How to thaw frozen condensate pipes- A helpful guide for your customers

At this time of year, we get a lot of calls from homeowners complaining that their boiler isn’t working and is displaying error code 133 or 28.  We expect you do too! If the condensate pipe freezes, the boiler shuts down to protect itself and to stop the condensate backing up into the boiler and damaging the components.

While it is worrying and upsetting for your customer if they have no heating or hot water, it is simple for them to fix themselves and will save them the expense of calling out an engineer.

Here is our simple step by step guide for you to pass on to your customers. 

1. Switch your boiler off at the control panel and turn off the electricity at the wall.
2. Find where the pipe is frozen. This will be the most exposed part of the pipe, usually found on the outside wall of the property.
3. Warm the condensate pipe across its exposed length using either a hot water bottle, or a microwaveable heat pack or warm water poured from a watering can. Do not use boiling water straight from the kettle as this could damage the pipe. Start at the point furthest away from the boiler and slowly move along the pipe towards the boiler.
4. Turn the power back on at the wall and restart the boiler. If the error code continues to show, reset the boiler.

Repeat the process until the boiler works again.

Even better, there are a number of things they can ask you to do, to prevent it freezing again. Check out our video here