Condensation Outlet

[robputt796]

Hi All,

Hoping someone can advise me on my boiler, today I went out into my garden after running the heating and noticed the patio was very wet around the back door and the rest was dry. So I thought I had a leak or similar and started searching for a cause and then I realised there was a lot of water dripping out of the boiler condensation outlet pipe. It is an Ideal Logic+ 30 boiler and it had it's annual service 2 weeks ago by a GasSafe engineer and passed with flying colours. I've never noticed this amount of water coming out of this pipe before, maybe it's always done it and I haven't noticed or maybe something has changed. Is this normal?

Any advice would be good, obviously I won't do anything to the boiler myself as I am not a qualified person, but if it sounds a bit fishy I will call my gas engineer back out.

Best Regards,

Rob

 

[flameport]

boiler condensation outlet pipe

That should go into a drain - are you sure it's the condensate outlet, and not actually the PRV outlet, which would indicate the pressure on the heating system is too high?

 

[robputt796]

It is a plastic pipe, comes out of the bottom of the boiler and right through the wall, I checked the boiler service manual from the diagram I am fairly confident it is the condensate outlet but I haven't taken the case off the boiler to check if it is connected to the condensate trap inside (not sure if I am allowed to remove the casing of the boiler as I don't wanna break the room seal), the pressure on the radiators is within the green section on the dial on the underside of the boiler. The water coming out is nice and clean looking, not murky and ****ty like radiator water and it doesn't smell like radiator water either. If this is meant to go into a drain it is currently being dumped out that back of my house onto my patio and pooling by my back door (why the previous owner didn't have a slight tilt on the patio so water ran off into the garden I do not know thankfully no damp spots on the inside of the house).

 

[dilalio]

Upload a photo so we can be sure.
But usually if it's plastic it's the condense and copper if it's the discharge/blow off.

 

[terryplumb]

Edit

 

[robputt796]

It is the plastic pipe, there is a copper pipe next to it with a cap like thing on the end of it, nothing is dripping out of that one, only the plastic.

 

[dilalio]

OK. You posted while I was typing

If it is the condense then it should not be open-ended to atmosphere but should go. Into a drain or soak-away.

Again, send a photo.

Edit: it should have been done on install.

 

[robputt796]

Here is the photo...

https://imgur.com/a/ALcwKOg

Interesting if this is meant to be plumbed to a drain, weird why it wasn't done when the sewage down pipe is literally right next to the pipe, and a gutter down pipe into another drain is literally a few feet away.

 

[robputt796]

Sorry my link to the photo is awaiting a moderator to approve it, hopefully won't be long

 

[flameport]

my link to the photo

Paste or drag the picture directly into the thread, no need to link to other sites.

 

[robputt796]

Ok, dragging and dropping onto the thread seems to work, thanks. I have been reading this forum for years now but never posted before

 

[dilalio]

Sorry my link to the photo is awaiting a moderator to approve it, hopefully won't be long

As said above. You can attach photos direct to this thread.

 

[dilalio]

Ok, dragging and dropping onto the thread seems to work, thanks. I have been reading this forum for years now but never posted before

Well, if that isn't an overflow from a wc or a storage tank and is indeed the condense, it is all wrong and should have been pulled up during any service over the period since the install! It's.not clean water, it's acidic and needs properly routing to a drain. I'm surprised it hasn't begun to stain the wall or patio. Also, the discharge pipe doesn't appear to have been sealed on the outside and any discharge will go straight into/through the wall.

 

[robputt796]

Damn, acidic nasty stuff, I guess I better keep the dog away from it until I get this rectified. Is it the sort of thing I can just plumb it into the nearest drain via extending the pipe and put some caulk in the hole? Or is it best to query it with my gas engineer? He didn't install the boiler, it was already here when I moved in, but he has serviced the boiler twice since I've lived here and never said anything about this outlet.

 

[JohnD]

I believe it's only about as acidic as tomato juice, so not exactly dangerous.

But in the same way that lemon juice will dissolve limescale, condensate dripping onto concrete will in time eat away the cement, and leave a hole full of sand and stones. I saw this happen on a neighbours path.

If your boiler happens to be in the kitchen, perhaps you could run the condensate pipe to the sink drain. That may be neat, and will remove the risk of the pipe freezing solid in frosty weather.