Letter: New condensing boiler won’t work in the cold
Monday 20th December 2010, 9:53AM GMT.
Letter: I would like to tell everyone about my new central heating combination boiler, fitted January 3, 2010, price £1,895.
We were told by our heating engineer that this is one of the best to have.
What he didn’t say is beware if it is very cold outside as you won’t be able to have heat or hot water.
Why? Because the water condensing pipe just freezes and they cannot do anything about it.
This happened on November 28, at 4am. I am 66 years old and suffer badly with osteo and rheumatoid arthritis and I cannot tolerate being cold, I just seize up.
I am wrapped up, thermals on, thick jumper and coat on.
My husband is 69, he can move about, so Monday at 7.30am to about 11am he was outside trying to thaw the pipe. He dismantled part of the pipe to thaw it out – lots of thick ice.
He also climbed on the car port to try to do the rest of the pipe, but it was no good. He tried to reset the boiler and it did fire up for three minutes, then there was a terrible noise and it went off.
Why do heating people say it’s energy efficient when it stops working when you want it to keep you warm?
I have been living downstairs since Sunday as upstairs is too cold. Thank goodness we have a good gas fire and electric cooker to heat the rooms downstairs.
Why make the boiler if it just stops in the cold weather?
Diana Roberts
Broseley
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I am very sorry to hear your story. This is a massive problem with the new generation of gas condensing combination boilers.
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This is terrible news expecially this close to christmas. its the last thing you need.
there needs to be some kind of help from the goverment to tackle issues like this and take action on thos engineers that dont sell the product properly.
hope all this gets sorted soon so you can enjoy christmas.
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Exactly the same thing happened to ours – Twice in fact. This damn condensation trap is – I believe a new ‘regulatory reform’ to reduce exhaust moisture being vented to atmosphere. Well the green movement can go and stick it as I am considering cutting the pipe off and let it vent normally. As it breaks down on the coldest days of the year, exactly the time when you need your heating. We are currently testing leaving the heating on 24/7 during the cold snap. Thats not very energy efficient is it!
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take care just cutting off the pipe, I understand that the boilers also vent carbon monoxide through this pipe
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That’s simply not true. The condensate pipe is used to remove the erm, condensate, from the boiler. It’s just (slightly acidic) water, nothing else.
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Same has happened to me, two days without any heating or hot water. I am now told that British Gas are selling heaters to attach to the condenser pipe which go on when the temperature drops down and stay on until it rises, good thing, only drawback, it is going to cost you £200. I had my boiler put in by WarmSure under the over 65s scheme and they do not answer phone calls or letters. Government should step in and pay this charge as they employed WarmSure.
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Lagging the pipe will cure the problem, can’t understand why plumbers don’t do it as part of the job.
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Too much like hard work I suspect
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It wont I had to strip the lagging off mine this-morning and de-frost the outlet pipe with a kettle and hot water-bottles. So cold out here that next door’s mains froze over night so lagging is of little use this time. As Jonny10hands has pointed out cutting the pipe off on the outside wall and leaving the heating on 24/7 is probably the best idea short term.
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Lagging of no use you would need about 100mm of insulation around the pipe to ensure it will not freeze
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cutting the pipe off is certainly a temporary solution, but dont forget that the discharge is acidic, which is why it should be drained into the soil pipe and not into rainwater or domestic greywaste pipes
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Lagging alone will not cure the problem in extreme minus temperatures that we have seen lately. Also, the other “remedy” of increasing the bore of the pipe will not cure it. The best way to cure it permanently is with a heater kit. See the link below. ezeheat.co.uk/freezestopkitB.html
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British Gas wanted to charge my very elderly mum £200 to lag her new condenser pipe. That’s probably why so many aren’t lagged. Hers is lagged now at a fraction of the cost.
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We have exactly the same problem – To solve it you need to get a bowl under the system and then disconnect the overflow pipe to release the water from the trap – and then reconnect and defrost the external pipe..
A very simple job, one a heating engineer should be able to do in a matter of seconds for little or no cost.
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Problem is you try getting an engineer out at the moment. They’re are all working flat out.
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I’m quite amazed at this story and sorry for the people who are suffering during this period when one needs heating most.
Is this another piece of equipment that was designed and tested on a computer? I can’t believe anyone would design a system with a water trap that’s on the outside of a house.
If it were me I would be out there drilling a hole in the bottom of the water trap and then thawing the ice. Problem solved until the boiler boffins come up with a workable solution.
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if they know this happens then surely it’s a design fault and the makers should rectify so it doesn’t happen at all.
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Exactly the same thing happened to our boiler last year and again this year. We have hopefully solved the problem by re routing the outlet pipe and allowing it to drain indoors and out through the household plumbing.I cant believe such a glaringly obvious fault has been overlooked. Incidentally we had a conventional boiler for over 30 years and it didnt cause any trouble at all !!! I understand these combi boilers are supposed to be state of the art !!!!!
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Well Kath, that’s what you end up with when you allow the green lobby to create the solution. A state of the art item based on the art of green advocates. No heat or CO2 output at all, so a great success as another polar bear is saved.
PLEASE CHECK UP ON YOUR OLDER NEIGHBOURS DURING COLD SPELLS AND PUT FOOD AND WATER OUT FOR THE BIRDS! THANK YOU.
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That’s progress for you!!
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Whether it’s allowing fuel oil to rise to 70+p a litre, or allowing the energy cartel to push up prices whenever they want to at minimum notice, or banning gas central heating and making us all change to electric heating in the near future, or mandating that all new boilers MUST be condensing units that have an in-built design fault, this obsessive chase after a reduction in CO2 affects all of us small people, especially in the winter.
The politicians are completely out of touch with the common people. I bet Chris Huhne (latest CO2 preacher man) doesn’t have this problem in any of his 5 houses or flats. I bet David Cameron is warm enough in number 10 – no problems getting a plumber in there. I imagine that Ed Milliband has no bother with shivering in the cold and then stumping up a decent whack of money to get the problem fixed. And yet they expect us to make do with sack-cloth and ashes – because the World is too hot !?!?!
They don’t have this condenser law fully implemented in France so although strictly speaking, it’s illegal under UK law in our efforts to save the World, I suggest that anyone looking for a reliable boiler goes over to France and brings one (or several) back. Much cheaper as well over there, and then after installation, just dirty it up a bit and let the certified installer believe that it’s an old one that’s been repaired so that he can sign it off.
When will they let people get and stay warm without pontificating about our mission to save the World? People are DYING in the UK due to their boilers breaking down when it gets cold.
Did you enjoy your trip to Cancun, Chris? The beach looked really amazing, so warm, so inviting.
PLEASE CHECK UP ON YOUR OLDER NEIGHBOURS DURING COLD SPELLS AND PUT FOOD AND WATER OUT FOR THE BIRDS! THANK YOU.
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Blame new standards. All boiler replacements must be with a condensing boiler (unless you switch fuel types and go for an alternative) Boiler manufacturers didn’t make the rules, someone other well knowing agency did. It’s not a design fault, it’s a design requirement!
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This is a common problem with these condensing boilers, I’m out every day with a ‘hot-air’ gun getting several feet of ice out of the condense pipe. Last year to try and keep this piece of rubbish going we ended up with a length of garden hose running from the boiler in the attic along the loft floor and out through the hatch into the bathroom finishing up in the loo pedestal. So much for progress I shouldn’t think.
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Surely this is a clear case of “not fit for purpose” – heating that only works if it’s not cold…
Money back I would have thought…
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I have a combi and it’s been fine. The difference is that the condenser pipe on mine is connected to the indoor plumbing – specifically the waste pipe under the kitchen sink.
Perhaps you should ask your plumber / heating engineer to redirect the pipe towards the indoor plumbing if feasible?
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ANYONE KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR COMBI BOILER FLASHES STATING; STATUS F-1?? IT WONT COME ON!!!
REALLY NEEDING HEAT SO COLD!!!!!!!
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Rosemary – without the manual for your boiler it’s impossible to say, but I’ll take a guess. Has the pressure of the self-contained water inside the system dropped? It will lose water very gradually over time and occasionally needs a top up. On the control panel there should be a pressure gauge, marked in green and red sections. If it’s in or near the red, look for a thick armoured hose leading from the cold water feeder pipe to the boiler. At one or both ends you’ll find a valve. Gently open these and allow water to enter the system, watching the gauge, until the pressure is back in the green, then shut the valves. This shouldn’t take more than a few seconds. Hope this helps.
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Our Worcester boiler froze up twice in as many days. Worcester need to put money back into testing and updating the spec for fitters to comply with.
Mine is fitted in the loft – so at minus 5 I had to climb a ladder in the dark, remove the oversize pipe, to reveal the frozen condensate pipe, climb back up the ladder with a kettle of boiling water, pour this over the exposed end of the condensate pipe to melt the ice! When this happened a piece of ice around 7 inches long fell to the floor. Whilst we were sorting it all out and getting ready to refit the outer pipe, the condensate pipe was freezing over again!
Then I had an idea – lets lag the outer pipe! I cut carpet underlay to fit the pipe, wrapped it around stuck it with tape and then covered that with cut up bin bags and stuck that over the underlay to ‘waterproof it’. Poured hot water down the outer pipe to melt all the ice that had accumulated – and believe me, there was some!
We then refitted the pipe in the dark back up the ladder, with freezing hands, feet and everything else. But guess what, I may not be a high powered designer or aproved installer, but even with these latest cold nights of minus 10 – the pipe has not frozen!
Keeping the heating on 24/7 does not help – ours has always been on 24/7 and until I put its jacket on it still froze over. This is because the boiler produces more condensate which passes through the pipe and so freezes and eventually blocks the pipe again.
Best way is for the pipe to be installed inside and run into an internal drain pipe, or the spec for external piping is changed to include some for of lagged outer pipe.
Come on boiler manufacturers and Gas Safe – if a lay man can sort it – why can’t you!(or is it because of all the money that is made from the call outs that they do not want it to change!)
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Same problem with my condensing outlet freezing every cold snap. Lagging didn’t cure it due to exceptional cold weather so I decided to remove the long plastic pipe to the down pipe. I have lagged the remaining short angle pipe through the wall and left it to drain directly onto an extension roof and into a roof guttering. British Gas will put a condemmed notice on it when they mainatain it next year but then they did last year due to the condensate pipe running over an opening window – even though they had installed it 12 months earlier!
Don’t worry about any carbon monoxide when shortening the pipe – this is only steam condensation and nothing to do with the gas flue which is separate.
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My boilers done the same, had them out two months after fitting it, the solution was to put the pipe into the internal waste pipe so it doesn’t freeze. What I can’t help think is why not do that in the first place? It’s obvious its going to freeze and the boiler will cut out just when you need it most! However they don’t have time to fit it to the waste at the moment so its feeding into a bucket I empty every day!
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Ours is exactly the same, heating stopped working twice although we did still have hot water. We’re now leaving the heating on 24/7 albeit on low when we’re out at work or overnight as the pipes are somewhere in the wall…not great for the environment or my pocket but seems to be doing the trick…
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I paid British Gas over £3,000 to replace my old boiler and was told this had to be sited in the loft. This was a hyper efficient condensing boiler that would save me money on my gas bills. The condensing pipe has frozen and I’ve been without heating at the coldest times for the last 3 years, including a few weeks ago and am fully expecting it to go again any time.
B Gas visited me in the summer and quoted me for fitting a thermostat outside the condensing pipe which would switch on a heated wire within the pipe when temperatures dropped below a certain level.
I’ve got a servicecare contract with B Gas and I call the engineers out year after year – why would I pay them more money for their own installation which repeatedly fails?
Am now on first name terms with their engineers who are fantastic guys – shame B Gas don’t realise it would be cheaper for them to fit this for free in the longer term!
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why doesn’t it work in the cold after paying all that money?
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“BGas visited me in the summer and quoted me for fitting a thermostat outside the condensing pipe which would switch on a heated wire within the pipe when temperatures dropped below a certain level.”
idontbelieveit – sounds logical to me. I have a 12-year-old back boiler which never lets me down, maintained annually by BGas service contract, and I’ll hang onto it until it expires, because no way do I want one of these rubbish “eco-friendly” condensing boilers that are thoroughly unreliable. My sister and husband are having same problems with theirs at the moment, and it’s minus 9 degrees here!
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I have a condensing boiler, ariston, that is fitted in my kitchen. I don’t have a water trap on the outside of the house, only a vent and a long pipe which is lagged training down to the waste drain underneath the kitchen window outside. I have a water trap inside but thasts under the boiler itelf. i don’t understand what seems to be the problem , have other boilers different fitting methods then ?
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I may be wrong here …. but i was under the impression that pipe had to go into a lime water trap (and not the normal waste system) because of the chemicals in the waste water/steam?
We have just had a Worcester Bosch condensing boiler installed and, fingers crossed, nothing has frozen yet and we’ve had lows of -14 at night.
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Mines an expensive Worcester Bosch and still have a problem, its not the boilers problem its the people fitting them not thinking that if a pipe goes outside its likely to freeze! Hopefully they can install it into my internal waste system soon as i’m getting fed up of emptying the bucket!
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Apparently Building Regs state that all new systems installed must have the condensate pipe going into a soakaway filled with lime chippings due to the sulphuric acid contained within the waste water.
Our condensate pipe is very long and the diameter is quite wide. I did ask the plumber if we would have a problem with it freezing and he didn’t seem to think we would. So far, he’s been right. Perhaps it depends on how/where the pipe is placed? Fingers crossed I have just jinxed it!
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and that is what ours is, Worcester Bosch. Hope you don’t have same problems as we have been experiencing.
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so its mine
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And I thought it was only my Baxi suffering from a frozen condensate pipe! The answer is to drain into the internal waste system, NOT run it outside when it is minus 10!
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I have a combination condensing boiler and have been without my central heating an hot water for 48 hours now, fortunately, thanks to friends on facebook I now have the loan of 2 oil filled portable heaters and we are reasonably comfortable, we are heating water on the gas stove and will be relying on neighbours for the use of their showers.
Plumbers seem to be reluctant to come out and help because I probably have a frozen condensation venting pipe and they can make more money dealing with a burst pipe than my minor inconvenience. I have tried defrosting it myself but with no success.
Still having to wear a fleece indoors but we will just have to wait for the thaw.
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we have the same problem with our 3 year old boiler we are insured with homeserve. we have been without heating and water since saturday my wife is disabled we are both in our 60s, we pay a monthly premium we also had to pay £50 before homeserve would give us a date for an engineer to come out which was today. engineer came told us it was due to cold weather wait for it to thaw.(I was under the impression central heating boilers were to use in the winter to keep you warm) HE DID ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING AND I PAID £50 FOR THE PRIVILIGE.Iam in the same position now as i was NO HEAT, NO WATER, NO TOILET.
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Twice this has happened to me Alan and like you I am a `recycled teenager’. Although insured through Axa Emergency Insurance both times they had me in tears saying that they couldn’t come for another two weeks. By then had it not been for a good friend I could have been dead of hypothermia. It is the call centre staff that make the excuses, because both times when engineers came out they said that there is always plenty of engineers around.
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I have BG 400, and when they serviced my hideaway, they said it was inefficient and failed it. I showed quiet shock, so he took pity, and cleaned it. He went back outside with his reader, and said it had just passed. He said it would not pass the emissions test next year. I guess that means I have to spend £3000 for a boiler that doesn’t work.
My little Hideaway is 30 years old, but it is just a little gas fire. It is still going and I like it. My radiators would have to change too, apparently, due to pressure????
I grew up in a 1911 5 bed house with no heating, other than bar fires upstairs and gas fires downstairs. My sternum is deformed from asthma as a result. It is called a pigeon chest. I keep my boiler on low at night. 60 F on the thermostat, and 80 F during the day, and it warms up to 20 if I’m lucky, and at night 14.
Hearing these stories about the new boilers feels me with disgust. It’s like the electric mowers that are not fit for purpose. They are designed to fail. The axles are made of plastic, and melt. Impressed with the carpet underlay lagging!
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We have a gloWorm flexicom boiler – decided to pack in on Sunday morning, i managed to get it working again but it stopped Monday evening, i have pressed reset button as F22 keeps flashing, it fires up but cannot stay on – pilot light will not stay on. Phoned BG and no one can come out until Friday afternoon – by which time I will be on a flight so I have to leave a house with probably a frozen pipe until I get home on 4 Jan. BG say to unfreeze myself, but as the outlet pipe is about a foot from the roof on the side of the house (on the boundary of next door) and i have a conservatory underneath there is no way I am climbing a ladder up to roof height (being 62 not a good idea) – would draining the whole system before I go away be the answer?
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Mo, don’t worry the plastic frozen condensation pipe is outside and will just run off into the drain when it thaws. It is not connected to your sealed central heating system so no need to drain. Enjoy your trip
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we had the same problem with a brand new boiler ( cost thousands) first winter sat for 4 days in the cold waiting for british gas (joined for them to come) with a 5 and 3 year old only to have the engineer pour boiling water on it and say the last 5 calls were the same problem…has happened every cold spell but now my husband pours boiling water on the outlet pipes (they r lagged too) ..the boiler starts to whistle before cutting out so he does it then…good luck…u get used to fixing it…..we leave it on all the time when cold or it happens more….. thousands well spent hey !
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What a sorry state of affairs! We have a combi gas boiler and while, thankfully, it is working, it makes a loud banging noise sometimes. Also it struggles to ignite and on occasions I have to press the reset button. So much for modern technology!
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These boilers should not be sold, they are not fit for purpose.
We had ours fitted 4 years ago. 2 years ago froze for first time, had the pipe resited. Told to leave heating on all the time if very cold, which we have been doing but this didn’t stop it freezing again 2 nights ago.
Heating now back on but not hopeful it will stay on at these low temperatures.
The industry is well aware of the problem but don’t inform people (if they had we wouldn’t have had boiler sited in loft but somewhere where the pipe was easily accessible to be protected/defrosted).
Apparently they are trialling a “new” pipe which has metal in which gives a small electrical charge to stop freezing, not holding my breath.
Total and utter joke and very unfair to people who are left without heat and hot water in the coldest weather for 100 years.
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we have a new condensing boiler, fitted this summer.Its situated in an internal cupboard in the kitchen, found all the worktop soaked this morning the boiler is still working but water leaking from the start of the outlt pipe under the boiler. The outlet pipe is frozen so have thawed ou with boling water but must have fozen again as the water still dripping inside, any suggestions
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There is nothing wrong with these “Condensing Boilers” As the name suggests a certain amount of condensation of water vapour occurs during the boiler operation. This condensate i.e. water drops to the bottom of the boiler and is pumped away. Now comes the problem, where to dispose of the condensate. Ideally it should be led to the internal waste system.
EG to wash m/c or dish washer trap, to under sink trap etc.. It should not be led outside unless suitably lagged and protected from cold winds. So don’t blame the boiler, blame the clowns who spoil the installation rather than use a bit of commonsense regarding the disposal of the condensate.
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We too had one fitted this year and when things got seriously cold it stopped working. The solution from a very helpful British Gas engineer was to lag the outside pipe with advice to pour hot water on it at the first indication of problems (noise, no heating, no hot water). I would prefer not to have to do this but thus far it has worked.
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We also had the outlet pipe frozen but it’s a simple enough temporary fix. Trace the (probably plastic) outlet pipe to where it connects to the boiler, somewhere at the rear. It most likely joins the boiler piping via a rubber flexible sleeve. Have a bucket ready underneath and slip the outlet pipe off the rubber junction, allow any water to drain – it might be hot water so be cautious – and leave the bucket in place to catch the drips. There won’t be a huge amount of water coming out, but check the bucket every day and empty as necessary, then reconnect everything once the temperature claws its way well above zero.
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Paid British Gas £4,000 five years ago to have my central heating installed complete with Gloworm Condensating Boiler fitted in our loft (we live in a bungalow) which they said would be very efficient.
Condensing pipe froze up this week causing water to pour out of boiler and seep through ceiling below.
B.G. Engineer (Homecare Plan) came out same day but as condensing pipe had thawed out by then he couldn’t do anything. He told me that this could happen again and that I would just have to put a bucket under the boiler in the loft if it did.
I’m an OAP with heart problems and climbing up into the loft and being paranoid about this problem isn’t doing my health any good.
What can I do?
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My neighbour had a condensing boiler fitted last year, with condensate outlet connected to the drain system indoors – it joins up with the outflow from the washing machine. No outside pipes at all, and it all keeps working happily no matter how cold it is. Don’t blame the boilers – blame the people who fit them without thinking about what might happen if the temperature dips below zero. If thinking of having a condensing boiler, insist on no outside pipework.
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It’s not the boiler, it’s the installer.
The 20mm pipe is fine for inside run condensate outlets.
The problems occur when the narrow 20mm pipe is used externally – compounded if the run is long (which the external ones often are, tey are external because it’s easier than routing a long pipe behind kitchen units etc) as the condensate builds up quicker and thus freezes up quicker.
Horizontal runs are even worse as the condensate stays in the horizontal run all the time so freezes solid
Larger pipe with no horizontal sections, and the likelihood of freezing is vastly reduced.
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That said,
the reason many installers do this is that they have got away with it not being a problem, Last winter wasn’t a problem for the same installation as I describe above, this winter it has frozen up twice, second time after being fully lagged
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Ours has frozen from the first winter we had it with small children in the house….we had no heating or hot water all over new year 3 years ago and goes off maybe 6 times every winter even with my husband defrozing it in the evening when he gets home from work and sometimes in the morning too…we now know how to fix it…but as it was new why should we? we r able 30′s somethings , i feel very sorry for other older people who has the same problem , it was fitted in a new kitchen extension all approved by building regs etc, so no need to be fitted outside at all….we have to get the pipe moved inside , the law of fitting them needs to be updated , if they a site to join to try and do this ?
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sorry …” is there a site “…children excited running around me ! the big man is nearly here !
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Thank you for your thoughts regarding older people.Most of these older people,through serious ill health / disability qualify to have central heating installed by government grant.A lengthy procedure to get accepted/installation,but have little or no say or choice as to who, what, or where,regarding the system & installation.The contractors have a budget for all installations,so minimum basic job the norm.Could not fault the fitters in my situation,excellent,clean tidy work men.They informed in Germany,it is illegal to fit pipe externally.We are part of EU so why doesnt that apply in GB.System after fitting inspection,transferred to other heating company,do they get whopping great call out charges ,invoiced to Government,when required to” call outs” to defrost for disabled people who aren’t able to defrost as you are.
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For those of you who think this topic needs more publicity and urgently, you might want to contact BBC Watchdog TV programme. Just follow this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/
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The current installation instructions for Worcester Bosh condensing boilers (other manufacturers will be similar) show the following options for dealing with the condensate: connection to internal stack (soil pipe), or to an existing waste pipe (like on your sink), or to an external stack *with insulation on the external part of the pipe*. Furthermore, they say, “Wherever possible the condensate discharge pipe work should be routed and terminated internally. Should this not be possible, and the only available route is external, the following conditions should be observed: Pipe work length should be kept to a minimum and the route as vertical as possible. Where pipe work is subjected to cold or wind chill, a weather proof insulation should be used.”
Like people have said: don’t blame the technology – blame ignorant or lazy fitters.
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Thanks Steve. This is very useful. Do you or anyone else know the rules for the open end of externally fitted condensate pipes? I have been advised unofficially, that they shouldn’t terminate so the (hot) condensate can drop on people’s heads, therefore, the end must be as close to the ground as possible. I understand that a new rule coming soon states the pipes will have to terminate into the ground to remove the riske of people drinking the condensate – ! If this is correct this might make them even more difficult to defrost.
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my worcester bosch combi boiler froze outside pipe the gas fitter cut the pipe on the outside and left it to flow and told me to keep an eye on it that was on the 3rd of dec on the 21st of dec it did the same again this time the pipe in the loft was frozen solid we spent 6 hours trying to defrost it no luck fitter came pipe solid from one end to the other fitter came again now running into a bucket in the loft till the fitter works out what to do i have to check it every day three cheers for technology!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Was outside at 6.30am on Xmas morning with kettles of boiling water trying to defrost pipe to get boiler working. At 11am pipe froze again so cut off horizontal section with hacksaw and defrosted vertical part – 7″ chunk of ice came out! Will fix pipe once weather has warmed up, cos at least boiler is now working at -12!
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Boiler suddenly stopped. The house is on top of a hill with a 20 foot pipe running outside from the boiler outlet to the drain. I managed to thaw the elbow with a hairdryer and then got soaked by the build up of condensate. The 20 foot pipe is completely frozen. I have removed the pipe and attached some hose so it can drain until the thaw.
No ill effects from the condensate but after warnings here time for a thorough wash.
The boiler has been in place 4 years, cut my bills and works well. The fault lies with the fitter not the boiler, I have read the instructions from Bosch and they are very clear. My mum has just had a Valiant fitted and I noticed they ran the pipe inside so some fitters seem to be learning.
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We have all the family here today for Boxing Day lunch and we froze. No heating and no hot water !!!! Our old boiler never let us down!! These systems should never be installed until this problem has been overcome.
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For the past week I have been looking after a neighbours house and found that the central heating would not work due to condensate freezing in the combination boiler external outlet pipe. A temporary solution was effected by pouring boiling water over the pipe and then covering with a thick polystyrene box made from tv packing material and sticky tape. This was covered with an old duvet and then the whole lot enclosed in plastic sheeting Most of the time it works and has only frozen again once on a very cold night It is obvious that the boiler/approved installer is not fit for purpose and wonder if anyone has approached the Retail Standards Agency as this must fall within their area of responsibility
Long term I will suggest that the boiler is drained within the house, but if not possible lagging the pipe with horticultural soil warming wire and covering it with waterproof lagging should do the trick. An opening here for an entrepreneur who shold be able to sell a DIY kit for less than £30 compared with the gas boards £200
Meanwhile I will go and pat my 20year old 120k btu Glow worm Hideaway
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I had this problem last winter. I had to cut the 32mm pipe and de-ice it regularly. I then insulated the pipe with heavy (black) pipe lagging. I put a hot water bottle over the exiting pipe to try to ensure the freezing was kept minimal.
This last severe cold spell none of this was sufficient. The pipe runs from first floor level to ground soak-away. As a 74 year old up a ladder at 1am, this is not my idea of fun! I cut the pipe three times the last cut being close to the high outlet. I then suspended the loose pipe on wires below the outlet to catch the condensate if it was not blocked. When it froze the condensate then cascaded down the outside of the pipe.
Finally I cut the horizontal pipe inside the house, put in a a T-piece with a vertical upriser. A cup type end was put on top. This enables me to pour hot water from inside the cupboard to ensure the pipe is clear overnight. The gap between exit pipe and suspended pipe could eventually be bridged with ice , so I still have to keep it under observation. It could not be left long term, but it does allow it to function.
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Regarding condensate outlet pipe;
Between the pipe exiting from the internal pipe ,to where the external pipe appears,remove the pipe at the elbow,enclose the open bottom end with a nylon net bag, ( like the type you get your satsumas in )& secure with jubilee clip .Purchase salt blocks (as used in dishwashers),fill the pipe with the blocks.These blocks take absolutely for ever to disolve,therefore the escaping condensate should not be able to freeze as it is now salt water.Hopefully that should eliminate quite a few system freeze ups,but really all the outlet pipes should be redirected to internal waste pipes.
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My Ariston Combi Boiler shut down whilst I was away. When I repressured and reset it the pressure went over 3 bar and I had to shut it down. The thermostat was replaced this morning but the same thing keeps happening. All radiators got hot when I fired up the system, too hot in fact. It is NOT a condensing boiler. British Gas say they are not taking on one-off repairs at the moment. We have no heating or hot water. Can anyone give any suggestions as to what the problem may be.
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Our outside condensing pipe is 12 ft long and 32 mm wide and some days has frozen solid; so for the past fortnight we have been taking it apart and taking the ice out daily. Once it gets to -4 it starts to freeze up. I know of at least 6 people locally with the same problem. It means we cannot leave our house for even a weekend in the winter in case of a cold snap. Rang plumber who fitted system 2 years ago who told us we would have to pay to have pipes re-routed inside. How does that work? Pay plumber hundreds of pounds for new CH system which stops working when it gets cold; so pay him more money to put it right! These condensing boilers must be as good as a Pension Fund for plumbers.
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