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A frozen pipe is a burst pipe on a delay — unless you thaw it the right way. The whole discipline is patience: gentle heat, tap end first, water off as a precaution.
The direct answer: if a tap has stopped running in freezing weather, close the main stopcock as a precaution, open the affected tap, and thaw the frozen section with gentle heat only — a hairdryer on low or warm towels, working from the tap end back towards the frozen part. Never a naked flame. If the pipe has already split, leave the water off and call 020 4577 2888 to be connected with a local plumber, any hour.
Before thawing anything, establish which of two situations you are in — because the right next move is different for each, and guessing wrong turns a nuisance into a flood.
Slowly, and from the right end. Thawing from the middle traps meltwater between two plugs of ice; starting at the tap gives the water somewhere to go as the ice retreats.
Forth valley winters bring hard overnight frosts, and the pipework they catch is nearly always the same: unlagged runs in unheated spaces. Prevention is cheap, mechanical and boring — exactly the sort of job worth doing on a mild weekend rather than during the cold snap itself.
One local note: the older terraces and post-war stock around Falkirk often carry pipework of several generations, and a hard freeze finds the weakest joint in the chain. If your home is older, mention that when you call — it shapes both the repair and the advice you get for next winter.
No. Sudden, aggressive heat stresses a pipe that is already under strain from the ice inside it, and can crack the very section you are trying to save. Gentle heat only — a hairdryer on low, warm towels, or simply heating the room — and never, under any circumstances, a naked flame or blowtorch.
The ones outside the heated shell of the house: loft runs, garage feeds, outside taps and anything clipped to an external wall. They sit in the coldest air, usually with the least insulation, which is why lagging those runs is the cheapest frost protection available.
In a hard cold snap, keeping the heating ticking over at a low setting rather than switching it off completely keeps the pipework above freezing, including runs you cannot see. It costs something, but far less than the flood that follows a split pipe. If you are away from home in winter, it matters even more.
Keep the water off at the stopcock and do not thaw any further — the ice is currently the only thing plugging the hole, and melting it with the supply on converts a frozen pipe into a flood. Open the cold taps to drain the pipework, then call and describe where the split is and what you can see.
The main page — how the line works and the areas covered.
Go to home →Stopcock, taps, electrics — the sequence, in order.
Read the guide →Pressure, clock, power — the checks that find most causes.
Read the guide →Gauge readings, lockouts, error codes — and gas safety.
Read the guide →Damp patches, dropping pressure — the test that settles it.
Read the guide →One fixture or the whole house — the test that tells you.
Read the guide →How pricing is structured and what to ask before work starts.
Read the guide →Either way, be connected with a local plumber covering Falkirk, Grangemouth, Larbert and the surrounding towns, any hour.
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