by Catherine Lear

Created on: September 27, 2009   Last Updated: April 25, 2011

Winter the time of year when you wish that it was summer, the cold dark nights, the freezing cold days, the time of year when your pipes unless insulated  freeze. We all know what happens when pipes freeze don't we, yes they burst and water will pour out into your home and you will be left with a right old mess.

That's all you need in the depths of winter, freezing water in your home. Let me take you through one or two things that you must do or not do in these situations.

Well the first thing that you must not do is the obvious, don't let your pipes freeze, but we all know all too well that sometimes this will be out of your hands, you might have a power cut, this will mean that your heating won’t work. If this happens then it is likely that in the depths of a cold snap one or more of your pipes will freeze.

Let's look at the pipes in your home, there will be the hot and cold water pipes that are in your kitchen and your bathroom, there will also be the pipes that if you have a heating boiler take the water to your radiators. All of these pipes will freeze unless you have insulated them properly.

You will know when your pipe has frozen. if it's your pipes to your hot and cold water supply then when you turn your tap on no water will come out of them, the pipes will only burst if the water that has frozen expands, and this is what happens the frozen water expands and because it has no were to go it burst the pipe, now at this point no water will escape, ice is a solid mass, you only get the mess as the ice begins to melt. When this happens, the water will escape through the gash in the pipe.

If this is, the case and you can see the split in the pipe turn your water supply off at the stop tap this one act alone will stop water coming into your home, you will still have water in your pipes but no more will enter them when you begin to thaw your pipes.

To thaw your pipes is quite simple; there are two ways to do this. The first way is too simply once the power has come back on to turn on your heating system, that is if the pipes to the heating system are not frozen, if they are do not turn on your boiler just simply turn on an electrical heater. The heat from this will rise the temperature and the ice in the pipes will melt. If there is a split in your pipe, then place a small bowl under were the split is to catch any water that will come out.

The other way is simple too, but not everyone will have the tool to do it. You use a small blowtorch to warm

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