Winter weather can wreak havoc on your plumbing if you don’t know how to suitably prepare for it. To avoid any costly damage or inconvenience at the peak of winter, you can protect your plumbing by performing the following simple checks:
- Keeping the heating on low at night or when away. Pipes indoors tend to freeze when the temperature outside drops considerably and frozen pipes can easily burst if given enough time to expand. To avoid such an outcome, you can leave the heating on low inside your home, even when you are absent. This will keep the temperature inside the property warm enough and will also prevent the water in the indoor pipes from freezing. If your thermostat is set on low, it shouldn’t be too costly.
- Lag your boiler condensate pipe. Ensure the condensate pipe from the boiler is lagged on the outside to prevent it from freezing. This is the pipe that allows condensation to flow away from your boiler and if it freezes, water may back up and stop your boiler functioning correctly. You could also change the pipe to a wider one to prevent freezing.
- Have water pipes in unheated areas insulated. You can add extra insulation to the pipes located in unheated parts of the building. Examples of places with pipes that hardly receive heating include: water lines running through crawl spaces, the garage, attic and so on. You can wrap up such pipes with heat tape, foam sleeves or even newspaper.
- Make sure all rooms are properly insulated. A little crack or hole in the wall can lead to cold getting into the home. Such holes and cracks can be especially troublesome if they are close to a pipe, as they can cause a pipe in such rooms to freeze and eventually burst. Therefore, it’s important to look out for any such holes and have them sealed immediately. Doing this will keep out the cold air and keep in the warm air that will stop your pipes from freezing.
These tips will hopefully help better prepare your home for the coming winter and avoid any unnecessary issues!
If you need a plumber in Twickenham, Richmond, Feltham, Hounslow or anywhere in the London area get in touch with us today and get yourself ready for the winter months.
