Are Lead Pipes More Likely to Freeze in Winter?

When it comes to your water supply in winter, how confident are you about your pipework? If you’ve got old lead pipes supplying your home you could be storing up problems for later, when the weather takes a turn for the worse. It’s worth planning ahead and considering lead pipe replacement.

 

What Causes Pipes to Burst?

If water freezes in a pipe it expands, and the pressure this causes can rupture the pipe’s surface, leading to it bursting. This is a real danger if your main supply pipe freezes in winter – and a leaking pipe can spill out over 2,000 gallons of water a day. That’s a lot of water to clean up.

Older, lead pipework can be more susceptible to this kind of damage, particularly if the pipes have deteriorated over time and have an uneven diameter.

Your water system deals with a great deal of use on a daily basis when you think of how you take it for granted. This kind of pressure on your water supply exposes faults in the system, which, if left untreated, can lead to serious disruption and even damage to your property.

 

What are the Symptoms of a Frozen Pipe?

Obviously if your lead supply pipe freezes, you want to be able to have it sorted out before you get to the stage where it bursts, because then the consequences can be that much more serious.

Usually you’ll find that one or more of your taps are not working. Also check with your neighbours to see if they have a ready water supply. If not, then the problem may be more general; but if they do then you know that the problem is with your own supply.

The next thing to do is to turn your water off at the mains. Make sure you know where the stopcock is in your home to be able to do this. If you have a cold-water tank (ie you haven’t got a combi boiler) then you need to turn the stopcock for this off too. Your cold-water tank is usually in your loft space.

Make sure you’ve protected your possessions and your electricity supply from possible water damage, should your pipes burst before you can remedy the situation.

Now make the call. At Pipeline Services we specialise in lead pipe replacement and in fixing frozen and burst pipes.

 

However, why wait until you face a crisis? Act now and replace your lead pipework before the cold weather can do any damage. We can prevent accidents happening and save you a lot of heartache in the winter months.