While we are still experiencing milder weather, it’s important to be prepared well ahead of the temperatures starting to drop.
Boiler condensate pipe
In particularly cold weather and mostly at night, your boiler’s condensate pipe may freeze, which can lead to a blockage, causing the boiler to shut down. You may find this running outside of your property from where the boiler is located inside to a drain or rainwater pipe and will generally be made of a white plastic tube.
Symptoms of a frozen condensate pipe include:
If the condensate pipe is frozen it’ll need to be thawed. The easiest way to deal with a frozen condensate pipe is to use warm water. Pour a couple of jugs of warm (but not boiling) water over the exterior of the pipework.
Increasing the temperature within the pipe can melt the ice blockage. Boiling water may cause the pipe to crack.
If the fault signals are still present, check your boiler instructions, or give us a call on 0333 400 8222.
Outside taps
We highly recommend that if you have an outside tap you turn off the water supply (isolate) that is feeding it where it is possible to do so. This will prevent pipes freezing which can in turn cause fittings within the pipes to blow and leaks to occur.
Where it is possible to do so, it’s your responsibility to isolate valves for the outside taps. In some new build homes these are labelled under the kitchen sink, but they may be located elsewhere. If you live in a new build home and have an outside tap, please refer to your Home User Guide for guidance on how to isolate it.
General heating
If we experience very cold weather we recommend, where possible, to not turn your heating off completely. If it gets extremely cold, water within the pipework of your home could freeze which may cause pipes to split and water to leak. If you’re going away then we recommend leaving the heating on but turning the room thermostat down to five degrees Celsius.
If you have any questions then please get in touch by calling 0333 400 8222.