Did Your Central Heating Break Down In The Big Freeze? Here's Why

[Kurt Barlow]

Ha ha, see my post directly above!

Sorry I should confirm - 4 boilers in 4 different houses. The first was installed in 1996 and far as I am aware (2008) was still going strong. All 4 boilers (gloworm condensing type had electronic circuitry)

[newbonic]

Jesus - clearly you have no clue whatsoever as to how a standard heating system with indirect heating of hot water works

..

He doesn't call himself pre science for nothing mate.

[Kurt Barlow]

He doesn't call himself pre science for nothing mate.

[salamander]

I must have missed this thread last time round as the 'cold weather' problem hit us today and I wasn't aware how to fix it. I'm resurrecting this thread in case anyone else gets this as it might save a plumber call-out charge.

OH complained about the shower being cold this morning and checking the boiler showed it wasn't happy (flashing blue light) and didn't want to restart. Main symptom on trying to restart and run hot water was was a loud gurgling noise from the boiler which sounded a bit like a kettle boiling. Bit unnerving so we switched it off.

Called a plumber via the managing agent and after about 10 minutes he identified the problem as a frozen condensate pipe, which in our house is on the outside near ground level and runs out over the main drain. Boiled a kettle and poured slowly over the top of the pipe and soon enough the ice was melted and the backed up water came gushing out. Boiler then started working perfectly. He also put some removable lagging over the pipe but if it does freeze again at least I know how to fix it.

Depending on where the outlet pipe is this might not be a practical solution for everyone but if setup in the same way as us (which is quite common I think) it is very easy to fix without having to call a plumber.