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If a tap won't run during a frost, open it, then warm the pipe gently — a hairdryer on low or towels soaked in warm water, starting at the tap end and working back towards the blockage. Never use a naked flame or blowtorch on a pipe. If the pipe has already split, don't thaw anything: turn off the stopcock, open the cold taps, and keep the water off until it's repaired. For that repair, call this line and you'll be connected with a local plumber covering Enniskillen and the surrounding Fermanagh Lakelands.
The bathroom tap gave one cough at breakfast and now gives nothing at all.
Patience is the whole trick. Open the affected tap first, so melting ice has somewhere to go and you'll see the moment flow returns. Then apply gentle heat only — a hairdryer on a low setting waved along the pipe, towels soaked in warm water and wrapped around it, or simply getting the room warm and waiting. Always start at the tap end and work back towards the frozen section, so the water ahead of the plug of ice can escape rather than build pressure. What you never do is reach for a blowtorch, heat gun on full, or any naked flame: they scorch joints, set fire to lofts, and can flash the ice to steam inside a sealed pipe. Slow is safe here, and slow works.
The house is warm — it's the pipe in the roof space above the spare room that nobody has looked at in years.
Freezes happen where the heating doesn't reach. Lofts and attics, garages, outbuildings, pipes clipped to external walls, runs under suspended timber floors, and outside taps left connected through winter are the usual suspects. Fermanagh adds its own version: rural and lakeland properties out towards Derrygonnelly, Belleek or Ballinamallard often have long exposed supply runs from the road, and the county's damp winter cold finds unlagged pipework in those runs reliably. If one tap is dead while the rest of the house works, trace the pipe that feeds it and check the coldest spaces it passes through — the frozen section is usually in the first unheated stretch you come to.
There's a hairline crack in the copper, and for now — while it's frozen — nothing is leaking.
A frozen split is a burst on a timer: the ice is temporarily plugging its own damage, and the leak arrives with the thaw. Don't warm it. Turn the water off at the stopcock, open the cold taps to drain the pipework, and leave the supply off even though everything looks dry. Then call. If you're not sure whether the pipe has split — a bulge in the pipe, frost forced out through a joint, or any weep of water once thawing starts are the signs — treat it as split and keep the water off until someone has looked. Being wrong in that direction costs nothing; being wrong the other way costs a ceiling.
The forecast says minus five by Thursday, and the loft hatch hasn't been opened since summer.
Three cheap habits prevent most of it. Lag the vulnerable runs — foam pipe insulation from any DIY shop, fitted to pipes in lofts, garages and against outside walls, plus a jacket for any cold water tank in the roof. Keep the heating ticking over at a low setting through a cold snap, especially overnight or if the house will be empty, rather than letting it go stone cold. And know where your stopcock is before you need it, because if a freeze does end in a burst, shutting the water off quickly is what decides how bad the day gets. Isolate and drain outside taps for the winter while you're at it — they're the most exposed pipe you own.
The usual first sign is a tap that won't run or only trickles during a frost, often on just one fixture while the rest of the house works. You may also see frost or a slight bulge on an exposed pipe in a loft, garage or outside wall. Check the pipe run serving the dead tap, starting with the coldest spaces it passes through.
Open the affected tap, then apply gentle heat only — a hairdryer on a low setting, towels soaked in warm water, or simply warming the room — starting at the tap end and working back towards the blockage. Never use a naked flame, blowtorch or heat gun on a pipe: they damage pipework, start fires, and can turn ice into steam inside a sealed pipe.
Keeping the heating ticking over at a low setting, rather than letting the house go stone cold overnight or while you're away, keeps pipework in walls and voids above freezing and is one of the most effective preventions there is. It costs something to run, but far less than repairing a burst and the water damage that follows.
Don't thaw it — thawing a split pipe that's still connected to the mains turns a frozen problem into a flood. Turn the water off at the stopcock, open the cold taps to drain the pipework, keep the water off even if nothing is dripping yet, and call a plumber. The leak often only shows itself once the thaw arrives.
Pipes in unheated spaces: lofts, garages, outbuildings, under suspended floors, on external walls, and outside taps with their supply left on. Long exposed supply runs on rural properties are particularly vulnerable. Foam lagging from any DIY shop is cheap and quick to fit — lag the vulnerable runs before the frost, not after.
The main page — coverage, what to expect when you call, and stopcock basics.
Stopcock first: the steps that limit the damage in the first two minutes.
Pressure, timer and tripped-switch checks — including the frozen condensate pipe.
Damp patches, dropping pressure and the stopcock test that narrows it down.
Pressure, lockouts, no hot water — and what to do if you smell gas.
Gurgling plugholes, backed-up sinks and when it's the main drain.
How pricing usually works and what to ask before work starts.
This site connects callers with a local plumbing professional covering Enniskillen and the surrounding Fermanagh Lakelands. If the pipe has split, shut the stopcock first — then call.
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