Help my boiler, please.

Mrs.Downie

I was awoke at half 4 this morning when my heating kicked in. My boiler was squeaking, whistling or something similar, anyway it was an awful noise.

The boiler is 6 years old.

My dad said, it may just been because the exhaust pipe outside was potentially frozen (we had a horrid freeze overnight) and it was whistling through the frost as the noise stopped as soon as the boiler reached full temperature.

I've put the heating on again tonight, again its in the minus figures outside and it made the noise again, not for as long this time.

Does anyone have any suggestions before I pay for an emergency plumber?

Many thanks in advance :beer:

kwikbreaks

Your dad was probably right if its a condensing boiler - they have a pipe to run off the condensate into a drain and if it freezes up it makes a pretty bad noise and can stop the boiler. If the boiler is 6 years old and you were at the property this would have happened three winters ago too.

Put the boiler make and model into google and check if its a condensing boiler. If it is locate the pipe that goes outside and goes to a drain or soakaway. The chances are it will be frozen up and maybe pouring boiling water on it will fix the problem temporarily and save you a callout.

Mrs.Downie

Unfortunately, we only moved into the property last year, and I don't recall having these issues last year.

I'm not too sure if its a condensing boiler, I shall have to find out. We have a copper pipe that goes no where outside, a white pipe that just sticks out of the wall and a white pipe that goes into the drainpipe and an exhaust all outside the house, which I think is all related to the boiler.

Oh these things drive me crackers.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Mrs.Downie wrote: »

Unfortunately, we only moved into the property last year, and I don't recall having these issues last year.

I'm not too sure if its a condensing boiler, I shall have to find out. We have a copper pipe that goes no where outside, a white pipe that just sticks out of the wall and a white pipe that goes into the drainpipe and an exhaust all outside the house, which I think is all related to the boiler.

Oh these things drive me crackers.

- its usually a frozen / blocked joint / elbow in the "white pipe that goes into the drainpipe"
- a couple of kettles of hot 'not boiling' water usually does it .. .. see here on sorting a 'condensate pipe'
- hope it helps you be less 'crackers'

macman

Mrs.Downie wrote: »

Unfortunately, we only moved into the property last year, and I don't recall having these issues last year.

I'm not too sure if its a condensing boiler, I shall have to find out. We have a copper pipe that goes no where outside, a white pipe that just sticks out of the wall and a white pipe that goes into the drainpipe and an exhaust all outside the house, which I think is all related to the boiler.

Oh these things drive me crackers.

Tell us the make and model and we can help you. Yes, if it has a pipe to a drain then it's a condenser. If you have no hot water tank (hot water on demand) then it's a combi.

kwikbreaks

You could try lagging the condensate drain pipe later which may sort it out. There is a more expensive solution involving an electric heater for them.

Mine goes through the wall into a run of black plastic waste into a drain and 3 winters back when I had the problem I sawed it off where it exits so I could clear it quickly. I used black gaffer tape to rejoin it. That is a bodge and not a recommendation by the way but it works on my set up. The condensate is nasty stuff so don't just let it drip down the wall.

Mrs.Downie

It's a baxi Combi 105he. Thanks guys.

unclebulgaria

What you're describing could be anything. There is a fan inside your boiler that starts as the heating kicks in, it could be the fans bearing has gone dry and needs lubricating. Asking what a noise could be and getting us to guess is not going to help you, I think you would be best advised to ask around for a recommended Gas Safe Registered engineer to call and have a look. Its not advised to try and sort this yourself as you would have to remove the combustion chamber cover to access the fan.