How To Deal With Frozen Pipes

Frozen pipes can cause a great deal of expense and annoyance in the winter season

, however, by following a few handy tips we can minimise the risk of it happening and be better prepared if it should.

The first thing to do is to check your insurance policy. You may be covered for emergency repairs, and they may even have a list of approved plumbers for you to use. Make sure you write down the details of these and place them in a convenient place; you dont want to be having to find them whilst you have a leak from a burst pipe!!

Also make sure you know exactly where your stop tap is. This controls the flow of the water and depending on your property your stop tap could be in a variety of locations. Some may even have outside stop taps, which supply the street, contact your local authority for this, as they will be the only ones allowed to access them. It is a good idea to run regular maintenance on your stop tap and make sure it turns with ease. Labelling it will also anyone else in the home to locate it in case of emergency.

If you leave the house empty a lot for long occasions i.e travel or if this is your second home it is probably a good idea in the colder seasons to leave your house on a low heat, your house can be more vulnerable, if left unattended for long periods.

We all know how annoying a dripping can be, but it can also lead to bigger problems with regards to freezing pipes. Even a single drop could freeze in the pipes causing you problems, and with your hot water tap your wasting money too.

Remember also any outside taps you may have because these are especially vulnerable in the winter months.

Help I Have Frozen Pipes

Even if the worst happens dont panic you may still be able to remedy the situation. First of all make sure the problem is isolated just to you. Contact your surrounding neighbours and ask if they have running water. If there supply is fine, then you may have frozen pipes and will need to see if you can thaw them out safely.

Check the pipes over to make sure you dont see any splits in the pipe. When water freezes it can expand the pipes causing them to split or burst. Switch off all appliance heater, washer, etc and drain all the water from the system by switching off the stop tap and running the water till its out of the system.

If there are no issues with your pipes you will need to heat them gently. NEVER used electrical heaters, hairdryers etc as remember were dealing with water here and the electricity and water do not mix. The best way to apply heat to your pipes is to either use a hot water bottle or hot cloths applied to the effected pipe. Once you have done this and you are satisfied you have thawed out the pipe close the tap, and switch the stop tap back on.

DO NOT SWITCH ON OTHER HEATING APPLIANCE UNTIL YOU ARE SATISFIED THE SYSTEM HAS THAWED OUT, OTHERWISE THERE IS A RISK OF EXPLOSION.

by: Neil Maycock

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