DIY central heating boiler change?

[DickyDoDah]

Actually I was thinking that after I posted. I can drill a pilot hole to see how thick the concrete is but I will have to be careful as the gas main comes in in the vicinity. Is there anything special about a condensate soakaway?
I've just found some details for condensate soakaways and it looks like another non starter as the gas pipe is too close and I also would need a 200mm core drill. It would end up costing way more than a condensate pump.

 

[gaz1]

Friend of wife recently had a replacement boiler fitted. Bloke was Gas Safe registered. He was rude to customer, made a mess, left rubbish behind (not metal !), charged nearly £400 more than original quote, and screwed a piece of chipboard over hole left by old boiler and attached new to that, no divert valve, no room or tank thermostat and no timer. A couple of weeks later the friend had a leaking radiator so she got another plumber to fit that. New plumber was shocked at standard of work done by the first and recommended friend report poor installation to Gas Safe. She was then told they would send an independent person to assess and then instruct first plumber to correct problems. As she didn't want any further contact with the installer (he was that rude to her) no further action was taken.

to me he should be struck off the register and not allowed back on

as goes for inviting the first plumber back in by the gas safe independent assessor it would be a no way and proves without a doubt how shocking and unfit gas safe really is

the first installer should foot the new plumbers bill to make right whilst also being removed from the register but like ive said no insurance or guarantee from the gas safe system

 

[dobbslc]

If you're going to insulate the garage anyway what about building the inner wall skin behind the boiler before fitting it?
Some blocks and insulation slab job done.
As for that condensate drain I'd just break out a 250mm square hole, fill with pea shingle then put a drain cover on it, gravity will always work and no pizzing around with pumps that will go wrong.

 

[DickyDoDah]

My intention is to insulate the wall behind the boiler as It will be easy to do. The wall below what will be ceiling level is double skinned but not cavity so 25-50mm of Kingspan will insulate that quite well. I'll make a cupboard to go over the whole boiler that will also be insulated as well as removable just in case. The flue will be going through the ceiling and then through the single skin wall to make sure it is far enough away from all openings with the added bonus that it will be easier as it's a single block wall not a double brick wall. I've had a good look at the requirements for a condensate soakaway and it has to be 500mm from walls to avoid the foundations which will make it quite awkward. The nail in the coffin for this location is that the gas meter is just outside the garage so the soakaway will be very close to the incoming main which is really not a good idea Condensate pumps are quite reliable if fitted properly as they are used in a large proportion of AirCon installs. As it happens I've found a Grundfos one for £30 but they aren't that expesive brand new, sub £100. A bonus is that they can alarm or even shut down the boiler in the event of an issue. I've even figured out where I can run the condensate to It is permissable to run the drain into a rainwater gutter/downpipe that runs into a soakaway and I just realised that there is a gutter about a metre away that has a downpipe at the other end that goes to a gully. hopefully this pic off google streets shows the idea. Boiler will be on the wall to the right of the garage door, flue will exit in the rendered bit above and the condensate will come down the side of the extension roof into the gutter.

 

[dobbslc]

Yeah it's a bit tight there!

 

[Olderisbetter]

Round my way there is a company that has lots of workers installing and if you look close at the fitters lanyard you notice the picture is not the fitter attending, when I pointed this out he tried to tell me he could certify gas under instruction so they have 1 qualified guy and lots of cloned gas safe cards.

 

[dobbslc]

Grass em up.

 

[Robotstar5]

Round my way there is a company that has lots of workers installing and if you look close at the fitters lanyard you notice the picture is not the fitter attending, when I pointed this out he tried to tell me he could certify gas under instruction so they have 1 qualified guy and lots of cloned gas safe cards.

I had a gasman call to do some work at my moms house, he showed me his gas safe card without prompting, so I looked at it and said "did you know it expired a week ago?"
He was straight on the phone to the office to find out where the replacement was.

 

[Olderisbetter]

Grass em up.

I did a while back, since then they have changed names twice but still operate from the same building, they do lots of boiler grant work, you can bet it's a huge fiddle

 

[DickyDoDah]

I've managed to have a chat with the GasSafe guy who repaired and serviced the old boiler and he reckons that my plan is probably the only viable way of doing the new install due to the awkward layout. He's suggested that I crack on with the install and give him a call so he can come round and take a look once it's all in place. He did say that insulating around the boiler isn't really worth it so that saves a job, well we do live in the sunny south The condensate pump solution is also OK and he agreed with my interpertation of the regs that they don't apply after the end of the pipe out of the boiler so where the condensate pump exits is irrelevant. I expect that there are some enviromental regs that say they have to go to a drain but the gutter will suffice as the downpipe exits to a drain.