Boiler stopped in a cold snap in Brownhills? A frozen condensate pipe is the most likely reason. A safe, simple fix and how to stop it freezing again.
When the boiler stops in a cold snap, look at the condensate pipe before anything else. It is the plastic pipe that drains a little waste water from the boiler to the outside. Once it freezes, the water has nowhere to go and the boiler locks itself out.
Brownhills sits high and open, and with Chasewater and the common close by the wind can make outside pipes freeze quicker than in sheltered towns. Many of the 1960s and 70s homes in Clayhanger, Shire Oak and Walsall Wood had condensing boilers fitted later, with the condensate pipe run outside to the nearest drain, and those are the ones that ice up.
Warm water on the frozen section and a reset normally gets it running. If it freezes every year, a few changes to the pipe will stop it.
The white or grey plastic pipe from the boiler wall to a drain. Ice usually forms at the end or a bend.
Pour warm water along it or wrap a hot water bottle round it. Boiling water risks cracking it.
Follow your manual to reset it and give it a few minutes.
Pipes facing the open, windy side of the house freeze first in Brownhills.
Lagging or a wider pipe keeps it flowing through a frost.
A plastic pipe that drains waste water from a condensing boiler to the outside. If it freezes, the boiler stops.
Yes, with warm water on the outside pipe. Do not touch the inside of the boiler. Any smell of gas means leaving the house first, leaving switches alone, then calling 0800 111 999 for the National Gas Emergency Service.
If a reset after thawing does not work, ring us. It could be another fault.
Mostly, yes, with lagging, a wider pipe or a shorter outside run.
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