Throughout the winter and into early Spring KDE’s phone lines are ‘flooded’ will calls due to burst pipes, most commonly from improperly winterised outside taps.
The last couple of winters have been quite mild, but if we do get a cold winter with consistent freezing temperatures then it pays to be prepared.
One of the most common problems these days is outside garden hose taps freezing. If you haven’t already, then now is the time to prepare your outside tap. To do so, turn off the inside tap that controls the garden tap, open the outside tap and leave it open until Spring is with us. You may also want to buy an insulated cover to place over the outside tap, these are available only and cost in the region of £4 to £10.
Knowing where to turn your water off can be vital in winter. Water pipes can freeze and burst and waste pipes can freeze and cause basins to overflow if taps are dripping or running – all leading to floods and winter blues if you don’t know how to turn your water off quickly.
Some of our other winter top tips from the team:
- Make sure you know where your stop tap is and check it is working.
- If you are going away, leave your central heating on as normal and put the room thermostat at 14C.
- Make sure all roof and vulnerable pipes are insulated and your boiler is serviced.
- Ask a neighbour to look in your property occasionally if you go away.