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Discuss External condensate pipe size in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

Not according to the requirements posted above. The texts shows below grate and above water level as one option and a soakaway as another option. What the link is from would be interesting to know.
Just checked on this and you DO have to terminate the pipe below the grate. This is to prevent wind chill freezing the pipe. Also recommends drain guards to be fitted which I guess is 1 to stop the gully clogging with leaves etc and 2 to stop the gully filling with snow which will inevitably freeze the pipe.

Again I wasn't disputing facts or anything, if I ask a question it's only for my own knowledge, not to question others.
 
Be prepared... :rolleyes:

Interestingly, when Corgi introduced the larger dia condensate it did very little to reduce freezing. What it did do however was delay the BLOCKING of the pipework because a 40mm dia pipe has 4 x the capacity of a 20mm dia pipe. The insulation also slowed, by a smidge, the initial freezing but literally by less than ten minutes.

What Corgi never took into account was the circulatory air currents that occur in a larger dia pipe - but we won't go into that :mad:

The reasons condensate freezes so readily is because in the UK we do not run our boilers in perm condensing mode. If we did it would be far less of an issue. So, running them as we do we get literal drops of condensate flowing every so often. As drops of water contain virtually zero sensible heat to give up they soon transfer it into the open atmosphere of the pipe. At 4 degs C and below they then give up their even smaller amounts of latent heat and change state to ice and we have the start of a freeze.

The only ways to stop external pipework like this freezing is:
- replace the heat lost to atmosphere via trace heating
- move sufficient volume of water in one go that, ultimately, it simply does not have time to lose its heat before reaching its destination.

Be under no illusion, insulation can NEVER stop freezing all it does is reduce the loss of the contained within the fluid. Unfortunately, corgi did not even know that if you are trying to protect against freezing you cannot leave ANY gaps and that the volume of fluid must be closely enclosed. As I write this I begin to realise that they might have indeed understood and simply played a game with installers to try to be seen to be doing something that they ultimately knew would be ineffective - who knows.

So, in summary, and not withstanding other great advice like protecting plastic pipe against UV by painting (shocking to need to do it in my view), personally I'd look at fitting a condensate pump with an interlock (for the boiler) and I'd run the discharge internally through the back of the cupboards to an internal waste. It would be darned simple and not be seen.
Other than that, I'd still fit the pump but I'd discharge it into some 21mm externally. So long as the boiler interlock with the pump works, I do not believe there will be a problem. Even if the pump failed, you could then do a temp discharge into a plastic drum to be manually emptied every 4 hours so keeping the boiler running at all times

I apologise for my alternative views chaps :)
 
Thanks for all the interest in my question.

Having considered all input, I think I will just leave things as they are ( but maybe get feedback from potential tenants as to what they think of the black condensate pipe )

cheers :)
 
Thanks for all the interest in my question.

Having considered all input, I think I will just leave things as they are ( but maybe get feedback from potential tenants as to what they think of the black condensate pipe )

cheers :)

Or don't even mention it
 
You sure Ron ?
As long as you got a good fall that’s just in my opinion. I never came across a frozen 32mm KOP. I unfortunately have to also disagree on 3m in total. I really think what the mis states is external 3m in total but it could be longer for example, 2m inside, and 3 outside. That’s the way I see it.
 
The reasons condensate freezes so readily is because in the UK we do not run our boilers in perm condensing mode. If we did it would be far less of an issue. So, running them as we do we get literal drops of condensate flowing every so often. As drops of water contain virtually zero sensible heat to give up they soon transfer it into the open atmosphere of the pipe. At 4 degs C and below they then give up their even smaller amounts of latent heat and change state to ice and we have the start of a freeze.

That’s so true, most of the people do not understand that radiators with a smart controller don’t have to b3 roasting hot to achieve the desired temperature. The boiler would the work on its own when having weather comp. and a boiler which modulates. Set the boiler to 55 flow temperature and let it run even though it runs the whole day it will still use much less fuel than getting it up to 75 and the boiler starts and stops all day long. You can put it this way, you could drive a porsche from east London to Oxford street but burning 20l or using a fiat which uses 6l but for both cars it will take the same time.

I hope you get my point. But as soon as you install a modulating boiler with a smart controller which has wether comp. and you setup the flow temperature you can be sure people will call you back very soon especially in winter time because the rads aren’t roasting.

However, that’s my point of view. Anyone who wants to disagree there are more than welcome :) I love collecting disagreements:)
 
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You can put it this way, you could drive a porsche from east London to Oxford street but burning 20l or using a fiat which uses 6l but for both cars it will take the same time.
I couldn't disagree more. The Porche will only take the same take the same amount of time as the Fiat (500?) if it is stuck behind the Fiat. The 2CV will get there with 5 litres and more quickly because it can cut across fields.

Though I do agree with the bit about a modulating boiler. Can you duplicate the post so I can both agree and disagree please?
 
I couldn't disagree more. The Porche will only take the same take the same amount of time as the Fiat (500?) if it is stuck behind the Fiat. The 2CV will get there with 5 litres and more quickly because it can cut across fields.

Though I do agree with the bit about a modulating boiler. Can you duplicate the post so I can both agree and disagree please?
Of course I can :) however I do t get the first bit though perhaps you caould take the time to explain in a different way
 
I just felt like taking the thread further off-topic :)

If the Fiat and the Porche leave Oxford at the same time, the Porche will get there before the Fiat unless it gets stuck in traffic (or behind the Fiat). It is a faster car.

Only if there were a traffic jam would the Porche take as long as the Fiat. But if a Citroen 2CV then joined the race, the Citroen 2CV would win. Because it has phenomonal off-road capability, it can cut across ploughed fields carrying a basket of eggs on the back seat without any getting broken, so it could avoid the traffic jams by cutting across fields. My comment about 5 litres was incorrect. The 2CV would also need 6 litres to cover 56 miles.

On a more serious note, your analogy is imperfect. A better analogy for weather comp would be that a car run at 60mph and using slow acceleration will take a little longer to get to London than a similar car driven hard but stopped for frequent breaks but will use less fuel. Because, after all, the point about weather comp is that it improves the efficiency of the same boiler by "driving" it in a different way.

Silly though this discussion may sound, we may as well have the discussion here as we need to rehearse for when we explain to customers.
 

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