new issue with greenstar 24/28 junior

[ivorytusk]

hi guys, hoping you can advise.
during recent cold spell my boiler started to cut out. lights would flash etc and pilot would go out. a simple reset seemed to fix temporarily, but continued to cut out every hour or so. i checked the pressure tonite and it was a bit low so i topped up, in fact i over-topped slightly- just over 3 bar.

throughout the evening the boiler started to 'rumble' more and more frequently, every 10 mins or so.

i also noticed a bit of leakage but cannot tell whether from valve or break as seems to be out of sight.

i assumed i'd over filled so drained a pint or so from a rad until the pressure dropped to 2 bar, bang in the middle of the green band.

the boiler has never rumbled before so am concerned, any ideas?

thanks in advance...

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Frozen condensate drain??

 

[ivorytusk]

not sure what that is, but it has been very cold.

could you elaborate?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

White plastic pipe coming from bottom of boiler. It'll go outside to a drain, (pipe may increase in size at some point). It drains condensate (water) produced by the boiler, but in this weather the condensate is freezing solid.

If the boiler cannot drain the condensate it'll switch itself off until the problem is resolved. If the pipe is accessible then a kettle of boiling water or a hairdryer can be used in an attempt to thaw it out.

 

[ivorytusk]

ok thanks for the tip, its a bit late now (and dark, and cold) to nip out but will do tomorrow and let you know.

much appreciated.

ps, since draining the rumbling seems to have stopped!?

 

[ivorytusk]

hi again.

the plastic pipe leaving the boiler to the outside was indeed frozen. it had a 2foot vertical run nearly to the floor, followed by an 8 or so foot near-horizontal run to the drain. i chopped the pipe off about 1 foot from where it exits the wall and thawed. i immediately had a trickle from the boiler. the rumbling has totally stopped and it has yet to cut out so thanks for the tip.

i still have a bit of leakage from the boiler itself, approx 30ml/hr. unfortuantely i have no idead if this has been going on for some time or is a new probem due to the nature of the units. could this have been caused by the same problems or is it something else?

again, thanks for the help 'til now. its my first time on a diy forum and so far its been a plesant experience...

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Keep an eye on the pressure gauge on the boiler, if it drops there's a leak on the boiler side. If not then maybe the condensate drain leaking.

 

[ivorytusk]

ok will do, it seems to be getting less and less now too.

thanks again.

 

[ivorytusk]

the leaking that is...pressure holding @2bar