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A tap that's died in a cold snap is a pipe holding its breath. Thaw it the right way and you get your water back; thaw it the wrong way and you get the burst pipes guide. Here's the right way.
The short version: shut the stopcock before you thaw anything, open the affected tap, then work gentle heat — hairdryer on low, warm towels, a heated room — from the tap end back towards the frozen section. Never a naked flame. If the pipe has already split, leave the water off and ring 020 4577 2888 to be put through to a local plumber, any hour.
Freezing weather plus a tap gone to a dribble or nothing is the classic sign — particularly if the rest of the house still runs. Around Dungannon the usual suspects are the cold forgotten corners: lofts, garages, outbuildings, pipes on outside walls, and the long exposed supply runs that feed rural houses out past Pomeroy or Ballygawley. Winters here are less about deep snow and more about weeks of raw damp cold, and that kind of cold finds every metre of unlagged pipe eventually. Follow the pipework from the dead tap towards the coldest spot it passes through — frost on the pipe, or a faint bulge, marks the spot.
The freeze itself rarely does the damage. The damage comes from thawing carelessly — or from a split you don't know about yet, waiting behind the ice plug for the pressure to come back.
If the ice gives way and water starts coming from somewhere it shouldn't, you've found a split. Water stays off, and the burst pipes guide takes over from here.
Mostly, yes — and it's cheap. Foam lagging from any DIY shop, cut to length and taped on, protects the pipe runs in the loft, the garage and along outside walls, and it's a job for an afternoon, not a tradesman. In a hard snap, keep the heating ticking over low rather than off for long stretches — an unheated house in a freeze is exactly how loft tanks and bathroom pipes get caught. Leaving the house empty over winter? Low background heat, and for a long absence turn the water off at the stopcock before you go. Which raises the other bit of prevention: go and find your stopcock today, while nothing is wrong, and check it actually turns. A frozen pipe found at 7am is a nuisance; a frozen pipe plus a seized stopcock is a very different morning.
A pipe that froze once will freeze again — it lives somewhere cold. Lag that run before the next snap and it won't get a second go at you.
Then thawing is no longer the job — damage control is. Keep the stopcock closed, open the cold taps to drain what's left in the pipes, and if water has got anywhere near sockets or light fittings, cut the electrics at the consumer unit if you can reach it dry. A taped-up split on a pressurised pipe holds about as long as it takes to put the kettle on, so leave the water off until it's properly repaired, even if that's inconvenient. Then ring — and as with every job on this site, ask for a price, or a call-out fee plus hourly rate, before any work starts.
Freezing weather plus a tap that's faded to a dribble or stopped dead is the giveaway, especially if other taps still run. The frozen section is usually somewhere cold and forgotten — loft, garage, outbuilding, an outside wall — sometimes with frost or a slight bulge showing on the pipe itself. If every tap in the house is dry, the freeze may be on the supply run outside.
Yes, on a low setting, kept moving, and with you and the dryer well clear of any standing water. Warm towels and simply heating the room work too, just slower. The things that aren't safe are boiling water, blowtorches and any naked flame — copper conducts the heat away into fittings and joints faster than you can watch, and plastic pipe simply melts.
In a proper freeze, keeping the heating ticking over low — rather than fully off for long stretches — keeps warmth moving through the pipework and costs less than a burst. If you're leaving the house empty in winter, that low background heat matters even more, and for a long absence it's worth turning the water off at the stopcock too.
For now — but treat it as a warning shot, not a happy ending. A pipe that froze once sits somewhere cold and will freeze again, and each freeze is another chance of a split. Lag that section and any other exposed pipework before the next snap, and keep half an eye out for damp in the days after a thaw; small splits can weep quietly before they show.
The main page — how the line works and who it covers.
Go to home →Stopcock off first — the right order for the first five minutes.
Read the guide →Pressure, error codes, frozen condensate — and the gas rule.
Read the guide →Pressure, timers, tripped switches and the immersion backup.
Read the guide →Damp patches, dropping pressure and the honest stopcock test.
Read the guide →What to try, what to never pour, when it's NI Water's job.
Read the guide →How the bill is built and what to pin down first.
Read the guide →Any hour, any day — you'll be put through to a local plumber covering Dungannon and the surrounding towns and villages.
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