Soakaway external distance ????

[Foxyuk]

hi guys!!!!! ive noticed water in my cellar it seems level with area where the soakaway leaves the house ..... i have looked in the valiant manual and it says distance for external pipe should be minimal to prevent freezing then it goes on to say should be a max of 3 metre with a 45mm fall per metre HOWEVER no mention of minimum distance..

My soakaway is about 3 inches from my external wall .... its 32mm pipe insulated and is just below ground level... there is no limestone or anything its been filled with mud and my red chips.

 

[Mike Jackson]

The soakaway should be 500mm from the wall, filled with limestone chippings and have the holes pointing away from the property.

 

[AWheating]

didnt know they sold bags of mud at the merchants?? 🙂

as mike has stated normally 500mm from external wall with limestone chippings.

 

[dancinplumba]

the soakaway has chippings round it not in it
imo

 

[Foxyuk]

The soakaway should be 500mm from the wall, filled with limestone chippings and have the holes pointing away from the property.

holes pointing away????

im sure the pipe is open at end im going to dig the area tomorrow,,,...

is it worth getting a soakaway kit???? assume that its a case of a bag of limestone round the kit external and above it......? not paid the heating guy yet so going to say to him is there a size of limestone chipoings preffered?

 

[mcniven]

the chippings are outside the soakaway!

 

[dancinplumba]

holes pointing away????

im sure the pipe is open at end im going to dig the area tomorrow,,,...

is it worth getting a soakaway kit????

yes
imo

 

[mcniven]

whats the diff other than size of chapping a bit of 1 1/2 into the ground with holes in it ???

 

[GQuigley67]

doesn't sound like your condensate is installed properly but might just be a coincidence with your problem, you would get more water from the rain in the soil than the soakaway the tanking may be gone in your cellar.

 

[dancinplumba]

whats the diff other than size of chapping a bit of 1 1/2 into the ground with holes in it ???

1 1/2 goes into a vertical piece of 4" soil with holes facing away from house with limestone chippings around it

 

[mcniven]

i know that mate! i meant insstead of buying a soakaway other than the obvious pipe size difference, whats the diff in putting your pipe just into the ground (in 1 1/2) with some holes at the bottom of it, into lime chips

 

[rawr]

limestone chippings go inside the soakaway as well as around it

 

[mcniven]

iv always put them around it! 🙁

 

[dancinplumba]

i know that mate! i meant insstead of buying a soakaway other than the obvious pipe size difference, whats the diff in putting your pipe just into the ground (in 1 1/2) with some holes at the bottom of it, into lime chips

soz mate
why not just leave it into ground open ended with chippings round it and make it below frostline ?

 

[rawr]

iv always put them around it! 🙁

Yeah they want both, thats what the instructions tell me anyway

 

[GrahamM]

The soakaway container should be filled with the chippings and the condensate is netralised as it seeps through. The container can then be removed periodicly and lime chips refreshed.

 

[Foxyuk]

ok just went out and dug up the area,,,, theres a soakaway unit about 12 inches from the external wall... no limestone... reckon red chips been used......

anyone in glasgow want to sort my soakaway properly???

 

[SafeGasInstall]

sound like a job for Gery

 

[GQuigley67]

i'm not available until weekend though

 

[johnnyplumb]

Yeah they want both, thats what the instructions tell me anyway

yeah , inside & outside is usually the correct way. i've often wondered why you need the container , maybe something to do with the end of the pipe getting blocked up .

 

[dancinplumba]

The soakaway container should be filled with the chippings and the condensate is netralised as it seeps through. The container can then be removed periodicly and lime chips refreshed.

your right,
http://www.mcalpineplumbing.com/media/downloadable/guidelines/L-Soak1gr.pdf

sure i read once in boiler mi's that just round outside, oh well 🙂

 

[GrahamM]

It makes little sense to fill the pit with lime chippings as they are supposed to be renewed annually. If they are in the container then this is pulled out and refreshed easily. Never done though is it?
If you have some to spare then throw them in the pit.

 

[dancinplumba]

maybe make it checkable at service, put it on benchmark, but like you said would it be checked ? means trip outside

 

[Foxyuk]

i'm not available until weekend though

pm sent

 

[johnnyplumb]

It makes little sense to fill the pit with lime chippings as they are supposed to be renewed annually. If they are in the container then this is pulled out and refreshed easily. Never done though is it?
If you have some to spare then throw them in the pit.

your right when you say it's never done but where does it say your supposed to change the limestone chipping in an underground soakaway ?, the m.i never mention this. the manufacturers of those inline condensafe things that are fitted above ground, usually tell you to change every year but never seen anything mentioned for underground soakaways.

 

[tamz]

I've heard some people say this before but afaic it is a waste of time. Limestone chips don't lose their neutralising properties until they completely dissolve which won't happen for a long time.

 

[mutley racers]

so when you guys install these soak aways, do you chase them into the ground and cover? Am pretty sure no one would want a piece of 32mm waste pipe extending 00mm across the outside floor!!!

 

[Mike Jackson]

I always bury it enough so that the 32mm pipe is hidden.

 

[Halesowen1]

Dont forget your distance from neighbours boundary, may not matter to you but off my head it might be 600mm from boundary line.

 

[haarp]

Hi, all

This is my first post and, BTW, I don't know anything about plumbing. So hope you'll all bear with me in doutbless asking dumb questions! Here goes. I've recently had a new GCH system installed. The installer has put in a condensing boiler and has run the condensate pipe through the wall into a (i think) a 30 or 32 mil pipe. This then runs into a soakaway which is advised is 1500mm from the house. However, I'm thinking of asking him to install a condensate pump and then run this through the loft and into the soil vent pipe. This is because i've heard all sorts of things about boilers packing up in cold weather due to condensate pipes freezing. Also i'm not too happy about all that acidic water leaching into the soil only a few feet away from the house foundations. I don't mind spending some more to run the condensate pipe internally but I would like to ask this; am I simply being over cautious for no good reason or would you guys go down the route of a condensate pump and running the pipe internally into the soil vent too. BTW, money is an object but I would prefer to spend more and have total peace of mind and then worry about the money later on. Cheers, guys.

 

[Mike Jackson]

The soak away will contain limestone chippings that will neutralise the acid. Nothing wrong with running condense to a soak away. Less to go wrong than a pump.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

just do what they do in poland stuff the soakaway just leave it drip on the floor LOL

 

[Destroyer2813]

or do what they did in the picture in the gsi magazine put it into a bag of gravel on the top of the patio. It was insulated though

 

[haarp]

Hi, Mike. Thanks for the heads up; maybe I am just being over cautious. However, the condensate pipe which runs through the wall is definitely thinner (about 21 mil, I reckon) than the pipe attached to the outside wall (about 32 mil) into which the thinner pipe runs. Although the pipe which goes horizontally through the wall is basically only the length of the wall through which it goes before it joins the thicker pipe, I'm concerned that condensate might freeze in there in the winter. There is no insulation around these pipes. Do I need to be concerned about this or does the fact that the huge majority of the pipework is the thicker pipe negate this? Cheers

 

[tamz]

Depending where you are in the country there is always a chance of the pipe freezing, no matter what size it is. Insulating it with armaflex lagging would help or you could fit a trace heating element to it to stop this from happening.
As long as the soakaway has lime chips in, it will neutralise the acidity so don't worry about that.