because of a broken boiler ahead of cold spell. Frosty weather still stands in the way of the UK welcoming spring, with the Met Office predicting plunging temperatures and risk of snow - including in Nottingham.
Tool retailer Toolstation has warned that as temperatures fall, if condensate pipes are insufficiently insulated, they're likely to freeze, which will stop boilers working. According to the Mirror, in December last year, a heating engineer at Seven Heating was contacted over 100 times by customers facing this very issue and warns the problem could be widespread.
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Toolstation's Lorenzo Giove said: "The condensate pipe is the external pipe which carries acidic water waste from the boiler out of the house to an external drain. When it becomes blocked with ice, your boiler stops working."
As the old adage goes, Lorenzo says prevention is better than cure, and preventing this can be relatively "cheap and easy". He added: "In the first instance, the easiest way to prevent a frozen condensate pipe is to lag the pipe.
"With particularly cold weather expected until Thursday this week, I’d recommend doing this as soon as possible." 'Lagging' simply means wrapping your water pipes in insulation to help delay the start of freezing.
How to insulate your pipes:
To insulate your pipes, you can use long foam tubes with a hollow middle which are known as "pipe lagging". According to Toolstation, they can cost as little as £1. They are available in most DIY shops and are available in different widths; so you will have to measure to get the appropriate size for your pipes.
They can be used on both hot and cold pipes and reduce heat loss by up to 70 per cent. A spokesperson from Toolstation added: "A metre length of our most affordable insulation wrap costs just 99p and its thick foam cuts heat loss by up to 70 per cent, protecting against frost and freezing. All you need to do is wrap some insulation around the pipe. You may like to use cable ties to ensure it’s fastened on tightly.”
If your pipes have already frozen over:
If you have already left it too late and your pipe freeze up, Lorenzo says all you need it a kettle and you may be able to fix it. He said: "Generally speaking, a boiler will flash up a fault code if the condensate pipe has frozen and caused an issue. Head outside and locate the waste pipe coming from the exterior wall.
"Cover the pipe in something like a tea towel and pour over several rounds of boiling water. The towels will help retain the heat from the hot water and you will start to hear the cracking of the ice. Hopefully, all being well, it will get things moving and working again. Hot water did the trick for most people who contacted me when it was cold in December."
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