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Good morning from snow free West Country!
My son who lives in East Midlands in a three storey modern house has got a lot of snow and very low temperatures.
His combi boiler is playing up, British Gas have fitted a new circuit board but are coming back because now boiler is running intermittently.
Last night on returning home he gave it a go and it did fire up so decided to run a hot bath. After some time he heard dripping water and it was coming from bottom of boiler!
He switched everything off and checked what he could,pressure was fine and no other leaks found. Eventually the dripping stopped. Boiler is on top floor with vent in the roof and not the wall. Is it possible for the incoming combustion air to condense in these very cold conditions and then drip down into boiler? I can think of nothing else.
Having said that I know it could be a blocked condensate drain but I thought this would stop the boiler? It was still running when he first found it. He knows very little about the pipe work and I have never seen it.
 
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I had a similar problem with my old combi boiler. Considerable water pouring down into the boiler itself and then down the wall. At first we thought it was rain leaking through the sleeve where the flu goes through the roof and we had a man into check that - then I noticed that the flow happened even when the weather was dry. A few plumbers later a local guy climbed into the loft and discovered the problem - The balanced flu had completely rusted through between the inner and outer - and the exhaust gas was coming back down the intake causing considerable condensation, and the boiler would frequently cut out. The flu had been installed with a short level section rather than a slope and the water had collected and corroded through.
 
Thank you both for your replies. Chuck, I take it your No was in reply to “can combustion air condense” etc etc.
From the reply from Spondik it does seem possible but my sons boiler would not be that old.
My money is now on a blocked condensate pipe but as I said before, surely that should shut down the boiler before causing a leak.
BG are coming again tomorrow so hopefully, they will get to the bottom of this.
 
Chuck, I take it your No was in reply to “can combustion air condense” etc etc..

My 'no' was a simple (and correct) reply to the specific question you asked about 'air'. Perhaps you meant combustion 'products' in which case Spondik's answer is more relevant.

Either way, this is not something either you or your son should try to fix yourself. It needs to be sorted out by a Gas Safe Regsistered engineer.
 
No I didn’t mean combustion products I meant the incoming fresh air down the outer of the flue pipe. I wondered if in the extreme conditions with the boiler being off for some time snow or ice could have got into it and was melting when the boiler and flue got hot.
As I said I have never seen the boiler, I live about 200 miles away. BG is returning tomorrow, they have the contract. My son has no intention of doing anything to it.
We are simply wondering where the water came from.
 
No I didn’t mean combustion products I meant the incoming fresh air down the outer of the flue pipe. I wondered if in the extreme conditions with the boiler being off for some time snow or ice could have got into it and was melting when the boiler and flue got hot.

In that case, I stand by my original answer, 'no'.
 
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