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New device will save installers thousands over the winter period

Naturally, boiler installers often find winter their busiest and most stressful period. When boilers break down, homeowners panic at the thought of there being no hot water and no heating. In 2010, when the wintry weather set in, thousands of installers across the UK responded to calls finding faulty boilers due to a blockage in the condensate pipe.

Finding a blocked outlet pipe is not just an easy fix, especially if the boiler has stopped working. One installer in Nottinghamshire reported costs of up to £15,000 in one year due to blocked condensate pipes, severely impacting on their bottom line profits.

The condensate freezes at it leaves the pipe, leaving an ice build up and blocking the pipe. As the water freezes further, it backs up in to the boiler, potentially leaving hundreds of pounds worth of damage to electrics and the inner workings.

When the condensate blocks the homeowner is unaware of the situation until the boiler fails, and consequently so does the heating and the hot water. In the middle of a sub-zero winter, this could be extremely dangerous for vulnerable people, as well as putting exceptional demand on maintenance companies.

Nottinghamshire-based heating engineer Adrian Morley embarked on a journey to find a solution to this problem. The answer needed to be a simple device that could be attached to new boilers and retrofitted to existing installations to solve this costly problem.

“We carefully designed a device that was going to have the best results possible. Just providing a warning device was not enough, we needed to design something that would prevent boiler damage, keep the heating systems working and allow time for the blockage to be cleared. Our device will save installers and house holders up and down the country thousands each year on unnecessary costs,” Adrian said.

After two years of research and fine tuning, the CondensAlert was born. This small, plastic device attaches to the condensate outlet pipe. A blockage in the pipe causes the water to back up, flooding the outlet chamber in the device, activating the warning alarm.

For situations where the condensate outlet is connected to a gutter down pipe or storm drain that may block a separate non-return valve stops the blocked storm and waste water flowing further in to the device and potentially the boiler itself. The CondensAlert may also act as the required air gap if it is not practical to install one externally.

In a problem situation, the device designed by Adrian and his team will allow the boiler to continue working despite the blockage, sound a warning buzzer and illuminate an LED to alert the householder. The condensate is directed to the secondary outlet where it is collected in a bag or container, provided with the device. This will give between eight hours and a few days protection, depending on the system design and the amount of condensate created. The alarm may be silenced by a small button on the front of the device.

With a little guidance, householders can even empty the collection bag themselves, reducing the immediate demand upon heating engineers. This device is retailing at an introductory price of £89.00 to installers and maintenance firms, and Adrian believes this could potentially save tens of thousands of pounds each year.

With more than 1m new boilers installed each year, and the winter of 2011-12 forecasted to be even worse than last year’s – it is easy to see how money could be saved and severe problems avoided. And it’s not hard to guess that most money savvy engineers and householders would choose an £89 lifetime investment over damage to a new boiler that could cost thousands of pounds to install.

Boiler installers can find out more about the problem and how to avoid it at www.condensalert.com