With winter here, your central heating failing is the last thing you need. Getting a Gas Engineer call to call could be easier said than done.

High efficiency boilers can suffer during freezing weather, if their condensate pipe freezes ann ice plug can form, causing the condensate to back fill into the boiler. This is especially true if the condensate pipe has been routed outside of the property.

With it being hard to get an Engineer at these times, there are things you could try yourself to restore your central heating. If your condensate is outside, you could try pouring hot, but not boiling water over the plastic condensate pipe. This should thaw the ice plug in the pipe. You may have to reset the boiler after this. This is normally a button or a knob position on the facia of your boiler.

Should a freeze persist, you could try cutting the external pipe with a hacksaw. This should allow the condensate to drip outside with less chance of forming an ice plug. This will have to be repaired once normal temperatures return.

I hope this advice helps some people get through a cold spell.