Posted by Bob Bulmer on Fri 9th November 2007 at 06:00 AM, Filed in Green DIY, Insulation
Ensuring that your pipes and cold water cistern remain ice free, can save you an awful lot of money and hassle.
Here are some points to bear in mind when a cold snap comes calling:
1. Make sure all your taps are not dripping. The constant drip of water can end up freezing within a waste pipe.
2. Try to ensure that your cistern does not overflow. Water making it’s way through overflow pipes can freeze resulting in your cistern flooding into the roof void.
3. Open up the loft hatch in cold weather. This should help warm air flows from the house into the loft.
4. Common sense but - keep your central heating on for longer during cold weather.
In order to prevent freezing, it’s crucial that your cold water cistern and associated piping are properly insulated.
Some key points to bear in mind are as follows:
1. Your cistern absorbs heat rising through the roof void and helps avert freezing. This is why you should never lay insulation underneath a cold water cistern.
2. Most cisterns can be insulated using purpose made jackets.
3. If the cistern is an irregular shape, use textile wrapped glass fibre blankets that do not release fibres when disturbed.
How to lag a cistern using glass fibre blanket
• Wrap the cistern in a length of blanket and staple at join.
• To secure the blanket, tie elastic around the cistern.
• You may need to wrap a second length of blanket that slightly overlaps the first.
What are plastic foam tubes?
If you want to start insulating your home, look no further than plastic foam tubing. This stuff fits over exposed pipes like a warm overcoat.
The lengths of tubing are split down one side to enable easy fitting and is secured using electrical tape or the like. Sizes are available to fit 15mm, 22mm and 28mm pipes.
How to fit plastic foam tubes
• Clean up the exposed piping to remove dust and moisture.
• If you’re lagging pipes leading from a cistern - start wrapping the tubing at the join to make sure it sits flush to the cistern.
• Join the tubes using tape, clips or adhesive.
• If you wish to camouflage the insulation, use emulsion paint only.
Blanket roll is probably the most commonly used insulation.
Otherwise described as mineral fibre or glass fibre blanket this type of insulation comes in rolls 4 inches - 6 inches thick.
Considered cheap and effective, blanket roll insulation is most frequently seen in attic voids.
A couple of things to note are that it tends to squash down with age, and has reduced effectiveness when damp - some blanket roll insulation is backed with foil to prevent water penetration.
