Installation of condensing combi boiler

CaroB_2

Hi all

I've just been reading through some of the threads on here about condensing boilers but haven't found any answers to my query so thought I'd start my very own thread.

We have a Vokera 80/20 combi boiler at present, sited in an internal cupboard of a top floor tenement flat. We have no idea how old the boiler is but suspect it might be around the 10-15 year mark. Just before Christmas the heating stopped working properly, this was fixed by my husband and stepfather and it was then working fine until a couple of weeks ago it completely failed - no heating or hot water. This transpired to be a problem with the pump and after some jiggling of it it started working again, although we've not risked leaving the heating on while out so that we can keep an eye on it.

My gut feeling is that even if we replace the pump the problems are going to continue, as the boiler has evidence of (previous) leakage around the heat exchanger, pump and various other places, and so we are now looking into the possibility of replacing it.

However, rather than being a straight forward replacement this has turned into a bit of a saga. We are in Scotland and apparently by law we have to have a condensing boiler. For this the condensate needs to drain into a waste pipe. We have been given several options of varying degrees of disruption, mess and stress:
1) Attempt to run the pipe under the floorboards of the hall, into the bathroom, pick it up under the bath and connect to the waste pipe there. This may not be possible and another installer has just said we'd need to rip up the tiles in the bathroom (which would then need replacing).
2) Run the pipe up into the loft and then attach it to the downpipe on the outside. This would require scaffolding from the ground up 4 tenement-sized stories. Not an option.
3) Run the pipe up into the loft and then poke it out through the roof to drain into the gutter. This may not be possible & would require a second opinion from a roofer.
4) Relocate the boiler in the kitchen, causing huge disruption including ripping up our laminate flooring and destroying at least one if not two cupboards in our fairly newly-fitted kitchen.

We've not had any of the quotes back from the 3 installers who visited (a week ago) so I have no idea how much any of this is going to cost but am assuming (based on a work colleague who was in the same situation) it will be around the £3K mark.

Could anyone who knows more about these things please advise?
Should we just leave it and risk the boiler packing in over the winter next year (which is what happened this year, it wasn't working properly from end Oct-Christmas. We got very good at wearing lots of layers, but at least we had hot water)? We don't have a service contract (although it was last serviced in November), and from what some people have said it's possible we wouldn't get one due to the boiler's previous problems so it could cost quite a bit.
If we do replace it, what is our best option for the condensate?
Somebody mentioned that there was a 'points' system whereby if our circumstances were really difficult we could install a non-condensing boiler instead, does anyone have any more information on this?

Sorry for writing such a long post and thanks for reading if you got this far!

CaroB

Canucklehead

Good afternoon: Your CORGI could follow the assessment procedure outlined here to determine if a non-condensing boiler could be installed in your flat. Condensate pumps can be used to overcome condensate waste issues although my OH has yet to use one down here (although he did manage to get an exemption for a non-condensing boiler installation in Central London).

HTH

Canucklehead

gartshore

CaroB what part of Scotland i may be able to give advice .

CaroB_2

We're in Edinburgh if that helps

Thanks!