Help and advice needed - frozen condensate

[mondyman]

Our boiler started leaking from the base earlier this morning ( just after ive finished a night shift ..typical luck )

I had a bit of abrainwave and thought maybe the condensate pipe is frozen so ive just come down from the ladder and the pipe is frozen solid all along the length where it runs to the drainage downpipe. ( about 10 ft approx )

Is it ok to unthaw this ice using boiling water and what possible damage could it have done to the boiler now as the red light is flashing on the boiler and it wont start...

Any advice much appreciated...

 

[ChrisR]

Is it ok to unthaw this ice using boiling water

externally, yes

and what possible damage could it have done to the boiler now

none, though some contacts may have to dry out before it starts

as the red light is flashing on the boiler and it wont start...

what red light, what boiler...

 

[Fluffster]

Crystal ball thinks the red light is the reset button needs to be pushed.
Make sure you lag the external condense pipe too.

Pete

 

[mondyman]

Weve rung the company that fitted the boiler ( approx 2 half yrs ago ) when the condensing boilers 1st came out and the guy knew straight away as apparently he has been inundated with phone calls this week about the same problem.

At the moment we are desperately trying to unthaw the condensate pipe using hot water but we are worried that because the boiler dripped from underneath there culd be damage to the boiler after it is unthawed.


i mentioned the fact that the pipe should have been lagged as surely being a professional firm and the boiler costing just short of £1900 with fitting that they should have known this could possibly happen.

Hopefully nothing is damadged and after un thawing the boiler will start.
The owner of the company says Bosch has now bought out a special pipe that prevents this problem occurring in future fittings.

more to follow...

 

[mondyman]

well we spent the best part of an hr trying to unthaw the external condensate pipe and we can't get the boiler to start ( its a Bosch greenstar 24i condensing combination boiler ) . The red light is still flashing .

Ive just been reading through the users manual and boiler manual and it stated in there that any external pipe either the condenstae or overblast pipe should be lagged outside. Ours are not lagged and ive taken some photos of this just incase any damage has been done to the boiler from the leak.

The technician from the company is on his way as i type to see if he can fix the problem.

ill follow on ltr with the next episode....one cold tired bloke...

 

[mondyman]

Technician was here within 20 minutes , he cut the condensate pipe 6 inches below the boiler , poured about 2-3 pints of boiling water through slowly to make sure it was flowing through...

Dried out the electrical terminals and voila..alls well..

Apparently this is his 4 th call today with the same problem and as he was here his phone rang with another job with the same problem again lol...

No fee wither...great service cant fault them...

One relieved boiler owner....just got to lag the pipe now tomorrow to prevent it happening again...i should have pressed the fact that his company should have done it but was so relieved boilers working and ill think ill do a better job on the lagging side anyway...

Job done thank god....ahhh it's warm now..

 

[swbjackson]

If you lag the pipe make sure it is with a waterproof lagging. Normal internal lagging will soak up water and make matters worse. The only waterproof one that I'm aware of is Armaflex but there may be others.

MIs for some boilers suggest running the external condense in 32mm to prevent freezing.

 

[bengasman]

another important point, very important, it needs a continuous fall of about 4 cm per metre.
had one today, nicely lagged, but horizontal and no clips so nice little sag in the middle.
another great job from a large company

 

[mondyman]

Thanks for the follow up comments , im relieved i did buy armaflex today thank god ( i wouldnt have known otherwise tbh ) and ill make sure i angle the run off pipe 4cm per metre downwards..

Thanks lads , much appreciated..

 

[corgiman]

Feels like every other boiler I have been out the last week has had a frozen condi pipe

I love it

Easy

 

[Drumgilken]

Our boiler started leaking from the base earlier this morning ( just after ive finished a night shift ..typical luck )

I had a bit of abrainwave and thought maybe the condensate pipe is frozen so ive just come down from the ladder and the pipe is frozen solid all along the length where it runs to the drainage downpipe. ( about 10 ft approx )

Is it ok to unthaw this ice using boiling water and what possible damage could it have done to the boiler now as the red light is flashing on the boiler and it wont start...

Any advice much appreciated...

Hi,

I posted the same problem around 7/1/09. Same Boiler. Installed just over 1 year ago. I bought the property mid 2008 and dicovered all the
paperwork had not been completed by the previous owner. Anyway
my boiler stopped working, blue light flashing away merrily. Tried to reset
if a few time and eventually got locked out. Phoned British Gas who were
responsible for the installation December 2007. Was duly advised the 12 month guarantee had expired. Then picked a few other Brains. Then
went on to the Worcester Bosch website and got some information. Condensate pipe frozen. I got my rolling pin, went outside tapped the
pipe and all these blocks of ice came chuntering down the pipe in to the waste drain. It happened a number of times again during that very cold spell and I got the Worcester Bosch Engineer out 13/01/2009. He advised me that Under CORGI regulations the Pipe is supposed to be lagged. But Installers and Certifiers (in my case British Gas) are failing
to make sure this is done.

My understanding of this is. If the intallers and British Gas think they can
can take short cuts and do shoddy work. They will. I myself always
asks lots of questions when having expensive work done. Usually giving
the people concerned a pretty hard time, if I think for one moment
they don't know what they're doing, I will call for their bosses, or ask them to stop.

Usually if they know their job, they're not usually phased.

D

 

[Tomas321]

I had problems with my condense line in the harsh weather even though it is installed correctly (1 1/4" pipe with a good fall and lagged). I have bought a condense pipe trace heater from a local Heating spares company in Cheltenham called Global Heating Spares, they're online too. It is a very professional looking piece if equipment and was easy to install.

I would recommend this to anyone who had to go without heating and/or hot water in the cold weather.

 

[OLLIE20]

OOOOORRRRR, its a thread thats been revived, and i thought we'd hit silly season early, tut, never mind soon be here

 

[nickso]

lagging only slows the inevitable if it's outside, it will still freeze if left long enough or cold enough.

either route it inside which is the preffered method IMO, or use a heater wire.