The exact error codes that means your pipes are frozen, according to a boiler expert, and how to fix it with your kettle
THERE’S nothing worse than getting up on a cold morning, turning the heating on – and nothing happens.
One of the most common reasons for this happens when it gets so frosty outside that the boiler pipes on the outside of the house get frozen.
The issue is also likely to show up on the front of the boiler, via some error codes.
But if that happens, don’t panic – as your initial response to chuck a kettle full of boiling hot water over the pipes will undoubtedly backfire.
Instead, the boiler pros over at iHeat explained exactly what to do, in a video on their TikTok page.
“First step is to fill a kettle,” they said.
“Make sure it goes to boiling and let it calm down for about 10 to 15 minutes. so it’s more lukewarm to the touch.”
After 15 minutes, take the kettle and pour the lukewarm water over the condensate pipe “from the top all the way down”.
“If you’ve got a soil pipe, make sure it goes onto the connection on the soil pipe as that can also be frozen with ice too,” the expert added.
And don’t panic if you start to see some ice come down from the bottom – that just means it’s working.
“Once you’ve poured it over a few times and you’ve made sure it’s all nicely covered, you want to head inside,” he continued.
“Turn your boiler off, wait a few minutes, turn it back on and hopefully all your error messages have cleared and your boiler is firing up fine.”
“If you’re waking up today checking your condensate to see it is frozen or your boiler is showing any of the following error codes, this is how to fix it,” they captioned their TikTok video.
They also added in the comments that the clip was “just a quick fix for those waking up without heating who may not know what the problem is”.
“Save them an engineer call-out fee and wait times!” they added.
“Great tip!” someone else wrote in the comments section.
Which boiler codes mean you've got frozen pipes?
Worcester – 227
Viessman – F4
Ideal – Flame Failure
Vaillant – F28/F29
Alpha – No error code but not working
As another argued: “Why are you telling people this?
“You’re doing plumbers out of work?”
To which the iHeat pros replied: “We’re not about letting people pay an extortionate amount for a call out fee for a quick fix during a cost of living crisis!”