in - might be a suitable discouragement to the metal thieves as well.

Cheers

diywhynot

martyp wrote: »

Hi all,

As a follow on to my last posting about the boiler quote I've been advised a pipe will need to run from the gas meter in the outside cupboard across the wall at the front of the house and over the front window and into a new hole in the wall in the kitchen. Is that normal? It just sounds like it would look quite odd or unattractive having a pipe running across the wall at the front of the house?

What have the other RGIs recommended?

diywhynot

keystone wrote: »

Todays' condensing boilers of whatever ilk require a greater gas flow rate than older boilers.

Please elucidate.

keystone

diywhynot wrote: »

Please elucidate.

Yes - very poor choice of words. The calcs have to be done for the specific boiler on the pipe run that it is to be supplied by. Inevitably there will be those that don't need upgrade.

Cheers