Protect Your Homes this Winter

It’s that time of year again! Christmas is upon us and so is this year’s ‘BIG FREEZE’. The purpose of this blog is to offer you a few tips on how to protect your home during these chilly months!

During December and January, temperatures usually fall to around -6 or -7ºC, at worst but, back in 2009 when it was particularly colder than usual; at that time,  winter temperatures dropped to as low as -14ºC across most of England. This caused a giant headache for the insurance industry, which had to deal with £40 million worth of claims in the first six weeks of 2009 (figures given by AA Home insurance).

A large proportion of these claims were in relation to houses being flooded through pipes bursting due to frost damage. So here are a few tips to avoid this happening to you!

Top Tips from EWT to Protect Your Homes this Winter   Locate Your Mains Stop Valve

The water mains is the first place you will need to find in case of emergency. From here, you can shut off all water to your home.

Get Your Pipe Work Insulated

Ensure that all pipe work, which may be vulnerable to frost, gets insulated. This simply adds another barrier for the cold to get through before freezing can take place. Insulating your water pipes will help prevent frost damage but isn’t going to stop it completely. There are electric heated cables available to wrap around vulnerable pipes, which heat and thaw water pipes when the temperature goes below 0, be sure to follow all instructions carefully. However, if the cables crossover another, it can become a fire risk.

If you are going away for a period of time, leaving the heating on and opening your loft hatch will keep your house and loft pipework at a safer temperature. This ensures that warmer air circulates around the house and in the loft.

Prevent Your Pipe Work from Freezing

If you have an outside tap, this can create a higher risk. Follow these simple steps to prevent your pipe work from freezing:

   1. Turn off the isolation valve for the tap inside
   2. Open the outside tap up to drain any water away

This will prevent the water being held inside the tap and prevent your pipe work from freezing and splitting, thus, causing no leaks and no flooding inside.

Handling Pipe Bursts

If you experience a burst pipe, we recommend you to contact a plumber. However, if you pipe has not burst and is just frozen you can try to thaw it out by using the following steps:

  1. Wrap a towel around the frozen pipe
  2. Drench the frozen pipe with hot water
  3. Open-up the closest tap so there is a way for the water to easily flow away when it has thawed.

For UK homes with water softeners or water filters in areas vulnerable to frost such as unheated garages, outhouses or conservatories, we recommend an insulated boxing to be built around the water softener to protect it from frost damage.