I've been having some interesting conversations with my engineers - in one of our properties the boiler is well overdue for replacement, but hasn't so far due to problems routing a flue to comply with current regs.
The boiler is in a garage underneath the flat. At present, the flue goes through a store that belongs to someone else, has a 90˚ bend, then comes out through the wall into a space that's underneath the flat (the garage door is recessed about 6' from the back wall of the building). Sorry, this is the best picture I have at the moment, the door to the right of the up-n-over garage door is the storage space, and the current flue comes through that wall between the garage and storage space doors - it's higher up and hidden by the beams supporting the back wall.
The wall between garage and store runs roughly in line with the garage door, and the boiler is mounted on that.
The engineers reckon the only practical way is to go straight though the store and out the back wall, then use a plume diversion to take it away from the steps. I guess that's not too bad, but it does mean it going through a space that isn't part of my property.
What are people's thoughts on that ?
Now, I did come up with a cunning plan.
There is a concrete lintel over the garage door, so can't come through that. But I could core out a hole at 45˚ that would just miss the end of it, and get me between the space in front of the garage door, and inside the garage. I'd also need to consult a structural engineer about the next bit - but the RSJs are "very oversized" (I think the builders simply found them cheap - they were obviously second hand). Since no-one does an intermediate drain point, I can't drop the flue down to come under the beams, so that means cutting a hole through. My plan was to terminate the twin-flue in the recessed area, and just bring the inner pipe through the beams (thus a smaller hole) using plume diversion/balcony kit parts.
But then the engineer throws in a completely unexpected twist. He was reading from the Baxi book, and said that the twin-flue pipes aren't allowed to go outside other than the short section of terminal. And that it has to be seated "square on" to a wall - so the idea of coming out of the garage at 45˚ is scuppered. He then added that (IIRC) Vaillant do allow their flues to go outside - but don't have balcony kits (presumably because they aren't needed.
Does this sound right ?
Am I right that no-one supports dropping the flue (and hence needing a separate drain point) ?
I'm pretty certain it could be done (possibly without cutting the steel, I reckon I could get a 50mm pipe over the top) with a Keston and 50mm uPVC piping, but their smallest model is "a bit big" and the price tag reassuringly expensive.
I can't believe I am the only one in the world with such routing issues
The boiler is in a garage underneath the flat. At present, the flue goes through a store that belongs to someone else, has a 90˚ bend, then comes out through the wall into a space that's underneath the flat (the garage door is recessed about 6' from the back wall of the building). Sorry, this is the best picture I have at the moment, the door to the right of the up-n-over garage door is the storage space, and the current flue comes through that wall between the garage and storage space doors - it's higher up and hidden by the beams supporting the back wall.
The wall between garage and store runs roughly in line with the garage door, and the boiler is mounted on that.
The engineers reckon the only practical way is to go straight though the store and out the back wall, then use a plume diversion to take it away from the steps. I guess that's not too bad, but it does mean it going through a space that isn't part of my property.
What are people's thoughts on that ?
Now, I did come up with a cunning plan.
There is a concrete lintel over the garage door, so can't come through that. But I could core out a hole at 45˚ that would just miss the end of it, and get me between the space in front of the garage door, and inside the garage. I'd also need to consult a structural engineer about the next bit - but the RSJs are "very oversized" (I think the builders simply found them cheap - they were obviously second hand). Since no-one does an intermediate drain point, I can't drop the flue down to come under the beams, so that means cutting a hole through. My plan was to terminate the twin-flue in the recessed area, and just bring the inner pipe through the beams (thus a smaller hole) using plume diversion/balcony kit parts.
But then the engineer throws in a completely unexpected twist. He was reading from the Baxi book, and said that the twin-flue pipes aren't allowed to go outside other than the short section of terminal. And that it has to be seated "square on" to a wall - so the idea of coming out of the garage at 45˚ is scuppered. He then added that (IIRC) Vaillant do allow their flues to go outside - but don't have balcony kits (presumably because they aren't needed.
Does this sound right ?
Am I right that no-one supports dropping the flue (and hence needing a separate drain point) ?
I'm pretty certain it could be done (possibly without cutting the steel, I reckon I could get a 50mm pipe over the top) with a Keston and 50mm uPVC piping, but their smallest model is "a bit big" and the price tag reassuringly expensive.
I can't believe I am the only one in the world with such routing issues
