Valiant flue problem.

[whistler]

I have a Vailant turbomax plus 824/2E boiler with fanned horizontal flue. Boiler installed 2003 but according to my service engineer is in good condition. The boiler is located on an external wall which is approx 7 feet from my neighbours wall and almost directly facing his bathroom window.

A couple of years ago my neighbour complained that the fumes from the flue were entering his bathroom and I should have a vertical flue fitted. The boiler is serviced every year and I asked my service engineer about this and he said it was well within the distance limit from my neighbours property and the fumes were in fact harmless water vapour. His opinion was that there was no need to modify the flue. I did get a quote for doing the work and it would have been around £350.

I explained this to my neighbour and all went quiet for a while. However today he raised the issue again and told me that the gasses from my boiler were now discolouring his pvc window frames. I checked this myself and there was no discolouration other than what would be expected as the Windows are around 12 to 15 years old. He also told me that he had been bought a carbon monoxide detector for his bathroom as he was concerned about the fumes. However I assume that the detector hasn't detected any fumes otherwise I'm sure he would have mentioned it.

I like to keep the peace with my neighbours, and would be happy to have the flue modified if it was necessary, but on the other hand I don't particularly want to spend money if it isn't necessary.

Any expert advice would be appreciated.

 

[bernardgreen]

and the fumes were in fact harmless water vapour

with carbon dioxide gas from the combustion of the gas, there is also a small amout of carbon monoxide, ( or a lot if the boiler is not burning gas properly ) . The visible plume is condensing water vapour.

Surprised that a service engineer did not know about carbon compounds in the gas being burnt and thus producing oxides of carbon.

 

[whistler]

Maybe I didn't fully understand what he was telling me, but he did use his tester on the flue exit and I assume therefore that it was within limits. I have also held my own detector close to the flue and it reads zero. Would the 'normal' small amounts be harmful at a distance of over two metres?

 

[St0rmer66]

Turbomax isn't even a condensing boiler. So shouldn't be too much plume! Vaillant say 2m from an opening opposite the terminal to be safe. It will always produce a tiny amount of C.O. but it's so small you could breathe it all day and be fine.

 

[simond]

TurboMAX would normally produce around 7% Co2 in the combustion outlet, and under 100ppm CO.

From the description of the layout, your neighbour is being OCD. Tell them the flue is correctly sited (assuming their boundary from your flue is the minimum distance, not the bathroom), and that you will be happy to move it if they can actually show you their CO detector alerting to a problem.