Radiators and hot water have been fine, working today. Put the heating on this afternoon after it had got dark and nothing not hot water either.

Boiler is a worcester greenstar 24i junior installed in the loft with a stubby little condensate pipe way up the wall. Can’t access it to try pouring warm water over it…

Resetting the boiler gives me heating and hot water for a few minutes until it trips out and the reset amd blue oval light flash. Reset it and the process repeats.

Does a frozen condensate pipe sound like the culprit? Sadly I’m out all day tomorrow to try resetting it when things warm up.

Cheers

Hairdryer on the condensate outlet pipe for 5 minutes. That might work.

We had a 2m 15mm condensate outlet pipe in our old house. It froze solid in the tough winters in 2010-11.

I used to go outside and whack the pipe to stop it freezing from ground to outlet every time it was below zero

It does certainly sound likely. If you can see the flexible pipe out of the bottom of the boiler you can pull it out of whatever (likely) hard plastic pipe it’s inserted into (that goes outside) and drop it into or dangle it over a bucket. Then try resetting the boiler again.

We have a similar arrangement with the boiler in the attic.

I actually ran our boiler like this for a couple of weeks with the condensate running into large plastic boxes!

I’ve now run the condensate drain inside the house following the hot water and heating pipes downstairs then popping out into a drain outside with about 2 inches of pipe external to the house

I actually ran our boiler like this for a couple of weeks with the condensate running into large plastic boxes!

I’m currently doing that but a gas engineer pal of mine warned that you can sometimes get Carbon Monoxide come through the condensate pipe so you need to be very careful (I have a CO monitor next to the boiler so hopefully won’t have any issues!).

Thanks, I’ll try pulling the pipe out and into a bucket. The bit of pipe sticking out the wall is 15mm copper and about 10 to 15cm in length. It’s also a good 20+ foot up the side of the house so no chance of heating it up to thaw.

Have a look for the manual for your boiler. It should show you what outlet is the condensate (it’s usually a plastic pipe. My boiler has a plastic and copper pipe running down the side of the building with the plastic one being the condensate.

There will be a copper pressure release pipe going outside too, usually curls back on itself outside. The condensate pipe is usually plastic.

MIL has same boiler – I’ve shown her how to pull the condensate pipe out and route it into a bucket in this weather. It’s a semi opaque convoluted pipe – it’s connected at the boiler end, pull it free from whatever pipe goes into your building fabric

Our condensate runs 3m across three north wall of our kitchen. I’ve had to insulate it and added an access hatch where it emerges from the wall. After a week of upto -11 it starts to ice over a bit. I just open the hatch and pop a kettle of boiling water down it….

There will be a copper pressure release pipe going outside too, usually curls back on itself outside. The condensate pipe is usually plastic.

This. Our pressure release pipe externally is a “C” formed from 2x 90 elbows, no more than 6″ total externally. The condensate runs internally (in plastic) into a convenient sink waste pipe

The other thing to check is the flue/vent iced up, a mate was without heating for a couple of days and it turns out that the flue is also the intake for fresh air and that has become blocked. £80 to a heating engineer and a quick wiggle with a screwdriver and it was working again.

Frozen exhaust pipe was what killed a friends boiler 2 days ago. The 1 inch was replaced with a fitting and some 2 inch pip so it was less likely to block

I’d been looking at wrong outlet, condensate is plastic and runs across the side of the house internally and exits into the gutter at roof level. It’s a good 21.5mm,god knows why I thought the curved over one was it.

The same gutter I was admiring the icicles on and clearing the icy puddles off the steps directly below the condensate pipe.

No lagging on it but I can sort the inside section. I’ve put a hot water bottle on just in case that helps.

Thanks

Not sure if the pipe is push fit at the boiler or if it’s been glued/welded in place. Have to get to work so a job for tomorrow sadly.

In my previous house I fitted a trace heating cable around the condensate pipe.

Something like 20w a metre. Did the job.

You can get thermostatically controlled ones but I just switched mine on when it got cold.

Tis the season for it. My Baxi 105HE did this last night, and only noticed when we had no hot water as I had the stove on. Smacked the pipe a bit and poured hot water over it (coke bottle taped to a rake for that). Turned out the flame sensing electrode was also being a dick, so had to fettle that as well.

All working as of this AM. Will be getting some pipe lagging, as the old stuff is no longer there to insulate it.

The Worcester boiler has a water trap to prevent combustion gases leaking down the condensate pipe. Mine used to route into the kitchen sink drain pipe so provided you refill the water trap (if you take that off for pipe access) it’s not a problem.

We had the same issue with our boiler when it was first installed. We then had the condensate drain moved so it runs internally into the sink waste.
Not had any issues since.

Mine did this a couple of days back. Picking up the bits for the conversion to run to the sink today. Job for the weekend.

Good tip on the potential CO problem, I will get a detector for it too.

Worth thinking about trace heating if the pipe is awkward to get to. MIL had this fitted as there was no way they, in their old age, could get to de-frosting the pipe. Same with my folks, had trace heating fitted.

I rerouted our Worcester Bosch condenser pipe a few years back – it used to go through the wall, vertically down 1m or so and then nearly horizontally for 2m to the drain. Now it goes through the wall and diagonally to the drain. Never seems to freeze anymore

well this thread is timely, my boiler started gurgling this morning and the hot water died about half an hour ago. I never knew what a condensate pipe was until today!

Poured some warm water over it, reset the boiler, hoping that fixes it before we go away for the weekend….

…seems to have fixed it for now….

Same here. Fault 277 on a Worcester Bosch Greenstar. Couple of kettles and a bit of hairdrying, plus loosening off the pushfit fitting under the boiler for a second sorted it.

I’ve had this the last two mornings on my Worcester Bosch boiler. Error code “EA” on the display. A few kettles of hot water over the condensate pipe did the trick.

21.5mm is boiler condensate pipe If you can access it high up SF sell 21.5mm to 32mm adapters in solvant weld. You may need a joiner . the big diameter is unlikely to freeze up . Or buy 22mm lagging and fit that over it , mitre the elbow that usually exits the wall.
Or run it internally and into a waste pipe in the kitchen or bathroom, swept Tee piece and reducer in solvant should be all you need , plus a new length of 21mm as the old one will be brittle

I’ve just joined the club for this as well, Worcester Bosh boiler, EA 227 error code, I’m stuck at work so will be advising my wife by video call, the above information has been very helpful, so thanks.

Down to a balmy 8c this morning. A combination of leaning out the bedroom window with a heat gun pointing at the gutter and a hot water bottle on the pipe got things defrosted. Temps hovered around 4c so that helped too.

Boiler back up and running. Pipework in the loft lagged with 19mm thick pool noodle type of insulation from b and q. Can’t yet access the length poking out the roof also been looking at heat trace, should be able to wire it into the supply the boiler uses.

Cheers and glad to see it has helped others.