There is nothing worse than your boiler stopping working when temperatures plummet to minus 10C or even colder
. This December (in the UK) has been the coldest since records began which means many people have experienced problems with their heating and boilers. Before you call the plumber investigate it yourself as the problem could be as simple as a frozen pipe.
If the temperature outside is below freezing and looking at your boiler you see a flashing an error light. If you have the instruction manual you can use it to fault find but if you havent then this could simply be down to the condensate pipe frozen over. Its the most common cause of boiler failure when the temperatures drop and fixing it can be done yourself without the need for an expensive plumber.
The first thing to do is reset the boiler system. There should be a reset button on the control panel which should be held in for a good 10 seconds. Release the button and then wait just a couple of minutes to see if the boiler fires itself up again. If rather than the normal start up sound of the boiler you hear a gurgling sound, then this is almost certainly the condensate pipe frozen.
Go outside and look for the pipe that comes from your boiler. If your boiler is on the first floor of your house there will be a pipe coming down going into a drain. You should be able to tap it and hear it if is solid and frozen inside. The job now is to thaw this pipe out. You could use hot water bottles and wrap them around the pipe. You could try a hair dryer or heater. Your first instinct might be to use boiling water but this could cause more damage. Hot water should be ok but not boiling.
Once you get the pipe defrosted you then need to reset the system again. It should just fire up and be fine. If it doesnt it could be pipes you cant access which are frozen or a different boiler fault in which case you will need to get a plumber. If youre lucky and the frozen pipe was the only issue, one way to stop this happening again in the future is to keep your system running all the time, day and night. You can use the thermostat to turn the temperature down at night then up again in the morning.