The Met Office has urged UK households in a string of counties to do ONE thing this weekend as snow hits. The Met Office has warned, amid freezing conditions, that if you spot that one of your pipes might be frozen, you should turn off your inside stop tap immediately.
It’s usually located under the kitchen sink, but can also be found in downstairs bathrooms, kitchen cupboards, garages, cellars and under the stairs, the Met Office has warned. Open all your taps to drain the system as quickly as possible, saving some water in a bucket, if you can, for flushing toilets and hand washing.
When the water stops running, turn all the taps off. It’s best to thaw out pipes slowly, with hot water bottles or towels soaked in hot water. Never use a naked flame or blowtorch to thaw the pipe – as direct heat may cause permanent damage to the pipes and could also lead to a fire in the home. If you need help, contact an approved plumber via watersafe.org.uk.
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Turn on nearby cold taps (keep the stop tap turned off) as this will relieve pressure on the frozen pipe. If you have a burst pipe, the Met Office warns: “Turn off the water supply coming into your property at the stop tap and switch off your boiler.
“Open all your taps to drain the system as quickly as possible, saving some water in a bucket for flushing toilets and hand washing. When the water stops running, turn all the taps off. Soak up escaping water with towels to limit the damage.”
The snow warnings in effect for England affect Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northants, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Buckinghamshire, Sussex, London, Hampshire, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Durham, Cumbria, Tyneside, Northumberland, Cheshire, Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Herefordshire, Yorkshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Telford, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire.