WAMT....what annoyed me today!

A follow on from last week.
After spending most of last week trying to contact my bank and speak to a human, I tried again this morning and expecting the normal 2 hours wait and then disconnection I decided to call another company about a problem, and b****r me did they not answer just after I got through all the press button bits and was just connecting to a human so I told the other company I would phone back. So that's the bank sorted.
 
for those out there without a house number on their door. get one. It makes delivering your parcels and Chinese take away's a damn sight easier!
 
I took my mam into town in her wheelchair again today. In one shop I parked her up at the checkout and moved to the front of her to pay and bag up the items. When I'd finished a woman was stood behind mam in the chair so I had to say "Can I just get in there please?" The woman appeared to drop and raise her shoulders as if she was moving but she went nowhere so I had to say "Excused me. I need to be in and stand where you are to be able to push the chair" and she then did move, grudgingly.

I just don't know what's wrong with some people.
 
AshleyC said:
for those out there without a house number on their door. get one. It makes delivering your parcels and Chinese take away's a damn sight easier!
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Don’t get chinese take aways, order very little online and the posties can count so know that 7 is between 5 and 9, we have 300mm high number on the garage door though.
 
Central heating boiler started many a noise last, fan motor on the flue failed this morning and unlikely to get it fixed until Monday, and it started snowing! Daughter will get a couple of visitors I reckon, for a heat and showers.
Dyson fan heater working in the living room but the rest of the house Baltic, ah well Sod’s Law.
 
AshleyC said:
for those out there without a house number on their door. get one. It makes delivering your parcels and Chinese take away's a damn sight easier!
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When I retired, I used to deliver medications for a local pharmacy. The worst ones to find, in the dark, were the "named" houses, too posh for a number! At least a number gave a bit of reference from the other "normal" houses.
 
I've been struggling to think of a stocking filler for Mrs WW and I had the idea of getting a T shirt printed with a picture of here and her dog on it. You can have text too so I thought I'd add Mrs WW's name and her dogs name. I was struggling with the spelling of the dogs name so I Googled it and found that the dogs name has two meanings and one of them is rude.

So I don't think it'll be a good idea but I suppose only Thai speakers will know so I don't know what to do now. I might get the shirt with no text :D
 
Woke up to find my house cold - all radiators were cold. Flashing error light on CH Boiler [ Worcester Bossch ] , reset button flashing. Pressed reset till it went out and crossed my fingers.

Made coffee [ electric kettle ] Boiler still non functioning. Rang Plumbers - left message .

Now they are still asking for messages to be left on their machines - I've been trying for 3 hours to get in touch :(

I'\m 82 and freezing - I have gas to the house as my cooker is working - it's just the boiler that the problem
 
camerassassin said:
Woke up to find my house cold - all radiators were cold. Flashing error light on CH Boiler [ Worcester Bossch ] , reset button flashing. Pressed reset till it went out and crossed my fingers.

Made coffee [ electric kettle ] Boiler still non functioning. Rang Plumbers - left message .

Now they are still asking for messages to be left on their machines - I've been trying for 3 hours to get in touch :(

I'\m 82 and freezing - I have gas to the house as my cooker is working - it's just the boiler that the problem
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we had that issue with ours it was the condensation drain tube not being able to drain water properly
ours is inside going into the sink drain so just unblocked it with a bit of drain cleaner
the pipe drain could also go to the outside and be frozen
im not an expert by any means , hopefully someone on here will have better suggestions
 
Hopefully its something like that - after all my gas cooker is working.

I've a convector heater now in my living/work room and temp is at 56F I really could do with it higher but..

I'll just have to wait for the plumber
 
Does your boiler have a pressure gauge? Is it at the correct pressure? Often around 1bar, worth looking at as is the condensate drain pipe being frozen/blocked. All plumbers/heating companies busy at the moment due to cold spell adding to normal work.
 
It does show the pressure as low :(

I'm just going to have to sit and try and keep as warm as I can, while waiting for the plumber
 
camerassassin said:
It does show the pressure as low :(

I'm just going to have to sit and try and keep as warm as I can, while waiting for the plumber
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on ours there is a plastic key underneath to adjust the pressure, I just put it in the key way to increase the pressure to the correct level on the gauge
good idea to get a plumber to check it all over when you can get one though
 
Plumber has been - condensate drain on the outside had frozen :(

He disconnected it at a bit in the house and it's now draining into my washing up bowl [ So I'll need to empty that when necessary :( ] until they can come back and reconnect that pipe. I suspect that won't be for several days till this really nasty snap is over - guy said they were really flooded with calls as I can well imagine
 
camerassassin said:
Plumber has been - condensate drain on the outside had frozen :(

He disconnected it at a bit in the house and it's now draining into my washing up bowl [ So I'll need to empty that when necessary :( ] until they can come back and reconnect that pipe. I suspect that won't be for several days till this really nasty snap is over - guy said they were really flooded with calls as I can well imagine
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Good to know that you are going to be able to keep warm. Even though with a minor inconvenience of the drain water.
 
Being overcharged in Poundland.

I did check the prices on the shelves and the things were definitely priced at £1 and named correctly on the label, correct description and £1 stated so everything did check out so they weren't on the wrong shelf or under the wrong label but get to the checkout and they're magically £1.25.

I didn't complain as really, what's the point.
 
We had an error code EA on our Worcester Bosch boiler this morning, I called my boiler engineer & was told it is most likely the condensate drain being frozen. He said he has had hundreds of calls since the start of the recent cold spell.

He was of course right, a kettle of hot water poured over the pipe outside where it drains released about 20cm plug of ice followed by a rush of water.

Pressed reset button on the boiler & it was up & running as normal 20 minutes later.
 
The snag is - this cold snap is very very cold - it's well below freezing here and that pipe outside will continue to freeze up if it's in use :(

I don't even know if putting some insulation round/on it will help - in normal winters - probably but this one ??
 
Years ago we had a pipe in the loft that kept freezing so I installed a lamp just above it with an old style light bulb and put the switch in the airing cupboard. On cold nights I flipped the switch and the light bulb was enough to raise the temperature and stop the pipe from freezing.

This might not be practical with an outside pipe though.
 
broc said:
We had an error code EA on our Worcester Bosch boiler this morning, I called my boiler engineer & was told it is most likely the condensate drain being frozen. He said he has had hundreds of calls since the start of the recent cold spell.

He was of course right, a kettle of hot water poured over the pipe outside where it drains released about 20cm plug of ice followed by a rush of water.

Pressed reset button on the boiler & it was up & running as normal 20 minutes later.
Click to expand...

camerassassin said:
The snag is - this cold snap is very very cold - it's well below freezing here and that pipe outside will continue to freeze up if it's in use :(

I don't even know if putting some insulation round/on it will help - in normal winters - probably but this one ??
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I find it odd that the condensate drain is not (depending on installation situation?) perhaps fed into the (kitchen?) drain. Why, because it seems the freezing of the condensate pipe is predictable outcome so why not mitigated for!
 
Kitchen is at the back of the house - the boiler is beside the downstairs bath/wet room at the front of the house
 
camerassassin said:
I don't even know if putting some insulation round/on it will help - in normal winters - probably but this one ??
Click to expand...
My ex- neighbour was a plumber, his boiler was in the loft, the drain ran down the outside wall.
He sleeved the pipe with a slightly larger diameter pipe. This apparently solves the problem.
 
Our boiler is in the garage, the condensate drain goes through the wall and empties into an outside drain which serves our utility room.

What is odd is the fact that last night was not as cold as previous nights, so why did it decide to freeze when it did & not on previous days/years? We have a Davis Pro weather station that records outside temperature at 15 minute intervals so I could see it was not as cold.

Also, the boiler had been on for a couple of hours working properly. it went off on a timer, I decided to turn it back on an hour later as we were expecting our 1 year old grandson for the day.

I might try to lag the pipe outside & see if that helps. At least I know what to look for & how to deal with it if it happens again.
.
 
broc said:
What is odd is the fact that last night was not as cold as previous nights, so why did it decide to freeze when it did & not on previous days/years?
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Maybe different wind strengths / directions adding a chill factor?
 
broc said:
What is odd is the fact that last night was not as cold as previous nights, so why did it decide to freeze when it did
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Maybe ice had been building inside the pipe, and last night was enough to finally block it?
 
Cobra said:
Maybe ice had been building inside the pipe, and last night was enough to finally block it?
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I wondered that, I also wondered what temperature the condensate water is when it drains from the boiler. I will have to ask our boiler engineer when he comes to check the boiler next February.
 
broc said:
I wondered that, I also wondered what temperature the condensate water is when it drains from the boiler.
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I've no idea TBH I have a proper boiler, all the pipework is inside, in the kitchen.
Although I did hear that hot water freezes faster than cold water. But I'm not sure if it's true or indeed, how that could be :thinking:
 
camerassassin said:
Kitchen is at the back of the house - the boiler is beside the downstairs bath/wet room at the front of the house
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So, it is adjacent to an inside drain and could potentially be routed there???
Cobra said:
My ex- neighbour was a plumber, his boiler was in the loft, the drain ran down the outside wall.
He sleeved the pipe with a slightly larger diameter pipe. This apparently solves the problem.
Click to expand...
And that plumber knew how to mitigate (all being well) for such frozen condensate events!
broc said:
Our boiler is in the garage, the condensate drain goes through the wall and empties into an outside drain which serves our utility room.

What is odd is the fact that last night was not as cold as previous nights, so why did it decide to freeze when it did & not on previous days/years? We have a Davis Pro weather station that records outside temperature at 15 minute intervals so I could see it was not as cold.

Also, the boiler had been on for a couple of hours working properly. it went off on a timer, I decided to turn it back on an hour later as we were expecting our 1 year old grandson for the day.

I might try to lag the pipe outside & see if that helps. At least I know what to look for & how to deal with it if it happens again.
.
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Possible if the utility room is adjacent/close proximity, the condensate drain could(?) be routed that way???
 
broc said:
I wondered that, I also wondered what temperature the condensate water is when it drains from the boiler. I will have to ask our boiler engineer when he comes to check the boiler next February.
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We have a conventional boiler but I thought a condensing boiler as it's name implies recovers (some) heat and as such the drain is carrying 'cooler' water and if the drain pipe at its exterior portion is regularly cold the water hitting that section is immediately at risk of freezing with a build up of ice .. = a blockage :(

All this is salutary insight that should we update with a condensing boiler to ask/insist that the fitter ensures to lower or remove the risk of such a frozen pipe event! NB this may come down to a pre -installation survey?
 
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Box Brownie said:
So, it is adjacent to an inside drain and could potentially be routed there???

And that plumber knew how to mitigate (all being well) for such frozen condensate events!

Possible if the utility room is adjacent/close proximity, the condensate drain could(?) be routed that way???
Click to expand...
I could route the condensate to the waste water pipe from the utility room sink, this also has the dishwasher & washing machine waste connected but they would all eventually discharge via the same outlet pipe outside. Rerouting would involve pulling the washer, dishwasher & tumble drier out first & that might make me unpopular at home......

I am going to follow up on ideas from @Cobra. It looks like I might be able to slip a length of plastic waste pipe over the condensate drain pipe. The condensing boiler has been installed for 10 years next February & this is the first time we have had a freeze up.
 
Don't forget that the condensate is mildly acidic. That was the reason in the old days for keeping the flue gases hot so that the moisture went all the way up the flue and did not condense on it.
Protecting the condense pipe from the freezing wind should help as the wind effect is a major factor.
 
broc said:
I am going to follow up on ideas from @Cobra. It looks like I might be able to slip a length of plastic waste pipe over the condensate drain pipe.
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There is always this, I'm not sure which would be the best, but this is generally split down the length so maybe easier to apply?
www.diy.com

Climaflex Polyethylene foam Pipe lagging (L)1m (Dia)15mm | DIY at B&Q

Climaflex Polyethylene foam Pipe lagging (L)1m (Dia)15mm - B&Q for all your home and garden supplies and advice on all the latest DIY trends
www.diy.com
 
Cobra said:
There is always this, I'm not sure which would be the best, but this is generally split down the length so maybe easier to apply?
www.diy.com

Climaflex Polyethylene foam Pipe lagging (L)1m (Dia)15mm | DIY at B&Q

Climaflex Polyethylene foam Pipe lagging (L)1m (Dia)15mm - B&Q for all your home and garden supplies and advice on all the latest DIY trends
www.diy.com
Click to expand...

I use that for lagging vulnerable pipes. Works a treat! I would offer to send a foot or so to Brian but it would cost more to post it than a length is from Bee and Queue.
 
Nod said:
I use that for lagging vulnerable pipes. Works a treat! I would offer to send a foot or so to Brian but it would cost more to post it than a length is from Bee and Queue.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the offer, I think I have some lurking in the depths of the garage, I will have a look tomorrow.
 
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