[retrotecchie]

@Tommysgirl

Granny 'came south' just before WW2, but my Great Uncle Vic and Great Auntie Eileen (Granny's siblings) were born, raised, lived and died in Morpeth. Still sort of my spiritual roots on the maternal side. My paternal Grandfather was the other side of the North. He was a Cumberland lad. Me Nana (Dad's mum) and other Grandad (Mum's dad) were Londoners. Hence me being a Southerner. Actually, for most of my life, a Hampshire Hog.

[Han_EONNext]

@Tommysgirl

That's great! I will most certainly be investing in a tap cover! I think that although the tap would be okay the pipes around it will still freeze ❄

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by Han_EONNext

@Tommysgirl

That's great! I will most certainly be investing in a tap cover! I think that although the tap would be okay the pipes around it will still freeze ❄

Which is exactly why everything from to tap to the where the pipe meets the external wall before going into the house is wrapped in its custom bubble wrap. I'm very proud of it. If you have a 'normal' tap instead of a lever type (as one of my taps is) then most of the tap jackets you can buy are more suited to these types.

You shouldn't need to pay more than £5 Screwfix Normal Tap Cover

[retrotecchie]

We have external water taps in the back garden and down in the polytunnel 100m away from the house. It's all been run in blue HDPE piping with push fit joints. The pipes are good down to about minus fifteen and, in extremes, the joints will just pop before the pipes split.

In fact, all our outdoor pipework from the meter out in the street right up to the stopcock under the kitchen sink was replaced with HDPE. Seems to stand harsh winters round here with no problem. The brass taps still freeze though.

[Tommysgirl]

Originally Posted by Han_EONNext

@Tommysgirl

That's great! I will most certainly be investing in a tap cover! I think that although the tap would be okay the pipes around it will still freeze ❄

I also bought a couple of rolls of outside pipe foil lagging from Amazon to wrap around the outside pipes. It's just bubble wrap with a foil cover and you need to secure it with duct tape so the @Mailman bubble wrap method will work just as well.😃🎅⛄

[Billyjojimbob]

Blyth for me. 😀

[retrotecchie]

I'd tell you where I live, but you wouldn't be able to pronounce it! I struggle.

Nearest town of any significance is Aberystwyth, if that helps any! Most places names round here are descriptive.

Pen y Bont - end of the bridge - Bridgend.

Aber means confluence or outflow of a river. Ystwyth is the river. Aberystwyth literally means 'where the Ystwyth comes out'.

You could translate my location from Welsh into 'a small hovel that used to be a pub, just outside the village at the start of the rutted track to the big cattle farm'.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Han_EONNext]

Wowie! Certainly not out of options with my tap and the piping around it! I'll get ordered and let you all know 😊
Who would have known that if you use pipe coverings and protection you can ensure there's nothing to worry about!

The piping for the tap is actually still frozen from this morning - do you think if I just pour some hot water over it will get the flow working again? Or is that a silly idea 😂.

(I'm not the D.I.Y queen of this house - I think that's clear to see!)

[retrotecchie]

@Han_EONNext

You can try thawing the pipe with a few jugs of hot water, but if the ice has expanded in the pipe and caused a leak...thawing it out will reveal it. At least you can find out ahead of time rather than discovering a leak or burst after the fact.

[meldrewreborn]

if the pipe is already frozen then as the ice melts it expands. So it can expand outwards splitting the pipe, or along its length - possibly pushing the pipe from a socket joint (typically compression joints). Warming the pipe very gently from the tap end can work, and sometimes if the exposed pipe length is quite short no damage will occur. While the pipe is frozen there is no great issue - the problem comes from when the pipe has split and then thaws and leaks. The insulation then becomes a hindrance because you can't see where the damage actually is!!

Many people forget that a condensing boiler has a copper tube drain to the outside for the condensate (that's water folks!) to drain away. If its not insulated and the temperatures are low enough the pipe can freeze and block. It will not cause any great damage because its outside and not much water is involved, but the effect inside is no heating. Consider yourselves warned!