How to prepare for winter

Wrapping up and keeping warm during the cold months doesn’t just apply to you – it’s what your house needs, too. Burst water pipes, cause hassle and expense; so, be prepared and protect your plumbing from freezing temperatures.

It’s relatively cheap and easy to do:

• First, find out where your stoptap is located. It’s often under the kitchen sink. Check it’s working and that you can turn it off in an emergency. If any taps in the house are leaking, get them repaired. Dripping taps can easily freeze.
• If your property is going to be empty for long periods, you may wish to drain down the plumbing system. To do this, turn off the stop tap and run the sink and bath taps until they run dry. If you are just away for a few days, you may choose to keep the heating on low.
• Welsh Water has partnered with Aqualogic to provide our customers with a water pipe lagging kit. Click here to order or telephone 0844 324 0844 (local rate call), lines are open Monday to Friday 9am till 5pm.
• You can also insulate your water tank in the loft and any exposed pipes. Even if you have to call a professional in to do the insulation, it could still be a lot cheaper than clearing up after a pipe bursts.

So why not check if your lagging is up to the job.

And just to let you know what we’ve done to prepare for the cold weather

• We’ve “winterised” many water treatment works and facilities so they’ll cope with freezing temperatures as low as -20C. Our new customer contact centre can now handle a big increase in customer calls, should we have another severe winter freeze.
• And if we do have a freeze followed by a rapid thaw, which causes frozen pipes to burst and leak water, we can cope much better than we did last year. We now have over 400 people working on leakage control, so we should be able to get through another harsh winter without interruption to your 24/7 water supply.

Click here to order your kit

Click here to watch our ‘show me how to lag’ video

Click here for further advice and guidance on how to prepare for Winter