Advice on looking after your pipes

 

As another bout of frosty weather strikes, mynewtown has teamed up with Severn Trent to offer some vital advice on keeping your pipes healthy in the big freeze.

 

The company’s senior operations manager, Fraser Pithie explains: “Check your frozen pipes for any signs of splitting. If you don’t get the pipes repaired when frozen, it’s highly likely that you will suffer from flooding once the water thaws, so if you spot any damage act quickly and call a plumber.”

 

Here are some simple steps to make sure your pipes don’t freeze up.

 

-          Lag your pipes by wrapping foam or a similar material around them to insulate them

-          Check for visible signs of damage to pipework – get any visibly problems attended to

-          A towel wrapped round external pipework can help

-          Locate your water stopcock now and make sure all your family members know where it is too

-          Think about your neighbours or less-able relatives/friends – can you help them take a few preventative measures?

-          Frozen pipes? Try turning the cold water tap nearest to the internal stop tap on, so that it is in a position of what would usually be slow flow. (The internal stop tap is usually found under your kitchen sink.) Use a hair-dryer at its lowest setting and gently move the appliance so the heat flows around the internal stop tap area. It will also help if you occasionally turn the internal stop tap on and off fully, to clear any blockages. Remember – pipes should be thawed slowly and carefully. Make sure that you turn off both the stop tap and cold water tap when you have finished this exercise, and be sure to unplug and remove the hairdryer when you have finished.