Burst and frozen pipes in a Lanarkshire winter: what to do first

What should I do immediately if a pipe bursts?

Turn off the water at the internal stopcock, open the cold taps to drain the pipework, switch off electrics near the water and turn the heating off. Then call a plumber with your postcode and a description of where the water is coming from.

• Find and close the internal stopcock — usually under the kitchen sink or in a hall cupboard.
• Open all cold taps and flush the toilets to drain down the system.
• Switch off electrics if water is near sockets, lights or the consumer unit.
• Turn the heating off and, if you have one, close the feed to the hot water cylinder.
• Contain what you can with buckets and towels, and lift anything valuable off the floor.

How do I thaw a frozen pipe safely?

Warm the pipe gently from the tap end back towards the frozen section using warm cloths, a hot water bottle or a hairdryer on a low setting. Never use a blowtorch or heat gun: rapid heating splits the pipe and turns a freeze into a flood.

Open the nearest tap first so meltwater has somewhere to go and you can hear when flow returns. Work slowly — most freezes clear within twenty to thirty minutes of steady, gentle warmth.

If the pipe is already split, do not thaw it until the water is isolated at the stopcock. Thawing a split pipe with the supply live simply starts the leak.

Why does my boiler stop working in cold weather?

Modern condensing boilers drain acidic condensate through a narrow plastic pipe, often run outside. In a hard frost that pipe freezes, the boiler cannot discharge and it locks out with a fault code. Thawing the pipe and resetting usually restores heating immediately.

You can pour warm — not boiling — water over the external condensate pipe to clear it, then reset the boiler. If it freezes repeatedly, the pipe should be re-routed internally or upgraded to a wider insulated run, which is a permanent fix rather than an annual chore.

How do I stop pipes freezing again?

Lag every exposed pipe in lofts, garages and outbuildings, insulate the cold water tank but not the ceiling beneath it, keep the heating on a low background setting during cold spells, and drain outside taps and unheated properties before winter.

• Fit proper foam lagging to loft, garage and external pipework — including elbows.
• Insulate tanks and cylinders, leaving the loft floor below the tank uninsulated so warmth rises.
• Set a low background temperature rather than switching heating off entirely while away.
• Isolate and drain outside taps and garden supplies before the first frost.
• Know where your stopcock is and check it turns freely before you need it.