What is this pipe-connection for?
September 20, 2014 1:11 PM Subscribe
In my new airing-cupboard, there is a pipe-connection that looks very odd. Photo here. My initial thought was that something had corroded, but the cut-out areas are identical on each site, and look like they're supposed to be there. Is this right, or should I be getting someone to fix it? If it's supposed to be like this, then why? And should water be dripping from the top-pipe into the bottom?
Best answer: It's an air gap, for sure.
The bottom pipe empties into a drain, right? Probably upstream of a trap, or does it lead directly outdoors?
Where does the top pipe go?
The top pipe could be the condensate line from your air conditioner, or from a high-efficiency flue-gas-condensing heater or boiler, or perhaps a de-humidifier (looking at your weather today).
An "airing cupboard", so you have a water heater in there, or other appliance that consumes energy and makes heat? A high efficiency water heater would also have a condensate line.
posted by the Real Dan at 1:42 PM on September 20, 2014
The bottom pipe empties into a drain, right? Probably upstream of a trap, or does it lead directly outdoors?
Where does the top pipe go?
The top pipe could be the condensate line from your air conditioner, or from a high-efficiency flue-gas-condensing heater or boiler, or perhaps a de-humidifier (looking at your weather today).
An "airing cupboard", so you have a water heater in there, or other appliance that consumes energy and makes heat? A high efficiency water heater would also have a condensate line.
posted by the Real Dan at 1:42 PM on September 20, 2014
Best answer: It's supposed to be like that (but could probably stand to be be cleaned up a bit.)
Whether or not it should be dripping: it depends. If it's a condensate drain like the Real Dan suggests, then yes, it's supposed to do that.
If it's the tell-tale drain downstream of a hot water heater pressure relief valve or something like that, then no; it would indicate the valve is leaking by. I would think, though, that in that case the bottom pipe would have a bigger funnel shape to catch the momentary blast from the valve lifting. And even if that's what it is, it's not that big of a deal as long as the valve still works.
The pressure relief valve is usually at the top of the hot water heater and has a little lever on it to manually lift the valve. Sometimes if the valve is leaking by, exercising the valve a couple of times with the manual lever flushes it out and lets it re-seat properly.
posted by ctmf at 6:10 PM on September 20, 2014
Whether or not it should be dripping: it depends. If it's a condensate drain like the Real Dan suggests, then yes, it's supposed to do that.
If it's the tell-tale drain downstream of a hot water heater pressure relief valve or something like that, then no; it would indicate the valve is leaking by. I would think, though, that in that case the bottom pipe would have a bigger funnel shape to catch the momentary blast from the valve lifting. And even if that's what it is, it's not that big of a deal as long as the valve still works.
The pressure relief valve is usually at the top of the hot water heater and has a little lever on it to manually lift the valve. Sometimes if the valve is leaking by, exercising the valve a couple of times with the manual lever flushes it out and lets it re-seat properly.
posted by ctmf at 6:10 PM on September 20, 2014
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posted by BrooksCooper at 1:13 PM on September 20, 2014