Captain Cosy is our warm homes hero, here are her top tips for dealing with frozen water/condensate pipes.
Water pipes and condensate pipes can freeze up when cold weather hits.
Signs of this can be no running water or low water pressure. Check with your neighbour to see if they have running water. If they do, it could be that your pipes are frozen.
- Find your internal stop valve, which controls the water coming into your home, and turn it off. They are usually found under the sink or under the stairs but if you’re a Trivallis customer and don’t know where it is, get in touch with us and we will point you in the right direction.
- Drain your cold-water system by flushing the toilet and opening cold taps over sinks and baths.
- Check pipes for signs of damage and, if it’s safe and possible to do so, slowly thaw the frozen pipe. You can do this by placing a hot water bottle over the pipe or pouring hot water (not boiling) over it using a suitable container like a watering can. Never use a naked flame or blowtorch to thaw a pipe.
- Once the pipe has thawed you should re-set your boiler by holding in the re-set button for 10 seconds and waiting for the boiler to re-fire. Our ‘Your boiler’ page has information on how to do this.
- Turn your stop tap back on and check your water is running properly again.
Risk of frozen pipes lowers if you lag your pipes (lagging material is available from most DIY stores).
If you’re not going to be at home for a while, turn off the water at the stop valve and consider draining down the system so there is no water left in the pipes.