General Advice For Plumbing Problems
In my experience, most plumbing emergencies are caused by a lack of attention to water and heating systems. As always, prevention is better (and much cheaper) than a cure. Many people insulate their hot water and heating pipes to save money but it is more likely to be the cold water pipes or tanks that burst during the Winter. Here's a checklist of things to tick off to reduce the chance of burst pipe damage: -
- Check that all pipes outside of your house and in your loftspace are lagged with at least 25mm of insulation. Ideally, turn off the water supply to outside taps over Winter.
- Do you have a cold water storage cistern in your loft? If so, is it insulated? Cisterns should have 25mm of insulation on the sides and top. Note that the space between the cistern and the floor of the loft should not be insulated. This allows heat from the home to warm the tank slightly.
- Does your stopcock work? In an emergency you may need to shut this off to stop the flow of water. This is normally found in the kitchen and by turning it you should be able to completely shut-off the water to your house. See our guide to checking your stopcock.
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