Boiler condensate

MPJ347

I was asked to install a mod/con boiler in a garage for snowmelt/garage radiant. There is no place to get rid of the condensate, any ideas?
thanks

kcopp

No place to pump it to?

MPJ347

No, its a detached garage. The house is about 12' away and the nearest drain in the house is difficult to get to. No dry well, but one could be dug, just not sure how big or if its leagal

kcopp

Why do you have to put it in a drain? I wasn't aware that you even have to do the dry well.
Where are you at?

MPJ347

I'm on Long Island. I not sure about just dumping it out in the yard somewhere. I assumed that it needed to go into a drain line.

kcopp

If you are concerned about the "just dumping it in the yard approach" you could treat it w/ a neutralizer first. A dry well is not a bad idea either.

Zman

Assuming that draining it outdoors is allowed by local code and there is no concern about damage to landscaping, there is the freezing issue.
The drain pipe would either need heat trace or a pump could be used. On a cold day, the line would likely freeze if allowed to drain one drip at a time.

MPJ347

I need to find out about the code, yes it will be dumping outdoors. I just don't want to have a "wet" area all the time.
The condensate would be neutralized before I pump it somewhere.

aircooled81

here in san jose, ca...
we dig a hole big enough for one of those green plastic round sprinker boxes. drop the box in the hole. fill it with peete gravel, then put the condensate line into the pete gravel. This allows the condensate to drain, and prevents insects from entering the line.

RobG

Do you actually need heat in San Jose?

JUGHNE

How far down does the frost line get in San Jose?

I have one these cases in NE. Furnace is on grade, I used a pump, run the discharge from the pump up high overhead with an anti syphon loop above the pump vertical riser, have a severe slope down and dump the discharge out thru the wall, about 3' above grade.

The flow is quick enough, shoots out to the ground with minimal dripping after each cycle.

This has worked for 20 years on a northwest inside corner in north NE.

This is the same logic I use for heat pumps, 16" off ground so defrost water gets to the ground to avoid icicles between unit and ground level icepack that builds all winter.

aircooled81

Good point, I dont believe we have a frost line in san jose. not many days in the year we even drop to 32*F.

Jean-David Beyer

My boiler is in an attached garage. The garage has no drain. The nearest drain is quite far away. According to my installing contractor, it is not legal to just dump the condensate outside, though that was what he did. He said he would surely be failed for that, but he would then ask the inspector what he would accept and do that. He was hoping a dry-well would be accepted, but he knew one of the inspectors would not accept that and another one would. I forgot what he said the other inspector would accept.

In any case, the inspector did not look where that drain went, nor did he even ask. It clearly left the garage through an outside wall. It does not freeze in cold weather because there is a little condensate pump that waits until its reservoir is nearly full and it pumps it at a reasonable rate until it is nearly empty.

The only thing the contractor could do that I can think of is to have that condensate pump pump the condensate up to the height of the second floor, run it across a bedroom and the bathroom ceiling and half way across the kitchen ceiling and then dump it into the same drain as the kitchen sink uses. This would require opening up the ceiling of the three downstairs rooms, or the floors of two rooms and a walk-in closet upstairs. For some reason (ha ha), he did not want to do that.