Freezing cold water pipe & discoloured hotwater.

[Katie_Jennings]

I am staying at my mum’s for a few days and we noticed a couple of things early this morning. Firstly, the cold supply to the bathroom basin took a while for water to run. By additionally turning on the cold supply to the bath and bidet it eventually restored itself to normal. Presumably the pipe had begun to freeze overnight due to the bitterly cold weather we are all having. Would it be wise to leave the said tap very slightly open at night to prevent more serious freeze happening?

The second issue concerns the hot supply. Because the bathroom is a long way from the combi-boiler quite a lot of water (about 15 litres) is required to pass before the hot arrives. I usually collect this in a bucket a pour it down the WC. This morning I noticed that the bucket once filled was rather discoloured – slightly blackish. A second fill of the bucket and it was clear. The same thing was required at the hot supply at the kitchen sink. Does this point to any problem with the boiler? It is a Vokera Linea 28 – probably ten years old and service last Spring.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[ianfoskett]

i dont think it would help leaving cold tap on,as it would need to be on quite alot to prevent freezing. if you have a sealed system, are you finding that you have to top up the system or is the boiler decharging water from the pipe outside. this would suggest a problem with the diverter valve in the boiler.

 

[Katie_Jennings]

Sorry, I did not get your response before this afternoon. Anyway we left the tap open just for it to drip very slightly and this seemed to do the trick, as we had no problem with non-running cold water this morning.

Also we did not notice any of the same discolouration to the water this morning. No, we have not noticed any discharge from the boiler to the outside pipe and neither have we had to top up the system.

Thanks in anycase, Ian.

 

[RigidRaider]

If the cold pipe to the bathroom sink is freezing there's a problem somewhere, it shouldn't freeze in a house that's occupied and heated.

Leaving a tap dripping is a bad idea because the drain could freeze outside. Best to discharge waste water in one swift burst in very cold weather.

 

[Burnerman]

I agree with that one.....
Presumably the particles you see in your hot water is just debris from the heat exchanger. Not a lot you can do about that.
John

 

[Katie_Jennings]

If the cold pipe to the bathroom sink is freezing there's a problem somewhere, it shouldn't freeze in a house that's occupied and heated.

Some years back my parents had a pipe burst under the living room floor of their bungalow. This was all dealt with, of course, but was due to a copper pipe not being properly insulated in the concrete. The plumbers who carried out the repair work suggested that it would be preferable to run the new pipes up into the loft and across to the bathroom. All of the said pipes are correctly insulated but it is very cold up their especially with the current spell even if the rest of the property is heated.

Leaving a tap dripping is a bad idea because the drain could freeze outside. Best to discharge waste water in one swift burst in very cold weather.

We left the tap dripping slightly – about a drip every 5 seconds – into a 5 litre container. This was about half full in the morning.

Presumably the particles you see in your hot water is just debris from the heat exchanger. Not a lot you can do about that.
John

Right, we’ll just have to live with that one, then.

Thanks very much for your help, guys.

 

[Burnerman]

If freezing in the roof space is common, you can buy tube heaters (essentially an electric element in a tube) which can keep Mr. Frost at bay.
Usually from 60W to 150W, you can leave them on continuously during the winter. Just a thought!
John

 

[Katie_Jennings]

If freezing in the roof space is common, you can buy tube heaters (essentially an electric element in a tube) which can keep Mr. Frost at bay.
Usually from 60W to 150W, you can leave them on continuously during the winter. Just a thought!
John

Tube heater sound interesting, I shall look into these. Cheers, John.