Condensate Boiler Pipe Frozen

Jamesdeer001

HI All,

A bit of advice please if possible. We have a Worcester 24i junior boiler and this and last winter, the condensate pipe (white 22mm plastic pipe for waste water out of the boiler) has been freezing outside our home. We're on the first floor, so to defrost, have to lean outside our kitchen window with a steamer to defrost! Not fun at 5.30m! The problem is that the pipe is basically hoizontal so the waste just freezes inside it and can't trickle away. It connects to our main drainage pipe running down the side of the property. Does it have to? Or can we cut the pipe so it just exits the property and drips down the side of the house?

We tried lagging it with Climaflex Pipe insulation from B&Q last year. That does not seem up to the job and the pipe is still freezing. Therefore, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestion on how to stop it freezing. I know we could get a plumber out to change the angle but he'd also need to change the drainage waste pipe (due to the hole currently connecting it to the condensate pipe).

So my questions are, do we need to have it connection to the main drain pipe, and if so, any suggestions on better lagging for the pipe to stop it freezing?

Thanks in advance

macman

You can't cut it and let it permanently drip down the masonry, it produces anything up to a litre an hour, and it's corrosive. I suggest you get the original installer back (if possible) to correct the angle, if it's almost horizontal then it's never going to drain effectively, it needs a proper fall on it and then should be covered with proper pipe insulation.
Poor installation, end of story.

C_Mababejive

It was obviously installed by a buffoon.

Maybe it could be possible to run it internally and plumb it into an internal drain?

macman

I've never been to plumbing school, but I had kind of assumed that one of the earlier classes at least touches on the law of gravity and the fact that water does not run uphill?

Jamesdeer001

I agree with the baffoonary comments but not really helpful at the moment! Thanks though.

I agree we'll have to get someone out to asjust the angle of the piping, don't think their is scope to run it internally, (though I have not been to plumbing school either!!)

macman

Is the boiler near an existing waste (such as that from a kitchen sink or bathroom)? If so it can be probably be connected into that.

C_Mababejive

As a standby measure,it might be possible to disconnect the condensate drain internally and feed it into a bucket?

macman

Unfortunately not the best weather/time of year to get a plumber out to do a little job like this, they have bigger fish to fry (or thaw) at present no doubt. It froze last year, so it will probably going on doing so until the installation fault is corrected.

Norman_Castle

As advised when my heating was fitted, indoor pipe is white, approx 22mm, outdoor pipe is black, approx 45mm. The black pipe is less likely to freeze. Mine never has but is at a 45 degree angle. I have wondered if it would be possible to fit a tap on the indoor section of pipe below the boiler for occasional use.

keystone

Jamesdeer001 wrote: »

The problem is that the pipe is basically hoizontal so the waste just freezes inside it and can't trickle away.

Then the fall needs correcting. 20mm overflow pipe might be inadequate too. You might need a 32mm waste pipe for it. Many people should have but the installer tries to get away with standard overflow.

It connects to our main drainage pipe running down the side of the property. Does it have to? Or can we cut the pipe so it just exits the property and drips down the side of the house?

Yes because as others have said its corrosive and typically a condensing boiler will be producing 7 litres a day and you don't want that just running down the side of the house.

We tried lagging it with Climaflex Pipe insulation from B&Q last year. That does not seem up to the job and the pipe is still freezing. Therefore, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestion on how to stop it freezing. I know we could get a plumber out to change the angle but he'd also need to change the drainage waste pipe (due to the hole currently connecting it to the condensate pipe).

Lagging external waste pipes is a total waste of time and money. You need to correct the fall whatever else needs to be done to facilitate that. Can you not do it yourself if you don't want to call anyone out?

Cheers

Zanderman

Have just resurrected a thread with a similar story (https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/39192970#Comment_39192970) and am asking whether anyone's ever got the installer to retrofit a solution.

In my case it's my elderly mother's house, where BG installed a fancy new condensing boiler 18 months ago, only to find it failed last winter and this because of a frozen condensate pipe at first floor level.

She's been advised by BG that they can fit a heating wire in the pipe, triggered by extreme cold, but they want £190 to install it. That sounds highly irregular to me - they should be fitting it free, as it was them that installed a system that doesn't work in the very circumstances it is most needed.

So I'm complaining to BG on the grounds that the product is unfit for purpose - anyone else tried at all?

And does anyone know whether this heated wire system actually works?

Thanks