CH Boiler gurgling and switching off

[raybarrow]

Hi Folks,

Worcester Goldstar 28 Cdi Compact boiler in the bathroom airing cupboard. House set to a temp of 21 in the day and 18 at night.
Boiler started gurgling yesterday morning on heating up then went into standby and pressure dropped. Refilled the pressure tank up to 1.5 Bar, reset and all was ok, or so I thought.
This morning gurgling again, pressure ok but went into standby, Error code EA227. That code suggests the burners aren't firing up successfully, but they are. Engineer booked for Monday, but he suggested it could be the outside condensing pipe frozen. This has never happened in previous much colder winters. Hot water on it worth a try. Akward to get to but sort of managed to the point where condensation was coming out of the pipe. (Stupidly I can reach the neighbours' pipe from my flat roof, but my pipe is over a sloping tiled garage roof, not where I do not want to go at 72 with snow and frost about.)
To me 'steam' coming out of that pipe says the pipe is not frozen, is that correct? The pipe on the inside of the wall is warm.
Will do another reset and see what happens. Generally should I keep the house temperature higher in the winter?
This will teach me to get it serviced regularly.

Ray.

[Itsallaguess]

This will teach me to get it serviced regularly.

If you've checked the condensate pipe, and are happy that it's clear, given the above I'd at least also check the condensate *trap* as well, and certainly before calling anyone out, given that it's usually a fairly simple maintenance process to empty if silted up, and usually fill back up with water - but check your boiler manual or online for the specific trap-cleaning process for your particular boiler...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[raybarrow]

Hi Itsallaguess,

I called the engineer out as I didn't want to flood the bathroom. He checked it out and it was the condensation trap silted up. He only lives around the corner and doesn't charge the earth.
Made note in diary to get it serviced regularly.

Thanks,
Ray

[Mike4]

Hi Itsallaguess,

I called the engineer out as I didn't want to flood the bathroom. He checked it out and it was the condensation trap silted up. He only lives around the corner and doesn't charge the earth.
Made note in diary to get it serviced regularly.

Thanks,
Ray

This is an ongoing problem with boilers with cast aluminium heat exchangers. They shed fine grey powder that settles like pottery slip in the condensate trap, and block it. Then the condensate backs up into the heat exchanger which is really bad news, so most boilers have a sensor for this, that shuts the boiler off to prevent damage.

[stewamax]

This is an ongoing problem with boilers with cast aluminium heat exchangers.

Spot on. If looking for a new boiler, at least go for one (other things being equal) with a stainless steel heatex.
I believe Viessmann* (Germany) and Atag* (Netherlands) now only ship boilers with the latter.

* usual disclaimers