The first time this happened was a few years ago.
My boiler is in my loft in the middle of the house under a double hip roof. Any drains are on the outside wall.The condensate pipe travels above the ceiling with minimal fall to the outside..
My fix was to create an overflow so that if the condensate backs up it will travel up a tee and then down into a container in my airing cupboard under the boiler.
It has helped again today.
I feel quite proud of my little work around.
Sounds neat. We woke this morning to no heating and the boiler flashing an error code. I suspected the outdoor portion of the drain pipe was frozen, tried to thaw it out, no luck. Pulled the waste pipe off of the joint on the wall indoors that's under the boiler, and flooded the kitchen work top. Now letting it 'be sick' into a bottle for the day, seems to do it in 1 hour bursts.
First time that's ever happened
An interesting suggestion. Could you have taken the condensate to join a bathroom or kitchen sink wastepipe, and have any loft insulation above rather than below the pipe as it travels above the ceiling?
Can any gas experts comment on whether modifications to a condensate pipe should only be carried out by Gassafe personnel. If so what are the real dangers - apart from dealing with a mildly corrosive liquid?
The present state of so many condensate pipes seems to be a real danger. Setting aside all the icy paths created by pouring water over pipes, some vulnerable people must be in real danger when they loose their heating at a most critical time.
How can one safely leave ones property in winter, if a freeze means the boiler may stop working, resulting in frozen pipes and prosibly the internal parts of an expensive boiler frozen solid.
Andrew
See e.g:
Yes I've heard of this before. However it has to be said that inaccessible pipes still get fitted with never a thought to what happens in such a situation, sadly. Maybe its only people doing it themselves who can be bothered. Brian
Skyman wrote in news:p7b8nt$m2d$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
Have considered every option to get the boiler connected to the downstairs toilet or upstairs bathroom. Without horrid boxed in pipes it cannot be done.
You are not touching the gas at all, only a plastic pipe outside the boiler, and carrying water. No need to worry about gas-safe. (I suppose if you were actually working on the manifold you could screw something up, but for convenience if nothing else I'd be attacking the plastic somewhere more accessible).
I had problems with freezing condensate pipes in our garage housed boiler a t our last house mainly due to an overly long pipe run to the nearest drain . The problem went away when I fitted an additional large siphon tank suppl ied by Worcester Bosch this and increasing the pipe diam. to 32mm. The larg er siphon tank ensured there was a much more substantial flow of water comp ared to the normal dribble thus less prone to freezing and the larger pipe also did not freeze easily.
Previous to that I would disconnect the pipe and feed the condensate into a bucket which at worst only needed emptying every 24 hours.
Richard
I understand. This device claims to eliminate the problem, by collecting the condensate and then sending it down the pipe in larger amounts - which are less likely to freeze.
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Unfortunately it is really designed to be fitted under the boiler, so doesn't really help those of us who have a boiler on the loft floor. Unless of course we raised the condensate to a higher level using a pump
- which in turn gives another mode of failure....
Andrew
I can pour hot water down mine if need be. Elbow comes out of the wall into the pipe. Pipe is wider than the elbow. Bloke next door had his boiler fitted by a "mate". Bungalow with a dormer. Boiler in dormer. Pipe down wall - four foot long 45 degree bend into the grid. Joints glued. His mate said to "rod it out if it freezes". I really can't see how he can do this.
Yes Andrew that's the device, it is not that big and if you have about 6" o f space it will fit in. I do think enlarging the pipe diameter also helps. Round here we have a number of two storey flats many of whom have had large r diameter pipes fitted with up to 4m runs and they have had no problems.
Richard
And warm water too (the external units I have seen come with an insulating jacket of polystyrene) so a couple of pints of that would tend to clear any ice.
The condensate pipe on my office boiler froze up yesterday. My solution was to disconnect the flexible hoze from the pipe leading outside and put it into a 5 litre container on the draining board of the sink underneath the boiler. Here's a pic:
The boiler is on the first floor, and theres about 15 feet of condensate pipe on the outside wall going into a drain grating. Why the installers chose to do this when there's a sink right underneath the boiler is a mystery to me. Couldn't they have plumbed it into the sink waste like you would do with a dishwasher or washing machine?
Perhaps they didn't have the right parts in the van.
Skyman wrote in news:p7btb3$d59$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
Looks impressive. Could be a solution for many and a sales opportunity for many boiler repair blokes.
Is there an alternative for Prostate issues?
Your link had a / which upset my PC - I have reposted it without:
In article , DerbyBorn writes
But actually contrary to regulations. The condensate pipe should be closed - looked this up when I had same problem and thought of similar solution.
It's "closed" if there is a water trap in the boiler.
Could 12mm vinyl in mini-trunking be acceptable?
Indeed. I have often wondered how this design fault was allowed. Did nobody consider that condensate pipes might freeze and get blocked in winter? Why haven't installation instructions changed to make the use of larger diameter pipes compulsory? That would most certainly help, but in severe winters even that might not stop particularly exposed pipes getting blocked.
This is of concern for the elderly or infirm who live alone and may not be able to get to frozen condensate pipes. It's almost laughable that official policy is for the elderly to make sure they keep warm, yet at the same time it is compulsory to have condensing boilers fitted as only they can make the efficiency level required for domestic heating systems. Maybe the rules should be changed to allow such systems for the elderly or infirm to be made with non-condensing boilers. Yes, they are somewhat less efficient, but won't get affected by severe cold. Some people might be affected by the extra cost of heating due to lower efficiency, but that could be dealt with by considering extra heating grants.
I wonder what those who have suffered property damage think when away from home at the time condensing boilers stop working, and the whole property freezes because of it and water pipes burst?
A final thought. Would it be possible to program condensing boilers to work in non-condensing mode if the "blocked pipe" signal is not responded to in, say, an hour or so? That would at least allow heating to continue, albeit with less efficiency.
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