Boiler problem - anybody any ideas

plodder73

I have a Baxi combi boiler about 4years old. Over the last few days when the heating has been due to come on the boiler doesnt light but shows a fault which the manual says is "flame failure or Blocked condensate drain" it keeps doing this even when I reset it.

However when I run the hot water the boiler lights up and then I can put the heating on and it runs normally. Its a bit of a pain when it doesn't come on with the timer as I have to do it manually by running the hot water first. Anyone any ideas

Thanks

laurieabc

I had similar problem last week with blocked condenser drain and boiler would not light up at all, it turned out that the plastic pipe that comes from the boiler and goes outside into the drain was frozen solid, the boiler is only ten months old, the engineer came up and cut the drain pipe underneath the boiler and now it empties into a bucket in the airing cupboard until the new year when weather improves, he will then replace the pipe, then what happened with mine was the following day it would not fire up again it turned out the frozen pipe caused back pressure and blew my gas valve so no gas was then able to reach the boiler.

So worth checking outside to see if your pipe has frozen

starry123

Next time go outside with a hot kettle full of water and pour it over the condensate pipe, the boiler will be working in seconds.

plodder73

Thanks to both of you for your replies I tried the boiling water thing when it first happened but it didnt work but thanks anyway.

jaymc82

plodder73 wrote: »

Thanks to both of you for your replies I tried the boiling water thing when it first happened but it didnt work but thanks anyway.

Its possible it has a sensor inside on the condensate trap that is probably wet if the water had frozen and backed up into the boiler, just a suggestion. Prob best to get someone competent to have a look as gas and electric to worry about inside, the combustion seals will probably go too if opened, if its the baxi I'm thinking about.

ollski

jaymc82 wrote: »

Its possible it has a sensor inside on the condensate trap that is probably wet if the water had frozen and backed up into the boiler, just a suggestion. Prob best to get someone competent to have a look as gas and electric to worry about inside, the combustion seals will probably go too if opened, if its the baxi I'm thinking about.

Thought the most stated a certain model...mixed up with another.