Protect your pipes this winter

Accustomed to temperate weather all the year round in the UK, a sudden winter snap can take us by surprise. If water pipes freeze, the water inside expands, putting pressure on the pipework and joints. Cracks may occur, leading to leaks and possible flooding. But there’s no need to be caught unawares: here are a few simple steps we can take to reduce the risk and some larger projects to ensure our pipes are protected.

1.   Leave your heating on low

With costs of home energy rising, this might seem an unreasonable suggestion. We might even be tempted to just set it to come on for a couple of hours in the morning and evening, particularly if the house is unoccupied all day, and put an extra blanket or duvet on the bed at night.

But keeping your heating on constantly and low (the best temperature is around 14 degrees) will protect your pipes, particularly in the colder hours of the night. If you live in a milder part of the country and think this is unnecessary, keep an eye on the weather forecasts for any expected temperature drops and set your heating ahead of time.

You may end up spending more on your winter fuel, but this could be small compared with the cost of a burst pipe flooding your home – structural damage, ruined furniture and flooring, and paying for alternative accommodation while you wait for the damage to be repaired.

If you’re in a rented house, maybe you could try discussing this with your landlord to see if they are willing to contribute something towards your heating costs in return for the protection of their property.

Bleed your radiators

You can also make your heating more efficient by regularly bleeding your radiators – removing the air that becomes trapped at the top of the radiator. Trapped air prevents the entire radiator from heating up and therefore heating your home as efficiently.

If you haven’t bled a radiator before, here’s how you do it.

• Start by turning the heating on and wait until the radiators start to warm up. After a few minutes, test each radiator in the house, looking for any that feel warm at the base but cold or cooler at the top. these are the radiators that need bleeding.
• Locate the bleed valve. This may be a small, square-headed protrusion at one top corner of the back of the radiator, although on a two-panel radiator it is more likely to be on one end of the radiator, on the short pipe that connects the two panels. Heated towel rails may have a bleed valve at the top of one of the vertical columns.
• Some bleed valves have a slot for a small screwdriver. If yours don’t you will need a radiator bleed key. These are inexpensive and can be bought from any DIY or local hardware store.
• Holding a cloth under or near to the bleed valve, slowly turn the bleed valve anti-clockwise until you hear the air start to escape (this may be tight at first, but should loosen immediately). You should only open the valve a half- to a full turn.
• You may detect a slightly metallic smell in the escaping air -  this is nothing to worry about – and slight bubbling as the radiator fills up. Wait until the water starts to spurt from the valve, then quickly close the valve.
• Wipe away any escaped water and check the radiator again. It should be equally warm at the top and base. Now repeat this with the other radiators in your home.

Fix dripping taps

It’s a common myth that dripping taps keep water flowing through the pipes and prevent them freezing. In fact, they are more likely to be the cause of frozen pipes (by freezing in the tap and blocking it there). It’s also a waste of water.

Repairing a dripping tap may be a job for a qualified plumber unless you are a proficient DIY enthusiast. It’s probably not the sort of task you should be ‘having a go at’, but it only requires a few basic tools and there are plenty of YouTube videos to guide you if you have no other options.

Don’t forget your outside taps

An outside tap can be useful for cleaning the car and watering the garden but as you are unlikely to be using it in the winter, it’s a good idea to disconnect it.

Start by checking to see if it has a shut-off valve inside the house. This may look like a T-shaped tap, a small wheel or a lever and is likely to be on the other side of the wall near to the outside tap. If you don’t have one or can’t find one, it may be a good idea to call in a plumber. They can either locate the valve or fit one for you (this is definitely a job best left to the experts).

Having located or fitted your shut-off valve, close it fully. Open the outside tap fully to remove all water from the tap and leave the tap open. This will allow any residual water in the pipework to expand without damaging the pipe. As an extra measure, you can fit an insulating bag over the outside tap.

Service your boiler

Having your boiler serviced regularly will ensure it runs at best efficiency. It will also protect you against potentially lethal carbon monoxide leakages.

Ensuring your boiler is working properly is particularly important if you chiefly use it to heat the house, as it will have been fairly idle during the warmer months. As the weather grows colder, the boiler will be forced to work harder and harder, and this means it is at greater risk of breaking down. A boiler breakdown during a cold snap will leave you without heating and your pipes at greater risk of freezing, so it’s a good idea to get it serviced ahead of the cold weather.

Lag your pipes

No water pipes are immune from the risk of freezing up; even new, plastic pipes inside the house can be affected. They are most at risk in the loft or cellar, where there is unlikely to be any heating to protect them. You can protect them with lagging: foam tubing that fits snugly around the pipe to insulate it from cold air.

The good news is, it’s relatively cheap and easy to lag your pipes and everything you need can be bought from a DIY store.

You will need:

• tape measure
• pen and paper
• lagging (it might say ‘pipe insulation’ on the packet)
• craft knife
• duct tape

Here’s how you can lag your pipes:

1. Measure how much and what lagging size you will need. As well as measuring the length of pipework that needs lagging, you will need to note the various pipe diameters on each pipe run, as these may vary and you will need to buy the correct lagging for each pipe diameter.

Also measure what clearance is available around and between pipes, as the wall thickness of the lagging must take this into consideration. Lagging with a 25 mm wall thickness gives the best insulation, but a 15 mm wall may be quired where space is tight.

1. Work out how much lagging you require of each size and buy it from your DIY store.
2. Turn off your heating and hot water to cool down the pipework, as you don’t want to be burning yourself.
3. Measure your first run of pipework and cut a length of lagging to fit. Most lagging comes with a pre-cut slit along its length that allows you to simply wrap it around the pipe. If yours doesn’t, you will need to cut a slit with your craft knife to do this.
4. Prise open the lagging at one end of the slit, just enough to allow you to push it over the pipe; don’t try to force it open too wide as this can damage the lagging.
5. Work your way along the pipe, wrapping and squeezing the lagging around the pipe as you go.
6. When the length of lagging is in place, wrap a length of duct tape around the pipe at approximately 30 cm (1 foot) intervals to hold it in place.
7. Cut slits across the width of the lagging to wrap it around joins and bends, sealing any cuts with duct tape.
8. Continue along the pipework, adding duct tape to joins between the lengths of lagging, until all pipework is covered.

Insulate your home

When we talk about home insulation we are generally thinking about cavity wall and loft insulation, and these are key areas where you can reduce energy consumption and heat loss while protecting your pipes (although in the loft space, pipework will often be higher than the loft insulation and will therefore need lagging).

But there are other ways in which you can insulate your home without spending that amount of money, and one of them can actually be fun!

• Isolate unused rooms. Most of us have rooms we use less frequently and therefore don’t need to be kept at the same temperature. For these rooms, turn the heating down at the radiator to low (enough to prevent freezing) and keep the curtains and door shut. The closed curtains will act as a further layer of insulation against the cold outside and the door will reduce the amount of heat this unused room is drawing away from the rest of the house.
• Draw your curtains early. Even modern windows are a source of heat loss and this is reduced by drawing the curtains. If it’s dark outside anyway you won’t be wasting natural light and you will be creating a cosier place for the evening.
• Make draught excluders for your doors. Heat is quickly lost by draughts under doors, particularly those opening directly onto the outside of the house (including patio doors). Just make sure you’re not cutting off a critical source of fresh air if you have an open fire or stove.

Temporary draught excluders can be made by rolling up spare duvets, pillows or towels, tying ribbon or string around them at regular intervals and placing them along the foot of the door.

Or you can make it a craft project for the evenings that you can even get the kids involved in. You can use new fabric, or cut the legs off old tights, leggings or trousers.

If you are using new fabric, sew it into a tube with one closed end. If you are using a leg cut from old trousers or leggings, sew up one end.

Fill the tube with one of the following:

-       rags

-       old underwear

-       crumpled-up newspaper

-       old packing material (foam peanuts, shredded paper or cardboard)

-       unused cat litter or sand

-       dry rice, lentils or beans

Sew up the other end and distribute the contents evenly along its length. Now you have your permanent, home-made draught excluder.