Preventing frozen pipes - paranoia ?

Question

With the nighttime temperatures forecast to drop to -9 tonight, which is the coldest I can remember, I am having little niggles of paranoia about the pipes in the loft, wondered if anyone had any advice ...

Have visually checked all lagging - seems snug and tight. The loft was recently insulated under the warmfront scheme, so has new insulation.

Was considering leaving the heating on overnight to keep the body of the house warm, and hoping enough heat would bleed into the loft to keep pipes from freezing.

For ultimate safety, would it be an idea to turn off the stopcock, and open all taps ?

philipuk · Accepted Answer

If really worried you could open the loft hatch and keep the heatingon.Philip

dennis · Answer

Its been colder than that in the midlands before now. It was actually so cold that boiler flus were icing over and they were not condensing boilers either.

Are the pipes under the insulation or above it. If they are below it you should have no trouble. If they are above it then move the insulation and/or pipes so they aren't.

Tanks should also be under the insulation. My pipes and tanks have no insulation under them but are covered by the loft insulation effectively making them a part of the house and not a part of the attic.

That probably won't help much if the pipes are above the insulation.

Draining down is always safer, but not usually required for short cold spells.

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Jethro · Answer

Ah, I feel better. Pipes are *under* the insulation. We have noworking tanks in the loft, having dispensed with the old boiler whenwe moved in, and having a combi.

Preventing frozen pipes - paranoia ?

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