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Does anyone know about boilers?

4 replies

starrychime · 30/10/2011 21:28

Just moved into my new flat Grin Vendor left instructions for heating etc so switched it on and sure enough radiators were lovely and warm quickly and hot water seems fine. But when the radiators are on there is a drip of water coming out of a white plastic pipe - this pipe seems to come out of the bottom of the boiler and into a wall (the bathroom wall actually). When I turn the heating off and just have the hot water the drip stops. The drip seems to come from a u-bend in the pipe but I can't see/feel anything obvious. Has anyone any idea what this could be? The pipe isn't very wide - maybe a bit thicker than my thumb. I am totally clueless about gas/boilers etc - always been electric before.

OP posts:
nocake · 30/10/2011 21:57

It could be the drain pipe. Modern condensing boilers have to drain the condensate away. Where does the pipe go? Is it into a drain?

If it is the drain pipe then dripping won't affect the operation of the boiler.

PigletJohn · 30/10/2011 22:06

if it is a white plastic pipe, and it only drips when the boiler if firing, and the boiler is quite a modern one (5 years old, say)

then:

it will be a condensing boiler (the hot fumes coming out of the flue outside will be steamy in cold weather, and no hotter than a cup of tea)

and the white plastic pipe is almost certainly the condensate pipe, that takes condensation (from the steam generated by burning the gas) which forms inside the boiler chamber, and takes it to a convenient drain.

This condensate is slightly acidic (about the same as tomato juice) so if you collect a bit in an eggcup, and rub it on your taps, you will probably find it cleans the limescale off. However it is a bit polluted with Products of Combusition, and it should not be leaking in the house (under certain unlikely circumstances, with a combination of faults, flue gases might leak through that pipe).

So you ought to report it as a boiler fault. If you have a rented house the landlord should fix it, if not you can engage a boiler engineer or a skilled plumber (this part is just a fancy drainpipe and is not within the gas part of the boiler, so you are not obliged to have the leak repaired by a gas-safe engineer). If you have a maintenance contract they will fix it. It is not an emergency.

The white plastic pipe probably has solvent-cement joints in it, these are very difficult to take apart, most likely the repairmain will cut out the damaged section and replace it with a new bit. A boiler engineer might open up the boiler casing and replace the pipe all the way from the vessel inside, to the drain, which would be neater. People who are not gas-safe registered are not supposed to open the case.

BTW - it is very commendable that you have the condensate running (by the sound of it) to a convenient nearby waste pipe in the bathroom. Many people have these pipes running outside the house where they freeze up in very cold weather, causing the boiler to flood or switch off, which is very inconvenient in cold weather. Many installers say their customers wouldn't want the extra cost and inconvenience of having an internal waste pipe put in; I say they will once they've had an external one freeze.

starrychime · 31/10/2011 03:19

PigletJohn - thanks very much for all the info Smile Boiler is about 10 years old I think but looks quite modern. I'm about to sign up for a maintenance plan - the house was empty for a while and the contract ran out last Feb. Not used to this gas business - hot water on demand all the time seems great but I'm a bit nervous about it. Once I know how it all works hopefully I'll relax a bit.

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 31/10/2011 10:36

OK. The maintenance contracts do give peace of mind (though they are entitled to say they won't cover pre-existing faults). It might be worth asking around for a recommended local gas-safe installer who does repairs and won't try to sell you a new boiler instead. But is is very difficult for a householder to tel the difference between a good and a bad RGI.

If yours is a reliable brand like Viessmann, Vaillant or Worcester-Bosch, then the money you spend on the annual payments would be better tucked away for the (very rare) servicing or repairs it needs. I used to have a very old iron boiler, and with that, I got my money's worth out of BG with quite a lot of repairs and new parts. I now have a Viessmann with a 5 and 10 year warranty, I just had my first fault, fixed free (three years old) and am not planning to take out another service contract.

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