Central heating and water not working at all

[sarahe]

Hi everyone.

Sorry to bother you, but I'm a bit stuck.... My central heating and hot water both stopped working this morning. It's a worcester bosch combi boiler. All the buttons are flashing on and off, and there are some drips coming from bottom right front of boiler. I've tried resetting it, but when it starts to fire up it's making growling noises, which are concerning me, and nothing seems to be heating up at all. It also seems to be making a "gurgling" sound. I've rung our insurance, but they can't get out till sunday, and they said if its down to the weather (which I'm concerned it might be as the outlet pipe looks frozen), they will walk away without fixing it... Just don't wat to leave it till sunday and find out they won't do it anyway. I have 2 very small little boys, and can't get the car out of the drive to get heaters... Any suggestions what might be happening? Any ideas on how i could resolve them so i don't need the engineer? The systems only 2 years old. Also, they need to know its had annual servicing, but can't for the life of me find the certificates to prove it.... Will they need these if they're going to repair it?

Thanks in advance,
Sarah x

 

[Steady]

You definitely need to try and defrost that condensate pipe-use a hairdryer-the boiler will not work if it's frozen.Classic symptom is the gurgling sound you mention.


See here:http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/homeowner/customer-service/common-winter-boiler-enquiries

 

[sarahe]

thanks so much for the reply... Sorry to sound silly, but can this be done from inside the house? Just because the boiler is on the first floor, as is the outlet pipe, and we don't have a ladder long enough to get up there... Thank you

 

[Steady]

Well no.
But if you can disconnect the condensate pipe under the boiler-so that you can discharge it into a vase or bowl for the time being then I would do that- the frozen length will take a bit of shifting and not a practical task for yourself at the moment by the sounds of it .

You may find that you can undo a connection on the consensate pipe(if it's not been glued) or you might have to cut through the pipe in the worst case sceanrio- but this would be easy and cheap to put right again at a later time.

Turn the power off to your boiler while you do this just to be on the safe side.

 

[dextrous]

It may frozen further down the pipe, so have a look for any flattish runs of the pipe outside.

 

[sarahe]

just had a good look outside, and there is fairly long length of pipe external to the building, relatively flat, and it looks frozen... icicles dangling.. the works... Will try to get up to it. Maybe the neighbours will have a ladder. If not I'll attempt to take the pipe off inside temporarily. There isn't much pipe inside to play with so a bit nervous, but will make a plan! Thanks so much for all your help. Will let you know if we have any success

 

[Steady]

Well if you can see a short length of horizontal condensate pipe going out of the wall from underneath the boiler you can cut through it with a small (junior) hacksaw. It will only be holding a few drips of water. So long as you cut through it inside and put a container under it that should get you going again-just readthe advice in the link posted above on the Worcester website on how to reset your boiler.

Getting up a ladder in this weather is NOT recommended. If it was my boiler I would be getting my hacksaw out, that's the honest truth.

 

[dextrous]

Don't go up there in this weather - it's madness.

Just disconnect the pipe from the boiler as previously advised for the time being. If it proves to resolve the issue, then call up the insurers and cancel the sunday appointment, as they won't fix it by their own admission.

Insurance contracts quite often stipulate that the boiler has been serviced. Not sure about your boiler, but if it's under 3 years old it may be under warranty anyway if it has been installed correctly and serviced annually (which would be recorded in a logbook)

 

[sarahe]

Thank you, I'll see if i can find my saw... Looks like that will be the best solution. Like you say, replacing pipe won't cost much. Saves us getting up a ladder in the dark and snow . Thanks for all your help x

 

[Steady]

You probably dont even have to cut all the way through the pipe if you find it awkward-just a generous cut under the pipe will probably do.
Be careful not to cut through any wires/cables.

 

[dextrous]

If the m62 weren't up the spout over saddleworth, I'd nip over and do it for ya. Nowt on TV tonight anyway

 

[sarahe]

thank you anyway Roads are terrible round here too. Can't even get out of our street at the mo! I'm so ready for the snow to melt now...

 

[sarahe]

You are all wonderful!!! Absolute stars!!!! Thank you so so much. It's working!!!!! I'm going to leave it a few hours to check, but looks like i cancel the call out engineer!!!! Thank you thank you thank you!

 

[Steady]

Glad you got it working. well done.

 

[strongbow68]

So glad you got yours working,I had the same problem as you,up and running now,thanks to all the people on this site