Frozen Pipes in Larne — Prevent Them, Thaw Them Safely

How do I know a pipe has frozen?

The give-away is a tap that won't run, or only dribbles, during freezing weather while other taps behave normally. Trace the pipe back from the dead tap and you'll often find the frozen stretch somewhere cold: a loft, a garage, an outbuilding, or a run along an external wall. The damp, changeable coastal winters here catch under-insulated pipework out — especially in lofts, garages and external walls along the coast road through Ballygally and up towards Glenarm — and a cold snap doesn't need to last long to do it. Frost or a slight bulge on a visible pipe settles the question.

How do I thaw a frozen pipe safely?

Gently, from the tap end back. In order:

1. Shut the stopcock first. If the pipe has split inside the ice, you want the supply off before the thaw reveals it.
2. Open the affected tap. Melting water needs somewhere to go, and a running trickle tells you it's working.
3. Warm the pipe from the tap end back towards the frozen section — a hairdryer on a low setting, towels soaked in warm water, or simply heating the room.
4. Never use a naked flame or blowtorch. It's a genuine fire risk, and sudden extreme heat can crack the pipe or its joints.
5. Watch as it thaws. If water starts escaping anywhere, the pipe has split — leave the stopcock shut and call a plumber.

What if the pipe has already burst?

Then the frozen-pipe job becomes a burst-pipe job: keep the water off at the stopcock, open the cold taps to drain the system, and keep electrics well away from anything wet. Don't be tempted to thaw and refill to "see how it holds" — a split under mains pressure doesn't hold. Our burst pipes guide covers the first five minutes step by step, and a plumber can make the repair before the system goes back under pressure.

How do I stop pipes freezing in the first place?

Cheaply, mostly. Foam pipe lagging from any DIY shop, fitted to loft runs, garage pipework, outside taps and anything on an external wall, is the single best pound-for-effort job in plumbing. In a proper cold snap, keep the heating ticking over at a low setting rather than letting the house go stone cold overnight — and if you're leaving the house empty in winter, either leave background heat on or have the system drained. Finally, know where your stopcock is before you need it: in most homes it's under the kitchen sink, and finding it calmly in November beats hunting for it mid-flood in January. Whether you're in a Larne terrace or a farmhouse out by Kilwaughter or Ballycarry, the frozen pipes are almost always the ones nobody lagged.