Hi - we have a worcester boiler which last winter tripped out a couple of times - after googling and finding this website, plus the blurb on the worcester website I deduced this was the frozen condense pipe thing and set about with hot water bottles and kettles accordingly. last winter only happened twice in very cold weather. This winter happened the other day for the first time - hair dryer, hot water bottles and kettles galore but didn't kick back in until the afternoon (when sun was shining on it) have had it on constantly since then but decided to turn off for a few hours during the night last night - oops. now happened again. but the thing is our condense pipe only sticks out about an inch outside the house. I have pushed a foot long skewer down it and there is no hard blockage - although pulling the skewer out brought with it some sludgy water. I have hot water bottles wrapped round the inside part of the pipe but this is inside a warm room - how can the pipe be frozen inside the house and not outside?
There are two bends in the pipe within the first foot after it leaves the boiler then it is straight for about 2 foot (which takes it through the wall of the property and about an inch outside)
Any ideas of how to get it working faster rather than waiting all day?
long term fix - should the pipe be sloping at an angle (as it really isn't)
Could it be that the pipe is just sludgy and that when the weather is cold the sludge gets harder?
Or could it be a completely different problem after all!
TIA for any help or advice!

Briony, December 2010

Mine definately has no ice but the neon is flashing along with the hot water sensor neon, I have no heating or no hot water and engineer not able to come until tomorrow, any ideas how to get some heating on for the kids, thanks

mel, December 2010

Hi, hope this helps....

No expert by any stretch of the imagination, however, had the same problem you described very well. Tried everything i could think of and read the manual numerous times. You are right about the condensate pipe....double checked it and found slightly iced over external pipe. Loosened the out flow pipe on base of boiler and heard water running through pipe. Re-tightened and retried the boiler. Worked first time...hope this helps

Cowboy bob, December 2010

will prob give u an ignition fault code on boiler if condensate problem, there may be a sensor in the condensate trap that got wet due to it freezing at some point and backing up into boiler. sounds like a very poor install, the pipe should be constantly falling- ie no straight runs, also it sounds like it just terminates outside into nothing? it should go into a waste pipe or a purposely made soakaway pit with limestone as the condensing product is very acidic. also should be minimum 32mm diameter pipe if any external runs (unheated garage also classed as external) the fact that u scraped out something that wasnt liquid points out that it was defo blocked at some point. u can google trace wire heater and get something installed similar to it, basically a heat wire run through the pipe that comes on if temp drops below 5'c, if u know a sparky or competant u could get one, dont know how much they cost though. if installed recently- get them back as it hasnt bn installed as per installation instructions. hop this helps

billy, December 2010