Frozen condenser pipe

davan

We have a Vaillant ecotec plus 415, it was fitted this summer. Last night the heating cut out and it turned out the'condensation pipe' had frozen! My husband who is in his 70's has been out 3 times since then to thaw it with boiling water. We phoned the supplier/installer,who said this is the only solution; insulation won't help.
Has anyone found a solution?

Ant555

Depending on the layout and position of boiler, would your plumber be able to run it internally to the nearest sink/bath/basin/shower waste pipe?

spadoosh

davan wrote: »

We have a Vaillant ecotec plus 415, it was fitted this summer. Last night the heating cut out and it turned out the'condensation pipe' had frozen! My husband who is in his 70's has been out 3 times since then to thaw it with boiling water. We phoned Vaillant,who said this is the only solution; insulation won't help.
Has anyone found a solution?

If something is freezing insulation is usually a good way of preventing it?!

There should be a flexible pipe on your boiler connected to the condensate pipe, disconnect it and allow the water to drain, have a bucket ready. It should give more time between having to thaw it.

You can do as suggested above and connect a hose to the flexible pipe allowing it to drain inside, keep a carbon monoxide detector near (unlikely to be a problem but better being too precautious). Youll be paying £50+ for a plumber to do it.

molerat

Then call your installer and get them to fix their shoddy work FOC.

_gav_

Could you not insulate the condensate pipe where it runs outside, why do they say insulation wont help?? We have a long run of pipe, 5m along a gentle slope, that used to regularly freeze each year. I bought a load of pipe insulation foam and it hasn't frozen yet this year.....ouch wood!

silvercar

Insulation would help, your installer is making excuses.

Another option is to have a wider pipe outdoors as this would be less likely to freeze.

EssexExile

I'm so glad I re-routed my condensate pipe indoors several years ago.

Tigsteroonie

Ours froze last night. We've just disconnected part of the condensate pipework below the boiler - inside the house before it goes out through the wall - and placed a bowl beneath. The condensate is collecting in the bowl rather than trying to go down the iced pipe. We're only getting drips and trickles, no massive amount, the bowl hasn't halfway filled in a day. We'll reconnect it all once the temperature has risen in a couple of days!

Tigsteroonie

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

Ours froze last night. We've just disconnected part of the condensate pipework below the boiler - inside the house before it goes out through the wall - and placed a bowl beneath. The condensate is collecting in the bowl rather than trying to go down the iced pipe. We're only getting drips and trickles, no massive amount, the bowl hasn't halfway filled in a day. We'll reconnect it all once the temperature has risen in a couple of days!

Boiler has been firing perfectly between this action on Wednesday and today, so we've reconnected the condensate pipe this morning (outside temperature above freezing here now). Fingers crossed

P.S. we do have a CO alarm, in case anybody was worried for us.