Empty terraced house - worried about frozen pipes

[mids2019]

Hi

I am in the process of selling a deceased family members house and I have forgotten to leave central heating on. I live a long distance away so getting back to the 0930456 is difficult.

Has anyone suffered from. Frozen pipes in such a situation? Does the fact it is not terrace mean that some heat may leak for. adjacent properties raising the temperature a little?

It’ll probably be fine but you ought to go back soon as it’s not wise to leave it unheated all winter

I would try and get the hearing on. Our friends offered on a house that then had a pipe burst and lots of damage due to lack of heating in a very cold spell, so the purchase fell through. For insurance purposes do you not need to visit regularly too? I’m sure this isn’t easy for you, sorry.

Ask the estate agent to pop the heating on before the next viewing?

I have had burst pipes before, it is miserable. Instead of heating though I just close our stop o k amd run the taps empty if we are going away and it's cold. You probably do need to get someone there. It may be a faff but dealing with ruined plaster and paint and dehumidifying the place is definitely more painful

How old is the boiler, newer ones have a protection system built in where if you've left the boiler on but timer system off, it will pump water round the system in cold weather.

Are the outdoor pipes covered?

I think you do need to return to put the heating on very low, or ask the EA to do it for you if you have one that has a key.

When I was selling my Mum's house, it was a condition of the insurance that the heating was on at least 14C.

Similar situation in our family while waiting for a grandparents house to sell- all to far to go and put on heating (and wrongly assumed estate agent would consider it)... The day the new owners arrived they opened the door and the flooding was quite spectacular, including a collapse of the ceiling.

Definitely get it sorted

You need to get the heating on. We live in a terraced house and our pipes still froze once overnight and flooded the kitchen.

That is understandable.

My daughter was living in a rented house a few years back where none of the tenants were experienced about running a home. They all went home for Christmas and the house was left empty for a week with no heating on. The pipes burst and caused a big mess and headache for everyone plus cost for the LL to put right.

She is well aware not to make that same mistake now has her own property (in hindsight the LL should have warned them not to turn the heating off if the house was going to be left empty).