How to unblock your frozen boiler condensate pipework

Frozen boiler condensate pipe

 How to diagnose a frozen boiler condensate pipe

• If your boiler has been working correctly for a long period of time, and the temperature has recently plummeted, your likely cause is a frozen boiler condensate pipe.  Of course this only applies to pipes that are exposed on the outside of your house.
• If your boiler does not have an automatic cut-off device to detect a full trap, or an air gap in the pipework. Your first indicator may well be a “Gurgling” noise coming from your boiler, switch off immediately.
• Many boilers will have a fault code showing on the display like “LF”, normally this  will be flame failing to light, due to the water filling up the combustion chamber.
• The pipe is normally plastic overflow pipe, it should meet the manufactures instructions for external runs, but very rarely does!

The wrong thing to try is a kettle of boiling water, the ice can expand rapidly and crack the pipework.

A good method would be to apply a warm wet towel to the pipework that comes out of the brickwork, this is where you would normally find the ice plug.

Another method is a hair dryer, set to a low setting, which will gently remove the ice plug. Sometimes you will hear the water beginning to flow.

To avoid this happening again a cheap method would be to lag the pipework with insulation, alternatively a trace heating wire can be added before applying the lagging.

Here at Mansfield Plumbers we can provide you with advice on correctly installing your pipework in accordance with your particular boiler manufacturers instructions.

Call outs for boiler related problems increased by 70 percent in the past two weeks, as temperatures drop this figure is likely to increase. Always ensure any tradesmen is a member of an affiliated scheme. Gas Safe Registered Engineers will always carry an identification card with their individual competencies displayed on the back of the card.