F wrote:
On 19/12/2009 15:48 cynic wrote:

We had very severe frost last night so I enquired if there was an ice
plug in the condensate outlet. Neighbour got ladder out to look and
it turned out there was. Soon neighbour had kettle out and a warm
house soon after.

Thanks for posting this. Seriously pleased you did!

Heating came on this morning and then turned off unexpectedly. Checked
the boiler, saw it was locked out, reset it, it started but sounded as
though it was full of air from the gurgling sound. Looked outside to
check the plume, no plume and the gurgling was even louder, as though
the fan was blowing through water rather than the pump trying to pump
air.
Remembered this thread, got the kettle out, and poured it all over the
external elbow from the condensate drain pipe. The boiler has now
restarted.
Management had placed a tile over the drain cover into which the
condensate pipe empties after a low level near horizontal run. Looks
like the last time it flowed it froze at the end of the pipe as it
couldn't fall and clear the end. The ice plug just worked its way back
along the pipe until the whole lot blocked.

There is an air gap between the elbow that exits the wall and the
wider vertical section of pipe but it just froze backwards and filled
the gap before working even further backwards and blocking the pipe
completely.
Can now get back to wallpapering the bedroom with the paste table in
the garage with a wide open door and the temperature sub-zero...

Some people get all the good jobs.... :-)


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk