Cold weather tips: Stopping your pipes from freezing

Nahh leave the attic door in most modern houses open and half the house will catch pnuemonia.

An easier solution would be to run a 100w bulb up through a hole in the door. Yes this does work...and leave your down stairs tap on a very slow drip. If you are really over concerned.

DublinWriter wrote: »

A lot of people are now experiencing problems with frozen pipes in their attics.

A simple way to prevent this is to leave your attic door open!

It happened to us this morning. A couple of hours with the heating full on soon fixed the problem.

This will also reduce the chances of pipes bursting and eventually flooding.

Where would such a thread exist? I can post an announcement pointing people to the thread/forum that this is discussed in if you want to set up a thread there?

Someone create a thread about cold(snap) tips and I'll announce it.

Actually, forget that, I'll move this thread there. If the mods don't want it here, feel free to move to where you think it's better placed.

shower is not working - water inlet pipe to shower is frozen. how can i prevent this happening once water resumes later tomorrow??

jumpguy wrote: »

........ However, I'd advise against a dripping tap, you're destroying our water infrastructure. ........

....makes you a match for the local authority so, given their incompetence.....

galwaytt wrote: »

....makes you a match for the local authority so, given their incompetence.....

Sorry buddy, you can give me snide remarks all you want, but that's the truth.

martyc5674 wrote: »

How do you expect the heat generated from a 100W bulb to heat your attic sufficiently to prevent the temp dropping below zero?????
Its just coincidence it "never fails".

Best thing to ensure is that your attic pipes are insulated or @ least under the insulation, also your attic tank should have insulation on all sides and on the top(not the bottom)

Marty.

Not sure, of course insulation is definetly the best thing to do, and make sure the house is warm. But if you have a bulb in the attic - leave it on. You do know that bulbs are all that keep incubators and the likes warm? They defo help in the attic.

newtoboards wrote: »

Another tip I just read in the paper is to insulate the external stopcock by putting rags or foam or an old piece of carpet over it.

Covering the stopcock has worked for me - water pipes froze twice over Christmas (inc Christmas Day), I read about defrosting the stopcock by pouring warm water around it which worked a treat!

I then moved the pet's wooden kennel over the stopcock (it's close to my back door, in case anyone thinks I'm tripping up the neighbours!!), and despite the temps getting down to -7 last night, water hasn't frozen since I covered it (yeh, I know I'm tempting fate now, aren't I!).

This post has been deleted.

jumpguy wrote: »

Running a 100w bulb is what we do too and it never fails. However, I'd advise against a dripping tap, you're destroying our water infrastructure. With burst pipes, the water supply in many areas is now under extreme pressure. If more people start leaving their taps dripping, there'll most definetly be severe shortages.

I should have said i dont support the idea of a dripping tap but if its the difference between a good and bad nights sleep for most i would allow the dripping tap.

My apologies... Never waste water or energy but sometimes there is times which its necessary...

RizzoJR wrote: »

Leave your COLD KITCHEN SINK tap dripping overnight
into a container for re-use next morning

Leaving this tap dripping reduces the chance of your pipes
freezing and you losing water like so many have already.

This is 2010 Ireland, getting economically raped by the bankers, and being fed continuous lies by Fianna Fail.

When you do the supposedly right thing and dont leave your tap dripping, and you lose your water
you wont get ANY help from the government, who will blame the council, who will blame the builders, who are
getting bailed out by government....

Ireland, what can go wrong next???

Right, I'm not bringing politics into this (it's brought into every argument now, but this is one argument where it's not relevant at ALL) but just look at it like this. Pipes are bursting around the country and this is draining reservoirs rapidly, and decreasing mains water pressure. Water pressure is important for certain machines, and most commonly electric showers. If people start advising to leave water dripping, this is going to exasperate the problem immensely, and the water will have to be switched off at night (I heard it already is being switched off in some places). Then we'll see how much water-flow problems you have.

I'm pretty sure the bulb (not sure if the one in this attic is 100W) must help somewhat. Ours is hanging over the water tank too. It can only help and there have never been frozen attic pipes. Call it a coincidence or not, that's the case.

Buy an infrared bulb and holder for attic-they actualy do give off heat.
Or(if you can manage to source one)buy a frost watch. You just plug it in and when temp gets below a certain degree it kicks in and blows out 500w of warm air.

Now i dont know about you but there is not many reasons i would hang a light over a water tank.

Why, In case the house turned upside down?

Rule 1:
Don't have insulation under your cold water storage tank in your attic.
Heat from the house below will keep your tank warm enough to prevent freezing.
Rule 2:
Insulate the sides and top of your tank.
Lag all pipes in the attic, and pipe joints etc. Even lag your overflow pipe.
No need to leave your attic hatch open if the above is done correctly. Proper pipe insulation is best, especially if the pipes are above the attic insulation.
Do not tightly wrap glass fibre or rockwool insulation either around the tank or pipes. If this type of insulation is compressed it no longer acts as an insulator.

Most of the energy consumed from a standard 100w light bulb is emitted as heat, not light. A light bulb will increase the temp in your attic and may help to prevent frost. We normally don't notice this heat from standard bulbs as they are at ceiling level.
An infra-red lamp or bulb emits nearly all energy as heat, and definitely will greatly increase temperature in attic, but you must be careful with these and where you place them, as there is a fire risk if you place them too close to roof felt or some types of insulation.

argosy2006 wrote: »

thanks, i'll do that to all ten of my houses, what about my castle in de countryside, at tips for that?

Whip the servants harder, as they attempt to flee, they'll generate enough heat to keep your draughty ol' castle warm.


On a more serious note - when looking for a shovel yesterday I discovered my water supply goes through the garage - in a pipe that prior to yesterday was not insulated (muppet builders)