Air break on condesate pipe

[lambchop]

Last job of the day

do a re run of an internal condesate that goes underneath floorboards and terminates into an internal soil stack. 2 different areas/joints were leaking that were accessible under so cracked on and done it also asked by office to put in a s trap with removable lime chip bag.

put boiler into service mode to check for leaks on my joints, immediately starts leaking, at the top where new condense fits onto condense spigot of the boiler, ahh it's double trapped so not helpful. Put an air gap between both traps everything works fine. There is a co alarm present

my mate says he would ar that straight away. If the boiler condesate trap evaporates there's is a risk of poc leaking until the trap fills up with condesate again. Slim chance if soil stack is blocked, water could back fill and gurgle out of the air break.

i know it's not ideal but seems acceptable in m.i.s

whats everybody's opinion, be gentle I'm only on my first beer and hope everyone had a good week :sorcerer:

 

[Kev the gas]

"also asked by office to put in a s trap with removable lime chip bag."

Why would you do that ?

 

[lambchop]

Because there my employer and if they want to neutralise the condesate discharge before it goes into a combined sewage pipe and the local council have requested them to do this mate

 

[Kev the gas]

Totally understand as they are your employer, Just I have never heard of this being done before.

Condense safe ect yes, not an S trap with lime chippings. Everyday is a school day.

 

[bigads28]

As long as it's a syphon then it's to have the break, some instructions show the pipe like this. You can get a non return valve for them though.

 

[lambchop]

Totally understand as they are your employer, Just I have never heard of this being done before.

Condense safe ect yes, not an S trap with lime chippings. Everyday is a school day.

sorry my fault just re read my op and it's misleading, I described the trap so it came across as something that's been cobbled together. It's a proper internal lime chipping trap specially for boiler condensate!

Doh,

 

[Kev the gas]

Ha ha, have another beer

 

[lambchop]

I'm on my fourth! 2 can van dam, this could be a money maker, we can go 50/50 and sell it to ray,

 

[wattsie1987]

Tell your mate to shut up mi's want an air gap. If the trap dries out the co alarm will go off anyway!

 

[dmheat]

I hate internal air gaps on condensates...I've now visited 3x ID boilers where cracked boiler condensate traps have emptied, allowing POCs to **** out of the air gap.

One was in a child bedroom, and perfectly acceptable to MI's.

One was a washing machine stand up

Latest one was an installer fitting an internal tundish on the condensate

Should be ****ing banned....

 

[lambchop]

I hate internal air gaps on condensates...I've now visited 3x ID boilers where cracked boiler condensate traps have emptied, allowing POCs to **** out of the air gap.

One was in a child bedroom, and perfectly acceptable to MI's.

One was a washing machine stand up

Latest one was an installer fitting an internal tundish on the condensate

Should be ****ing banned....

I can see your point mate, I presume you were called in by the custard as the boiler was leaking and found out that the boiler condesate trap was leaking which you obviously fixed.

Im playing devils advocate here, so what would the next step be, all condense runs will have to pressure tested as they could leak poc, ones without an air gap for eg. The joint might have enough glue for it not to leak on the bottom where the condense runs but it's not air tight and poc could escape from the top of a badly glued joint....

 

[dmheat]

Probably not pressure testing, I mean flues aren't pressure tested, so can't see that ever being a possibility lol, but definately taken more seriously, I just can't understand why manufacturers could deem it as ok. Cracked condensate traps are such a common occurrence, and it means nothing's stopping POCs pumping down that condensate pipe...I don't care what MIs say I will never install an internal air break on a condensate or drop it into a washing machine stand up

 

[lambchop]

But you can tell if a flue is leaking poc by doing an O2 check and externally with your FGA and having a co alarm, plus it's pre fabricated, can mark the flue to ensure it's fully in the socket and nowadays you have access to all joints etc. With an internal condense running in boxing and under floorboards, there's a minuscule chance that poc could leak, in certain conditions.

I agree mate and like your methods but in my instance I wasn't thrilled doing it and never had to before but it was the only way round it making sure m.i.s are adhered to

the guy that said he would ar what I had done had a gas safe inspector visit him yesterday and they talked about this scenario. Gas safe gave it the thumbs up. I personally would rather not do the above if can be avoided