Outhouse... how to prevent it freezing. help please

Fruball

Hi all

I have what was an old coal house, which is now converted into a laundry area just with WM and TD in...

Last year the pipes froze, luckily not enough to burst pipes but was close, and I want to avoid the same thing happening this year.

I basically need to heat it :eek: which is a nightmare as it is basically a brick shed, no insulation, single brick walls etc so the heat will be lost fast.

I have thought about using tealights at night... would this be enough?

or would a parafin heater be better

or a 45wt greenhouse heater (found one on ebay for about £15 inc delivery)

What do you think would be the cheapest/effective just to keep the pipes from freezing bearing in mind cost is paramount atm.

Thanks in advance

Psykicpup

main thing will be to lag the pipes - lagging is fairly cheap & easy to fit if you get the foam tubes with a slit in. I cant see tealights giving off enough heat to be honest & I would worry about fire. I there are any windows strech some plastic over those. would it be poss to clad the walls somehow?

Fruball

Thanks

No there are no windows but a very leaky door and no insulation :S

I have been reading a lot of posts and have thought about putting bubble wrap or similar on the walls... I think in time I will need to properly insulate it... shouldn't be too difficult but no funds atm.... so cheap and cheerful will have to do.

Fire is a hazard sure, but if I make sure the tea lights are in a lantern or similar... ie covered... maybe with something metal which will hold/ radiate the heat then would that help?

thanks

lil_me

Tealights not enough heat and a fire risk, one your insurers would probably refuse to pay out on. They're actually quite expensive to run too, even low wattage energy bulbs cost less to run. Freezing temperatures they will have no effect at all unless you have about 100 running all the time.

Insulate and more insulate, wrap/line walls in anything same with pipes. Every bit will help. Cling film, foil, old jiffy bags, old linen/curtains/clothes, you could probably pick stuff up on Freegle/Freecycle

It's not good having frozen pipes, my friend broke her washer last year when something similar happened

[Deleted User]

I used to have something similar of a problem in one of my previous houses and found that lagging the pipes and maybe when its going to be forecast an overnight frost perhaps a very tiny greenhouse heater.They aren't to expensive and well worth it I think.
In my last house it was the garage that copped most of the cold weather so the pipes that ran through there to bring the water to the radiator in the extended dining room were heaviliy lagged with as much as my OH could get on them and it did stop them freezing up .

valk_scot

First lag the pipes and do what you can about the door even if it's just nailing plastic across the back and calking the frame. Then put some sort of curtain up over it if you can...any old stuff from the charity shop will do. If the door opens inwards try making a second door on the outside from a frame of wood covered with thick polythene, similar to ones on a polytunnel. You don't need to hinge it ...it just needs some sort of securing clips on the outside and you can lift it on and off.

If you insullate the walls be careful you don't increase the condensation too otherwise you'll end up with the walls running with damp. For the same reason don't use a parraffin heater as they kick out a lot of water vapour and you'll end up with damp too. If you've got a TD and WM in there the walls will be damp enough! If you do think it's going to get cold at night run the WD or TD mid to late evening and don't open the door till the morning...you'll find that the residual heat from the appliances will heat the room that crucial degree or two...certainly better than a tea light or two!

If you really have to put a heater in I would think a very low wattage oil filled radiator would be the safest thing, given that you've got electricity in there. Put it on a timer so it will go off early in the morning without you having to go in there ar 7am.

Butterfly_Brain

One of these should help and at 60w it is cheap to run
http://www.twowests.co.uk/TwoWestsSite/pages/product/product.asp?prod=HEETMINI&cookie%5Ftest=1

northwest1965

Frugal wrote: »

Thanks

No there are no windows but a very leaky door and no insulation :S

I have been reading a lot of posts and have thought about putting bubble wrap or similar on the walls... I think in time I will need to properly insulate it... shouldn't be too difficult but no funds atm.... so cheap and cheerful will have to do.

Fire is a hazard sure, but if I make sure the tea lights are in a lantern or similar... ie covered... maybe with something metal which will hold/ radiate the heat then would that help?

thanks

Frugal it seems we have the same outhouse:)

Its a major priority for me too this year, we had to buy a new washing machine as it was turned on and the pipe was still frozen. Water, water everywhere!