Condensate pipe lagging

[davecooper]

Is there any point lagging an external 32mm combi condesate pipe? Last winter, our pipe froze solid daily during the very cold weather and had to be thawed using boiling water. The pipe is all 32mm externally and drops vertically to an open drain. If lagging will not work, is it possible to redirect the condensate to a container in the house during the very cold weather? We have been told that a vertical 32mm pipe shouldn't freeze. Well it did and to a height of more than 1m at times. Our neighbours have had trace heating fitted but it looks hideous.[/b]

 

[bengasman]

I have never heard of a vertical 32 mm freezing up, there must be something wrong.

Piccie maybe?

What make/model boiler do you have?

 

[davecooper]

Sorry Bengasman, I meant to say "predominantly vertical". It has a shallow downward slope followed by a 45 degree section and is then vertical for more than half the length. (See picture) The boiler is a Worcester Bosch Greenstar which has been installed for a little over 4 years.

Untitled

• davecooper
• 29 Apr 2011
• 1

 

[ironman1]

I've had 32mm condense waste freeze @ least a meter up from gully grate , last season was cold enough for this to occur , condensate waste is not continuous , more like spits & spurts , as soon as the condensate waste freezes & the outlet of condensate pipe it becomes a never ending spiral , same scenario as a dripping tap....................nice to see 32mm being used as opposed to 19mm

 

[Elkato531]

It doesn't matter what diameter the pipe is. If the condensate loses enough heat to the surroundings before it gets out of the pipe it'll freeze in the pipe. If it remains cold enough for long enough, the pipe will block. Last winter was exceptional but installations must be planned for worst case scenario. Lagging condense pipes cuts down heat loss and will help but your run is so long, you'd still probably get some problems. I bet there were thousands of condensers dripping into buckets last winter and they will again this coming winter.

 

[Corgigrouch]

Provided that you use decent quality heat tape, you can feed the wire down the centre of the pipe... Fed into the condensate through a tee inside the house and sealed so that even the section inside the wall is heated all nise and neat the only thing you see outside is an IP65 box housing a frost stat but if that is too much, then themostats with phials can be found so you don't even see the box.... Seen a few of the BG pigs ears

 

[electronicsuk]

Provided that you use decent quality heat tape, you can feed the wire down the centre of the pipe... Fed into the condensate through a tee inside the house and sealed so that even the section inside the wall is heated all nise and neat the only thing you see outside is an IP65 box housing a frost stat but if that is too much, then themostats with phials can be found so you don't even see the box.... Seen a few of the BG pigs ears

I'm not sure if the manufacturer of the trace heating tape would recommend using it in mildly acidic fluids, but that aside, it seems rather a waste of energy to heat an unlagged pipe. Since you may as well lag it to prevent heat escaping to the atmosphere, there's absolutely no point in putting the tape inside the pipe, as it'll be covered with lagging anyway. That's my 2p on the issue.

 

[ironman1]

It doesn't matter what diameter the pipe is. If the condensate loses enough heat to the surroundings before it gets out of the pipe it'll freeze in the pipe..

I agree , but bigger is better in this case , can 'bide' a bit more time.

 

[JohnD]

I bet your house is heated inside during the winter, and I bet it has a bathroom and kitchen which have pipwork and drains.

If the condensate pipe had been run indoors to the nearest convenient internal drain, it would not have frozen

Like mine didn't

I'm disappointed that there are still people who choose to put pipes with water in them, outside in the cold.

 

[ironman1]

I'm disappointed that there are still people who choose to put pipes with water in them, outside in the cold.

Sometimes the installer has no choice in the matter , it wasn't long ago that every houshold used exterior drains..............would be interesting to know how you would run condense waste internally when internal drain point is on the other side of property.

 

[JohnD]

I decided to put my boiler in a sensible place.

 

[ironman1]

I decided to put my boiler in a sensible place.

..................next time I replace a conventional boiler for a condensing boiler i'll make sure to tell the client new boiler has to be moved to enable condensate waste to be run to internal drain......................gotta get with the real world.

 

[jimhet]

Why not run the condensate pipe to a bucket/tank internally below the boiler and then have a submersible pump operated by a float switch to pump out the condensate waste/water to external drain whenever the bucket/tank fills up.
I know it sounds like a daft idea but no more daft than a so called state of the art boiler which ceases to function in cold weather.

 

[Corgigrouch]

Why not run the condensate pipe to a bucket/tank internally below the boiler and then have a submersible pump operated by a float switch to pump out the condensate waste/water to external drain whenever the bucket/tank fills up.
I know it sounds like a daft idea but no more daft than a so called state of the art boiler which ceases to function in cold weather.

Thats called a condensate pump and are widely available so not a daft idea at all

 

[Corgigrouch]

I'm not sure if the manufacturer of the trace heating tape would recommend using it in mildly acidic fluids, but that aside, it seems rather a waste of energy to heat an unlagged pipe. Since you may as well lag it to prevent heat escaping to the atmosphere, there's absolutely no point in putting the tape inside the pipe, as it'll be covered with lagging anyway. That's my 2p on the issue.

That is just the problem... The lagging used on the pipe looks abysmal. Where you can convince a customer to have an inch and a quarter pipe on their house, wrap it in lagging and it looks awful, add to that that the lagging used by BG isn't UV stable and is prone to being pecked by birds and nibbled by rodents. The people who supply my heater tape and termination kits are satisfied that their tape will withstand the mild acidity of the condensate. As stated, heating the pipe should be the last resort and efforts should be sought to drain internally to a regularly used drain such as a kitchen sink.. Sadly, by the time I get to see the customer, moving the boiler is not an option and the original installer doesn't want to know