Advice about preventing burst pipes please

sam1970

we are planning to go away for a few days an I am worried about the pipes getting frozen. We had burst pipe in the loft last week but luckily I got a plummer quick enough and the damage was minimal. any advice please on how to prevent this happening while we are away? a friend suggested switching the cold water off from the mains and then draining all the water from the pipes!!!! if i do that will it be safe to switch the central heating off?

muckybutt

Simple to leave central heating on a low setting and just leave it ticking over

sam1970

thanks...but the heating was on when we had the burst pipe few days ago!!! is it not better to turn every thing off

sam1970

yes..all pipes are insulated

alanobrien

Assuming you mean mains water, to avoid incidents you could turn the water off at the stopcock and drain the system.

An alternative for future reference are trace heat wires. these can be useful in some areas, i use one on an outside water line and it works well.

example;
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290490923824&var=590007214470&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

montrose5

Could get a background heater.120w (equivalent of running 2 60w lightbulbs).My washing machine is in the shed, put one behind it to stop pipes freezing.Heaters cost about 25 quid from argos