Tips for cold weather: what to do if pipes freeze and if you have a leak or flood | News

If you think you’ve got a frozen pipe, don’t panic. There are a few things you can do to keep it from bursting and save yourself the hassle of a leak or flood.

Read on for a range of advice and how we can support you.

What to do if pipes freeze

Look out for the warning signs  

• Your central heating makes gurgling sounds when it’s on. 
• Your boiler won’t turn on. 
• There’s no water coming out of your taps, or just a trickle.
• Your sink is clogged and your toilet is flushing slowly. 

Find the frozen pipe  

First, you’ll need to find out which pipe is frozen.

If you have a modern condensing boiler, it’ll most likely be your condensate pipe. This will be a plastic one that comes out of your boiler. Find out where it goes outside to see if it’s frosted over. 

Unfortunately any outdoor pipe can be at risk during icy weather, as are the ones that pass through any cold spots in the house– such as lofts, basements and cupboards that sit on external walls.

Thaw the pipe

Once you’ve found the culprit, you’ll need to thaw it out to get things flowing again.

If you can, slowly pour warm (but never boiling) water over the frozen pipe and place a hot water bottle over it to help melt away the ice.  

Finding a burst pipe  

A burst pipe might not be as obvious as a kitchen full of water.

You may have a slow leak which, left to its own devices, can cause just as much damage to your home and electrics.

Look for signs of damp or bulging on the ceiling, wall or floor. 

What to do if you have a leak or flood  

Turn off the water supply straight away

You’ll need to turn the stopcock valve to close-off your water supply and don’t turn it back on until a plumber has fixed things.

If you’re not sure where your stopcock is, try looking under the kitchen sink or in a cupboard– possibly even outdoors. 

If the leak is coming from outside your home and you can’t turn off the water supply, you’ll need to contact us or your water supplier if it’s outside the property boundary.

Turn on all the taps

You'll need to get all the water out the pipes quickly so it can drain away without causing too much damage.

Turn on all the taps in your home, allow the water to drain completely until there's nothing left and then turn them off. 

Soak up any escaped water

To limit the damage, get a few old towels and soak up any water that's escaped from the burst pipe.

If you’ve got standing water in your home, let us know and we can aqua vac the affected area. 

Make your electrics safe. 

If there’s a chance that any electrics have got wet, turn the power off at the mains.

Let them dry off completely and contact us to have them checked by a qualified electrician before turning them back on. 

Call us to rectify the leak  

Report the issue to us and we’ll provide a fully qualified plumber to carry out repairs, otherwise it may cost you more time and money in the long run.  

Cleaning up afterwards

The scale of the clean-up job depends on how much water has leaked.

If your home is flooded and your furniture or belongings are wet through, move everything out of harm's way to prevent further damage. 

If the leak isn't too bad, you can try to clean up yourself or we can help after we’ve rectified the problem. 

 

If you need to speak with us, please phone 01204 328000.

Take care.