Condesing Boiler Assesment

[cucumber]

Hi

We have just bought a ground floor flat which needs a complete central heating installed.
We are having the gas supply installed by Fulcrum in a few weeks and have been trying to sort out bathroom and kitchen layouts.

We’ve also been thinking about where we’d want the boiler installed. I’ve just come across the ‘Guide to the Condensing Boiler Installation Assessment Procedure for Dwellings’ from the ODPM site.

From what I can understand there is no place where we can have a condensing boiler fitted (due to the flue position) and will probably have to go with the old style combi.

I’m going to arrange for a couple of quotes in the coming week but I just wanted to check and see if my assumptions are correct or not.

I know the chaps providing quotes should be able to tell me but not everyone is always on the ball so I like to have some knowledge before talking to people.

We were thinking of having the boiler in the area under the stairs but the highest point of exit for the flue would be about 1.3meters and about 40-50cm from my front door. This is also a shared access with the upstairs flat to the gardens. The path itself is about 1.8meters wide (wall to wall).

Could someone please let me know if I’ve understood the assessment document correctly or can we still have a condensing boiler fitted?

Many thanks.

BTW If there’s anyone in the Abbey Wood area (South East London) and can spare the time to pay us a visit for a quote please let me know.

 

[chrishutt]

Why can't you put a condensing boiler in the kitchen with the flue terminating above the patio?

 

[lor]

you have no choice but to fit a condensing boiler. the exemptions are for existing back boilers not new installations

 

[cucumber]

(updated layout)

The distance between the back door and the shared path is only 1.5 meters. In the assessment doc I read the minimum terminal distance from property boundary is 2.5 meters.

There's also a garden shed within 2.5 meters of the kitchen's back wall.

I need to measure the distance from the back wall to the upstairs garden too... this is not a very big place

 

[cucumber]

you have no choice but to fit a condensing boiler. the exemptions are for existing back boilers not new installations

the back boiler only adds 350 points if the new condensing boiler has to be installed in a different room.

 

[ChrisR]

Plume diverting kits enable you to take a flue up and then point it away at 45º, say. As far as I can see that would be the only possibility - and it's not possible to tell from the plan view.
You can't fix it to someone else's property of course.
Whether it would be ok to point it at 45 across the shared path, depends what's there. If a subsequent occupier decided any sort of flue were a "nuisance" things could be difficult, perhaps, but you certainly see plenty of non-condensing flues going over shared alleys etc.

 

[chrishutt]

The distance between the back door and the shared path is only 1.5 meters. In the assessment doc I read the minimum terminal distance from property boundary is 2.5 meters.

This distance (2.5 mts) applies to the direction of the flue plume (which can be varied to suit a particular situation), not at 90 degrees to it. Also if you are 2.1 mts above ground level you can flue over a path or patio, subject to other restrictions.

In relation to your preferred location under the stairs to upper flat, even a non-condensing boiler will be subject to restrictions in relation to terminating onto rights of way, etc. (Part J)

 

[cucumber]

Thanks for the info so far.

With a diverter kit how far does the flue terminal has to be from the upstairs window (bearing in mind someone else owns the upstairs flat)?

Would it be possible to have a condensing boiler fitted in the understairs cupboard and have the flue out the wall at a low height and then have it extended up the wall and diverted at 45deg? (the wall is at the side of the building so it wouldn't be in direct view from the street and there are soil/waste pipes there already so it's not exactly a pretty sight to begin with).