Post here if your boiler has failed or your pipes have frozen!

Ciaran500

I think the normal applies.

Righty tighty,
lefty loosy

mp22

As above clockwise closes the valve

peanuthead

The OH's estate has no water as the pipes outside have frozen!!

hiscan

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

It should be ok, I asked a plumber mate of mine and he gave me the thumbs up to leave mine running even though the mains is frozen. The boiler unit should cut out if the water level in the system drops.

Lots of houses have a seperate min-water tank for the central heating system. If you are one and if you are sure that it has water in it then you should be ok regardless.

What if this mini water tank is frozen as well,is it ok to have the heating on then?

force eleven

mp22 wrote: »

As above clockwise closes the valve

Thanks guys, I knew the damn things been there for years, never needed to turn it till now! Bit like 'Will I cut the red wire or the blue wire' syndrome.

Just want to keep the mains off until the thaw comes.

kopp

Well if anyone needs a plumber, I know a very good plumber (Dublin area). He's RGI, SEI So PM.

peanuthead

kopp wrote: »

Well if anyone needs a plumber, I know a very good plumber (Dublin area). He's RGI, SEI So PM.

What about piping out on the street that has frozen? Who fixes that? Would it be the council or is it up to the neighbours to get a plumber?

Fr0g

I was told by the local council to pour boiling water on the stop-cock outside the house. It worked!

HTH

Oliverdog

caprilicious wrote: »

Staying with the inlaws last night and we heard a knock/crack noise in the kitchen - one of the double glazed windows had cracked due to the cold :eek:
We had boiled the kettle a few minutes before hand which is about 4 feet away from the window, so all I can guess is the combination of -11 temperature outside and whatever the temperature was inside made it crack, I've never seen anything like it before!

Just a thought - if the crack was due to thermal reasons, it's likely to be a curved crack. If it's down to 'pinching' of the glazing system or other physical reasons, it will more than likely be straight.

kleefarr

As the Dew Point temperature has been over 1°C most of today, I attempted another thaw of the mains water pipe. Poured a kettle of boiling water over the stopcock outside slowly, about half an hour ago.
Nothing yet, but guess it'll take more than that and probably a further rise in ground temperature.

kleefarr

Fr0g wrote: »

I was told by the local council to pour boiling water on the stop-cock outside the house. It worked!

HTH

How long did it take to come through? I tried the same about half an hour ago.:(

caprilicious

Oliverdog wrote: »

Just a thought - if the crack was due to thermal reasons, it's likely to be a curved crack. If it's down to 'pinching' of the glazing system or other physical reasons, it will more than likely be straight.

Its a nice curved crack about 10" long. I didn't think that could happen in a double glazed window I thought it might only happen in older windows.

We're now staying with the inlaws and they're water went today, its mains water but on a laneway and every house on the lane is without water so will just have to wait for the thaw :rolleyes:

The hubbie got a jeep and went over to check our place, Thank God no leaks or anything out of the ordinary but needless to say no sign of any thaw on heating/water.
Only heavy duty 4x4's & tractors can get up our road so will be a few days til we get back in!

This is a great thread, handy having so many informative posts and advice on how to deal with the freeze

Cherrycola

caprilicious wrote: »

Its a nice curved crack about 10" long. I didn't think that could happen in a double glazed window I thought it might only happen in older windows.

We're now staying with the inlaws and they're water went today, its mains water but on a laneway and every house on the lane is without water so will just have to wait for the thaw :rolleyes:

The hubbie got a jeep and went over to check our place, Thank God no leaks or anything out of the ordinary but needless to say no sign of any thaw on heating/water.
Only heavy duty 4x4's & tractors can get up our road so will be a few days til we get back in!

This is a great thread, handy having so many informative posts and advice on how to deal with the freeze

I agree, pity the news and newspapers and radio wouldnt do the same thing.

Warnings to people about how to prevent frozen pipes, or what to do if they do freeze would be more helpful than "oh look, kids sliding down a hill" :rolleyes:

Cos if they have had tips like that, i must have missed them!

Signac

Friend has radiator at the end of system, Its hot at the top of the radiator but cold at the bottom. Can't work out what could be the cause of this. Any Ideas?

Irish Steve

sounds like the system need balancing. Common problem, when people decorate, or do other work, both valves on the radiator get turned off, and then when they are put back, both valves get opened fully, and that can mean that the pump flow doesn't get to the radiator, or radiators at the end of the line. The valve without the adjustment head on it probably only needs to be open less than 1 turn on the rads closest to the pump, and the one at the end of the line needs to be open more. That forces the pump flow to get to all rads.

Try closing the control valve fully on some of the rads that are hot at the moment, if the one that's not hot then gets hotter, then balancing is the answer. If it does not, then it's possible that the pump is not operating correctly, but the most likely suspect is the balancing, so try that first.

Best of luck

Steve

kleefarr

kleefarr wrote: »

How long did it take to come through? I tried the same about half an hour ago.:(

Worth trying to put some water on the pipe either side of the stopcock as well - slowly otherwise you're just warming the ground below the stopcock.
It could be that the pipe underground is frozen as well, need to wait for the ground to thaw.

kleefarr

Deleted User wrote: »

It could be that the pipe underground is frozen as well, need to wait for the ground to thaw.

I think that is probably the case. So Tuesday sometime it is then.

Oliverdog

caprilicious wrote: »

Its a nice curved crack about 10" long. I didn't think that could happen in a double glazed window I thought it might only happen in older windows.:)

Well you're right, as the inside skin of the glazing unit would receive some insulation from the outside skin; but in these unusual conditions the inside skin would be pretty cold too, and a heat source could cause a thermal fracture. I've seen loads of these when people put portable heaters too close to French or Pario Doors. Their first reaction was usually to blame the glazing contractor, but the curved crack is a dead giveaway. Be careful with your Insurance claim.

JBoyle4eva

Pipes in our house have completely frozen. No water incoming from the supply and our tank is almost completely emptied of any water it had before the freeze.

We're in Ballygar in east Co. Galway. Seems a few houses around have no water incoming whereas others have.

Queen-Mise

The temperatures are rising to +2 here. Do I need to be still worried about the cold water feed into the house freezing - because of the temperature of the ground outside.

Zak Flaps

One of our water pipes in the attic burst yesterday.(I wasn't there) Luckily a guy called round to fix it. Our attic is very cold so he recommended a heater that will switch on every time it goes below a certain temperature. Do you know what kind he was on about? If you do,do you have any recommendations?

Zak.

handsomecake

hi all
third day without water here in naas.
no water in hot or cold taps any where in the house.
we have an outside tap opposite the kitchen sink.
i live in a housing estate.
where is this"stop cock" you refer to?
any ideas on how to fix this.
the shops have sold out of water for miles.

Oliverdog

Zak Flaps wrote: »

One of our water pipes in the attic burst yesterday.(I wasn't there) Luckily a guy called round to fix it. Our attic is very cold so he recommended a heater that will switch on every time it goes below a certain temperature. Do you know what kind he was on about? If you do,do you have any recommendations?

Zak.

Many portable heaters sold in hardware stores have built-in frost-stats of thermostats which have a 'frost' setting (which usually kicks in when the temperature falls below about 40F) - some are designed to keep plants alive in greenhouses. These would be OK for your purpose - be careful where you position it near the tank (don't risk fire !)

Fr0g

kleefarr wrote: »

How long did it take to come through? I tried the same about half an hour ago.:(

It took about 10 mins. I trickled the water slowly over the SC the hole in the ground filled up and slowly drained away so I kept topping it up until i had used the full kettle. About 10/15 mins later I had water flowing through the tap. It may take another go depending on how cold it is in your area. Try it again today and see if it works.

Fr0g

handsomecake wrote: »

hi all
third day without water here in naas.
no water in hot or cold taps any where in the house.
we have an outside tap opposite the kitchen sink.
i live in a housing estate.
where is this"stop cock" you refer to?
any ideas on how to fix this.
the shops have sold out of water for miles.

The SC is on the pavement outside the house. i.e outside my premises it belongs to the council. Maybe if you ring your local council they might help you to locate it. It is useful to locate it for future reference anyway.

kleefarr

Fr0g wrote: »

It took about 10 mins. I trickled the water slowly over the SC the hole in the ground filled up and slowly drained away so I kept topping it up until i had used the full kettle. About 10/15 mins later I had water flowing through the tap. It may take another go depending on how cold it is in your area. Try it again today and see if it works.

That's exactly what I did yesterday, but only the one kettle of hot water.
The temperature didn't fall below freezing yesterday or last night, so I may have better luck if I try again.

With the pipes being frozen. All except the en-suite, which is in the middle of the house, are not working.
Would it be a good idea to turn on all taps slightly to easy the pressure and avoid a burst pipe when the water starts to thaw?

kleefarr

WATER!!!!!

Just got a slow trickle from the kitchen tap and now we have full running mains!!
Flushed all toilets and turned on all taps for a minute. No need for the kettle. Everything seems ok.
Haven't been this excited since the first snow.

Fr0g

kleefarr wrote: »

WATER!!!!!

Just got a slow trickle from the kitchen tap and now we have full running mains!!
Flushed all toilets and turned on all taps for a minute. No need for the kettle. Everything seems ok.
Haven't been this excited since the first snow.

Glad to hear it's back anyway. I know it was a huge relief in our house and we were only without for a morning.

Maglight

rolion wrote: »

Quoting my friend that installed the boiler for me...i had two options:

1.under the boiler,you have a flexible pipe like the one from wash machine.take it out off the wall nicely and let the water to go on a container or big pot.then reset your boiler.don;t forget to check the level over night.When freezing cold gone,put it back in the connector to outside pipe,in the wall...

2.cut the pipe outside if is sitting horizontally and /or get some hot water over to get the water flowing again...more than likely froze and blocked the flow of the condensing water system.

i choosed 1st one...and F4 error is gone,back to normal !
Thanks to Radu...

Hey Rolion. Thanks. That was exactly the problem. The condenser pipe outside was frozen solid. We had to get a plumber in though, because the boiler took a bit of hissy fit when we defrosted the pipe and tried to reset it. He had to tinker with it for about 20 mins to get it going again. He recommended that we turn down the heat of the boiler and run it 24 hours per day until this cold snap passes. That way there is constant warm water trickling through the condenser pipe and it should stay clear. The pipe outside also needs to be lagged to stop it freezing in future.

Heat again, oh bliss

RedLedbetter

Anybody know how to remove the lid from the water meter box lid (http://www.iplgroup.ie/assets/miscmedia/WSC-R%2001%20Spec.%20Sheet.pdf)? We have the WSC-R standard with the square key.

I called up the company (IPL) this morning to ask, as I can get the key to turn anti-clockwise 45 degrees, but while the lid shifts about it will not lift - IPL said just to keep trying as it might be jammed, GREAT! I poured boiling water over it, hit around the edges with a hammer, but still not lifting, just shifting about.

Anyone get these lids off, if so how? Or any advice, as desperate :-(

Any help greatly appreciated.