Frost Protection on boiler...

charlie792

Ive read so many posts over the last few days about people's pipes bursting due to not having heating on and Im getting somewhat worried.

I left my house xmas eve and turned the heating off - didnt even think about it, just assumed no point having it on if Im not there, my boiler is meant to have frost protection that comes on if the temp in the house drops below 5 but Im begining to get somewhat concerned that this won't work if the heating is actually turned off - as in should I have left it on auto or something....Im hoping everything will be ok, but its going to be another few days before I get back. The temp in the house is usually around 14 overnight without the heating on so Im praying it won't drop that low....But there again I suppose house temp might not be anything to do with the temp of the pipes....Fingers crossed that the flat upstairs is there and they have their heating on, might keep my place a bit warmer too...:o

jennifernil

The frost stat should over-ride everything, so as long as you have not turned off the electricity to the boiler, it should function.

However, the purpose of the frost stat is to protect the heating system itself, heating coming on only when the temperature in/near the boiler is 5 degrees may not prevent frozen water pipes elsewhere in the house.

Hope all is well when you get home.

macman

Heating on in the flat upstairs will not do too much for the temp downstairs.
As advised, as long as you left the power on to the boiler then the frost stat should trip-though it's most unlikely it will get down as low as the usual 5C default.
You shouldn't rely on a frost stat to stop your water supply pipes freezing, get them properly lagged and protect them from draughts and you should be OK even with the heating off.

gas4you

Built in boiler frost protection, usually means just that. It protects just the boiler and not external pipe work.

You need to have an external frost stat and pipe stat fitted to gain full protection, but also as said make sure everything is well lagged.

None of the frost protection will protect the domestic hot and cold pipe work though, just the heating.