Egg smell from either boiler or soil pipe, not sure

[rodney384]

I recently had my boiler changed and moved. I didn't want a new hole in an external wall so the engineer ran the condensate pipe into a soil (I think) pipe. The pipe it runs into runs from beneath the house vertically up and out of the roof, a few houses in my small cul-de-sac seems to have these poking from their roofs also but not many.

Anyway, in the last week or so an strage eggy smell has started in the cupboard.

I'm not sure if it is to do with the boiler which recently had a "gas valve error" code which went away with a press of the reset button as instructed by the manual (it only says call someone if the error repeats). Or if it is from thie this now opened vertical soil pipe which I am assuming is above some type of communal drainage system which is vented through our house because it has got hotter over the last week or so.

The condensate pipe is connected to a plastic pipe running into the soil pipe by a strange connecter that so that the hot(?) condensate pipe doesn't touch a plastic pipe but it has now effectively opened up the vertical pipe into the cupboard.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JAP&H]

Hi rodney384.

Your installer has connected the PRV discharge pipe into the condensate pipe work via a tundish (the black plastic device on the end of the 15 mm copper tube)

There is now a pathway for methane to pass from the soil and vent pipe into the property, that's what you can smell.

 

[AWheating]

as above, the blow off pipe needs to terminate outside really. get your installer back to sort it for free.

 

[rodney384]

Hi rodney384.

Your installer has connected the PRV discharge pipe into the condensate pipe work via a tundish (the black plastic device on the end of the 15 mm copper tube)

There is now a pathway for methane to pass from the soil and vent pipe into the property, that's what you can smell.

Thank you. Is it safe?

And what can I do about it? The smell isn't exactly nice and all our towels are in there. Could we replace the tundish with something else that would be sealed?

Thanks.

 

[JAP&H]

Hi again rodney384.

Couple of issues.

Inside the boiler case is a trap which would normally prevent smells from the sewage system entering a property.

The reason the soil and vent pipe passes through your roof is to discharge smells to atmosphere and prevent any dangerous buil up of sewer gas.

The set up you have now got bypasses any traps and is not only smelly but potentially dangerous.

 

[AWheating]

Thank you. Is it safe?

And what can I do about it? The smell isn't exactly nice and all our towels are in there. Could we replace the tundish with something else that would be sealed?

Thanks.

the copper pipe needs to terminate outside and not into the internal waste system. If you want to run it to the internal waste system you will probably need to gain written permission from your local building control office and it will have to be run in a seperate pipe, with a hepvo trap and waste pipe rated to carry 100*c water.

 

[jtsplumbing]

Helo Rodney, smell you are getting is from drainage, what the fitter has done is condense pipe (White plastic) into soil is ok, as boiler as internal seal, the other pipe (black fitting) is the safety pressure discharge pipe, this is connected to the tun-dish (Black fitting) and is open to the drain ! hence smell, not a good idea to connect to overflow pipe due to temperature of water on discharge, ask if this pipe can be put through wall (If outside wall close by) but the part with tundish will have to be alter'd

 

[JAP&H]

Hi Rodney

As AW has said if the PRV lifts then the water could possible discharge at 3 bar with a temperature nearing boiling.

Check boiler MI's for safe termination of PRV pipe work.

How long has it been like this? Will original installer correct the errors?

 

[anz]

You've said that you insisted that you didn't want any extra holes drilling on your exterior wall.

Really you need the PRV pipe terminating to outside. This is a safety pipe and only operates when the pressure is dangerously high, the temperature of the water is also likely to be very hot.

Ask your installer to install a blow off safety cowl similar to the picture below. This won't look too bad if pushed up right against the wall. You'd hardly notice it.

Once this is done the tundish can go and the condensate pipe terminated straight into the soil stack. You shouldn't have any more smells after this.

You may have to pay the installer extra as it was your choice to terminate to inside.

I don't think connecting the PRV to plastic pipe is a good idea either.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

I recently had my boiler changed and moved. I didn't want a new hole in an external wall so the engineer ran the condensate pipe into a soil (I think) pipe. The pipe it runs into runs from beneath the house vertically up and out of the roof, a few houses in my small cul-de-sac seems to have these poking from their roofs also but not many.

Anyway, in the last week or so an strage eggy smell has started in the cupboard.

I'm not sure if it is to do with the boiler which recently had a "gas valve error" code which went away with a press of the reset button as instructed by the manual (it only says call someone if the error repeats). Or if it is from thie this now opened vertical soil pipe which I am assuming is above some type of communal drainage system which is vented through our house because it has got hotter over the last week or so.

The condensate pipe is connected to a plastic pipe running into the soil pipe by a strange connecter that so that the hot(?) condensate pipe doesn't touch a plastic pipe but it has now effectively opened up the vertical pipe into the cupboard.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

View attachment 6801View attachment 6802

Rodney your installers a plonker they obviously have no idea how plumbing works and should be shot,and as said that prv is going into plastic

 

[AWheating]

Rodney your installers a plonker they obviously have no idea how plumbing works and should be shot,and as said that prv is going into plastic

this made me laugh 🙂

 

[tamz]

Rodney your installers a plonker they obviously have no idea how plumbing works and should be shot,

What more can i add, GM said it all :lol: :41:

 

[rodney384]

Thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate the advice.

I'm getting the guy to come back under the grounds that the installation is not safe.

Baxi have an accessory for this purpose but it's over £200. But looks like the easiest option will be to terminate outside. I never wanted this as we're considering extending the house on the other side of the wall the pipe would come out of. I guess that's just a problem we'll need to solve when we extend.

Thanks again.

 

[anz]

Easy solution.

Condensate to soil stack as now, without tundish and blow off pipe.

Blow off pipe straight to outside, and then whilst you're having your extension done, run the blow off pipe under the floor to the new exterior wall at low level.