What is condensate?
In terms of your heating system, condensate can often be thought of in negative terms as the cause of an issue. Condensate is actually a positive by-product of all efficient modern boilers. It is essentially water (harmless to humans, but best kept from draining into garden soils as it’s slightly acidic). It’s produced as part of the condensing process, which reuses energy that would otherwise be lost, and as such is one of the things helping to lower your bills. Where it becomes an issue, is when the condensate cannot be drained away from the boiler itself.
Common condensate issues
Almost all condensate related boiler issues come back to drainage problems, many of which you can check, maintain or resolve yourself before it ever interrupts your heating and hot water. Common ways to identify if your condensate pipe is blocked are listening for an unusual gurgling sound when the boiler attempts to start, or the boiler may repeatedly 'lock out' or stop working and display an EA code.
Frozen condensate pipe
The potential for freezing external pipework is always an issue during the colder months. To reduce the impact of a frozen condensate pipe, we’d always advise the condensate is run to an internal waste. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible, in which case we’d recommend regularly checking your pipes, protecting them from wind chill where you can, insulating the pipe, increasing the size of the pipe or if it’s a regular issue consider fitting ‘trace a heating device’. Which electronically heats your pipe when its freezing.
External blockage
External blockages are usually managed with a simple drain cover, or gutter guards to stop leaves, moss and debris getting into the pipe and blocking the drainage system. Regular cleaning of exterior drains will help to alleviate this issue.
Internal blockage
A blocked pipeline can affect condensate, so keeping on top of blocked sink or dishwasher traps will help. Alternatively, you could ask your engineer whether your condensate pipe can join the waste exit at a different point in the pipe to avoid interruption from other blockages if they do occur.
Toilet water
If your condensate is drained into an external soil stack, asking an engineer to fit an air break could prevent sewage backing up into your boiler condensate pipework and avoid costly damage in a serious blockage.
Condensate kinked
There is often a flexible section of a condensate pipe which sits directly below the boiler. If knocked, it can distort and become blocked. This can easily be remedied by securely fixing this section to a wall to limit movement.
Important note
Condensate issues are something any boiler owner can experience. They are rarely a boiler or installer issue, and often more to do with the constraints of the property and the limitations to installation.
Troubleshooting
Why not try our Troubleshooting Tool or Frequently Asked Questions to help answer your query?
Contact your engineer
Your original installer will always be best placed to quickly solve any issues. If you don’t have their details to hand you can find them easily through your MyBosch account.
Boiler breakdown booking
If you’re a contract customer and require a Worcester Bosch breakdown engineer.