Boiler broken down - Gas engineer is not available until at least 10 days

[manyaonisland]

Hello
Our boiler is 15 years old as we have appointment booked to replace it in 2 weeks time.
Unfortunately it has broken down last night. Shall I drain the system to preserve pipework from freezing ?
we do have secondary accommodation so we are not left in cold but I want to ensure that my pipe work is not affected in this cold weather.

Thank you for the guidance in advance

regards,
Manya

 

[Mottie]

I would, if it was me.

 

[Nige F]

+1 for draining down . And turn off the main incoming stopcock, checking it really does turn off fully. Even turn off in the road .

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Do you have tanks in the loft? If yes make sure you drain them as well (if you have a small one and a large one, check that the small one isn't full of dust and debris, if it is then scoop it out otherwise it'll end up in your heating pipes)

 

[opps]

+1 for draining down . And turn off the main incoming stopcock, checking it really does turn off fully. Even turn off in the road .

And I guess that if the mains in the house doesn't completely turn of the water, leave a tap slightly open (preferably a garden tap with a hose to push the water away from the property).

 

[manyaonisland]

Do you have tanks in the loft? If yes make sure you drain them as well (if you have a small one and a large one, check that the small one isn't full of dust and debris, if it is then scoop it out otherwise it'll end up in your heating pipes)

It is unvented system so no expansion tank in the loft but yes this is very good advice. I have just been to my other property in Oct and cleaned the small tank and boy! it has lots of gunk accumulated over 10+ years

 

[manyaonisland]

heating/ hotwater system drained

+1 for draining down . And turn off the main incoming stopcock, checking it really does turn off fully. Even turn off in the road .

we will still be using the house and other water appliances (for example kitchen). do you think we need to turn off the mains if the water is being used? Also we have gas fireplace so we are still warming the house but not using the heating / hotwater from boiler

 

[ianmcd]

what boiler make and model do you have? and what exactly is wrong with it ?

 

[manyaonisland]

what boiler make and model do you have? and what exactly is wrong with it ?

Vaillant Echo Tech 637 system boiler. I get F28, F71 when heat demand is on and manually it takes at least hour to start up