Condensing boiler

[Coherers]

so imagine a 20 foot wide structure protruding from the rear of the "main" terrace; we have one half, and the neighbour has the other.

Yes, I know the layout - there is a late victorian row of houses in the next road to me with that design.
I'd still say that "...a boundary alongside the terminal " clause covers your setup (this is in addition to the "corner" situations that H describes). Yes, it is in the air, but there is a vertical plane at the edge of your plot which defines your "space", and I strongly suspect that the drafters of this rule intended it to mean the distance from the terminal to this plane.

However, I think we have established this is largely academic!

Jeremy

[Radio Fixer]

Yes! Ed. I thought gas valves were fail safe and maybe they were designed to be that way. But perhaps they didnt expect them still to be in use after 30 to 40 years. Mine was a Honeywell and exactly as you describe yours... not trying to worry you but my story is true. It failed with no prior warning, not the hint of trouble (a few new thermostats thoughout its life), in the fully open state. The plumber who put in the new boiler (too heavy and a confined space for me to do it + the gas regs etc) showed no surprise and just said "Yeah! it happens".

You might look at Ideal Standard, our Mexico (floor standing using a vertical flue pipe to a chimney outlet. Air comes in to the boiler cupboard via an underground pipe and grill). It has been very reliable (shush!) and is about 5 years old now. I see the latest concentric flue ones claim an efficiency of 90%. For longer runs (27m) and some models a pumped air system is available but to me thats just another thing to fail in the depths of winter.

Hi Mark. When I said about the gravity hot water pipes being coked up I should have said that the vertical runs were not too bad but the bends from the tank and the boiler itself were down to maybe 3/8" from an original 1" pipe. Interestingly I had always used Fernox anti-corrosion but of course the people before us migh not have. I wonder if power flushing would have cleared such big deposits? Some how I doubt it.

Gary

[ed731pdh]

It's not just condensing boilers that are grief ridden. We have no gas in our neck of the woods, the nearest tee point is in Pulborough some two and a bit miles away which makes us uneconomic to connect to the national gas grid. Anyhow, an oil fired Grant 90 Mk2 boiler does the majority of the heating until a couple of weeks back when I got in to find the house lukewarm and SWMBO looking unhappy. After investigation it turned out that the expansion tank had gone wobbley (at least 10 years old) and a replacement was had from an internet company called Heating Parts Direct who got one to me in double quick time. Fitment with the aid of a small kiddies paddling pool and a stilson with the end result of heating back to normal. I dread the day when I will need to replace the old girl as I suspect that the modern replacement will be nowhere as good both in quality and longevity.