Homeowner guide for preventing and dealing with frozen pipes in the home

Frozen pipes can cause expensive damage to the home. Here is a quick guide homeowners can follow on how to deal with and prevent frozen pipes.

With forecasters predicting snowfalls in many areas of the country in the days ahead, Onlinetradesmen has compiled a simple guide that homeowners can follow to prevent frozen pipes within their homes and the associated expensive damage they can cause.

What are the dangers of freezing pipes?

When water freezes, it expands. Unfortunately, the pipes used for plumbing in your home are often not flexible. For this reason, a freeze can often cause them to burst, with water escaping into your home. The ensuing damage can be extensive, with many homeowners having to pay thousands of euros to clean up after such an event.

Any home with poor insulation is at risk, and any spaces within a home where pipes are exposed to cold air are vulnerable – think exterior walls, attic or roof spaces and cracked wall coverings. If in doubt, you should do a quick survey of your home by following the steps below.

How do you identify freezing pipes?

Unfortunately, a frozen pipe does not leak, so there is often no tell-tale sign other than a disrupted water supply– with little or no water coming from your taps. A quick check of your piping may also reveal a frost on the exterior of the pipe in question.

What should you do if your pipes freeze?

• If you suspect your pipes have frozen based on the above, you need to turn off the water supply to your home immediately. You can do this by locating the main stop cock (stop valve) in your house, normally located under the kitchen sink.
• Where possible you should also turn off the water supply from your water tank – this is normally located in your attic.  Turn off the stop valve on its outlet pipe.
• Finally, turn off all your water heating systems and then turn on your taps to drain the system - this will enable you to minimise any water damage from a burst pipe
• At this point, you should request a plumber to call out and check your plumbing system for further damage. You can do so at Onlinetradesmen.

What to do if your pipes burst

• Turn off the water supply to your house and water tank as above.
• Where electrics are exposed to water, turn off your electricity supply at the mains. Get a plumber out as soon as possible.
• Collect any water in buckets to limit the damage
• Puncture the plaster in any bulging ceilings to relieve the pressure and limit damage

How to prevent frozen pipes

• Insulate all exposed water pipes (both internal and external) with foam-based or specialist pipe insulation. Exposed pipes include those in attics, external wall cavities and near damaged walls.
• Ensure that the heating comes on for a time in unoccupied homes during cold weather spells.
• Inspect all accessible pipework regularly

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