I've recently been trying to work out why our heating provides so little heat output (details in popcorn boiler post).
The end result was that I measured the gas flow and found that it was using 43 cubic feet per hour compared to its rated minimum of 57 cubic feet per hour.
At this point I threw in the DIY towel and called British gas to see if they'd send someone out (after phoning three local plumbers none of whom returned my call). The woman on the phone asked what the issue was and I said the burner was running low in the boiler and that there might be an issue with gas pressure. Apparently this phrase sets alarm bells ringing at British Gas because 45 mins later a transco engineer was at my front door to look for gas leaks.
Needless to say there is no gas leak but he was good enough to test the gas pressure at the meter (21.5mB) and then quickly tested it at my boiler too (really nice guy). At the burner, the pressure measured only 9mB which is well below the minimum rating of 11.8mB for the boiler (glowworm energysaver 60).
The guys parting comment was that I should get my internal gas main looked at before replacing the boiler as it could be restricting the flow.
I measured the length of gas pipework from the boiler to the meter last night and it does take a pretty strangled route through the house comprising:
18m of 22mm pipe with five 90 degree angles.
2m of 15mm with three 90 degree angles.
Is there any way to calculate if this is too long a run?
iep
The end result was that I measured the gas flow and found that it was using 43 cubic feet per hour compared to its rated minimum of 57 cubic feet per hour.
At this point I threw in the DIY towel and called British gas to see if they'd send someone out (after phoning three local plumbers none of whom returned my call). The woman on the phone asked what the issue was and I said the burner was running low in the boiler and that there might be an issue with gas pressure. Apparently this phrase sets alarm bells ringing at British Gas because 45 mins later a transco engineer was at my front door to look for gas leaks.
Needless to say there is no gas leak but he was good enough to test the gas pressure at the meter (21.5mB) and then quickly tested it at my boiler too (really nice guy). At the burner, the pressure measured only 9mB which is well below the minimum rating of 11.8mB for the boiler (glowworm energysaver 60).
The guys parting comment was that I should get my internal gas main looked at before replacing the boiler as it could be restricting the flow.
I measured the length of gas pipework from the boiler to the meter last night and it does take a pretty strangled route through the house comprising:
18m of 22mm pipe with five 90 degree angles.
2m of 15mm with three 90 degree angles.
Is there any way to calculate if this is too long a run?
iep