No water, need to light fire!

Cadyboo

We have an open fire and back boiler. About an hour ago, the water in the bathroom upstairs and the hot water tap in the kitchen have stopped(not happy was just jumping into the shower) Is it that the pipes have frozen?? And one other question, can we light the fire, as this heats the water, and if there is no water will it explode or something?
Thanks guys really need your help asap!!

Mike2006

You should be fine to light the fire. If you want to make double sure though, check that there is water in the small tank in the attic.
If there is, you are good to go...

Mike.

Cadyboo

Thanks for your reply, thats great to know. Going to venture up to the attic in a bit, with a heater, so fingers crossed.

littlemis

Same problem as cadyboo,only my big tank is empty ,both tanks have ice in them .Have broken it up ...I have for the past hour or so a small fan heater and a small two bar heater turned on up there and have them placed about 2 feet away from the tank.......Had the same problem last year but once i hit the pipes in the bathroom the tank started to refill...Not worked this time.....have lagged pipes in attic cant get to ones in hot press so they are not done.copper cylinder is lagged......we had about an inch of fiber glass insulation in roof bought and laid 170 mm....what else should I be doing to prevent this please..????..we are renting from council but cant get anything from them,so we are insulating as best we can.....we have a pitch type thing up near the slates,should i be insulating there also..????..husband is disabled so I do all the diy jobs,except electrical....I am going to get a local guy in to put a light and socket up there so i wont have to run extension leads up . How can I prevent this from happening every year????Am I ment to lag the tanks as well?????
Thanks in advance for any advice anyone may be able to give me.....

Buford T Justice

littlemis wrote: »

Same problem as cadyboo,only my big tank is empty ,both tanks have ice in them .Have broken it up ...I have for the past hour or so a small fan heater and a small two bar heater turned on up there and have them placed about 2 feet away from the tank.......Had the same problem last year but once i hit the pipes in the bathroom the tank started to refill...Not worked this time.....have lagged pipes in attic cant get to ones in hot press so they are not done.copper cylinder is lagged......we had about an inch of fiber glass insulation in roof bought and laid 170 mm....what else should I be doing to prevent this please..????..we are renting from council but cant get anything from them,so we are insulating as best we can.....we have a pitch type thing up near the slates,should i be insulating there also..????..husband is disabled so I do all the diy jobs,except electrical....I am going to get a local guy in to put a light and socket up there so i wont have to run extension leads up . How can I prevent this from happening every year????Am I ment to lag the tanks as well?????
Thanks in advance for any advice anyone may be able to give me.....

Insulate the tank sides and the top, but not the bottom. If the tank is less than 300mm from the ceiling below then make sure there is no insulation between the ceiling and tank.

You can get a frost watch heater that will only switch on when there's a danger of water freezing, it'll kick in.