Avoiding burst pipes

[BorgQueen]

It’s been apparent this week, by the amount of callouts to ‘Boiler problems’ DH has been out to, that people have NO idea that their condensate pipes and / or any cold water feed pipes in lofts/cellars, should be well insulated by foam lagging. His last 8 jobs have been nothing to do with the boiler being faulty and everything to do with frozen pipework, the boiler simply shuts down to protect itself. All have been due to shoddy workmanship, like a pipe discharging into open guttering above a porch, it was 3 inches thick with ice and he ended up having to break the guttering apart.
Our neighbour has has a burst (unlagged) water feed pipe to the loft cold tank, it went with such force it’s brought down half his ceiling and blew the stopcock off and he couldn’t turn off the water, thankfully DH’s cousin up the road is a plumber and had a tool for turning off the supply from the street, the Old Guy’s bungalow is ruined, carpets and furniture soaked and frozen.
Check your loft cold pipes are lagged!

housewarm.co.uk/frozen-boiler-condensate-pipe/

Thanks for the info

Would a new ish build be insulated? Our lift is not really a storage place, it's full of the gubbins for the solar panel!

Not sure what to look for

If you have cold water feed pipes in your loft, they should be covered in foam insulation. I assume you have a ‘cold’ loft with the insulation material on the floor between the joists rather than in the rafters of the roof? Our loft isn’t freezing due to having the flue from the boiler running through it and we no longer have a cold water feed up there as no header tank is needed for a combi.
A new build should be up to modern regulations.

Switch off the water supply at the mains stopcock and then turn on all taps until the water stops as all the water comes out of the pipes. Then turn off the taps but leave the stopcock switched off.

I’m pretty certain one of my outside pipes is frozen 🥶 we’re in rented so I have to be honest, I’m not coughing up for lagging if the Landlord won’t do it. Anyway we have an outside toilet and the cistern won’t refill after a flush so it must be iced up somewhere - just hope it thaws gradually rather than goes off with a bang tomorrow….. will be keeping an eye on it.

Mine are lagged and I've still had a burst pipe up there. Happy days.

OP, could you ask your DH please...
My boiler is broken and switched off.
My system is drained pretty much.
What are the chances of issues in the interim if I just switch my stopcock on and off to provide the cold water feed I need at the time?
My pipes are lagged but my loft is arctic temp.
Thanks in advance

My friend has just had a burst pipe. Completely flooded her house and caused an electrical fire. So so scary

I read somewhere that it helps to open your loft hatch and keep the house warm - the warm air rises. I'm a bit concerned at doing this because I have stupid cats who would attempt to get up there, but it might be useful advice for someone

My garage has a sink in it and has a burst pipe today despite being covered in a thick lagging, thank god it has its own stopcock so not affecting the house but it's another job to sort in spring, will be replacing with plastic pipes as well as finding a hopefully more effective form of lagging.
Must have been a pretty powerful burst given where the water has sprayed.
I've now set myself a reminder every Nov to turn off the garage stopcock and empty the tap.

Opening your loft hatch might cause condensation and wood rot in the rafters, we’ve noticed a few drips on cardboard boxes in our loft, plus you will have a hell of a cold draft coming down.

I dry pants and socks in the airing cupboard, there are two holes in the ceiling where old pipework had been removed so the moist air is obviously condensing up there, it’s not even that cold due to the hot flue pipe going across half the loft.