Welshpool area businesses are being advised to check their buildings for burst pipes.
Severn Trent is asking its commercial customers, especially those that have closed for the holiday period, to check their buildings for leaks as the recent thawing temperatures may have caused previously unknown frozen pipes to burst.
“The recent thaw means many companies that closed down for the festive period may be completely unaware that internal pipework could have frozen in the freezing temperatures and then burst in the last few days,” says Fraser Pithie, senior operations manager for Severn Trent Water.
“We would urge all of our commercial customers to check their buildings for burst pipes otherwise they could return in the New Year to a flood. And if you check and there isn’t a leak then it’s worth turning off your water stop tap to drain down the system until you return in the New Year, so if there should be a problem, you won’t come back to a flooded building.”
“If you do find a leak then it’s important that you call a plumber as soon as possible to get the repairs done before it gets worse. When water freezes in pipes, it expands, putting pressure on joints and any cracks or weakness in the pipe walls. When the pipes begin to thaw out, the ice turns back to water, which exposes any places where pipes have split or joints have parted – and that’s when leaks or bursts happen.”
Likewise farmers need to do the same as bursts can occur by ice expanding in above ground pipework in places such as outbuildings or drinking troughs in fields. With the thaw, these contract, often presenting a split or joints that have parted causing water to leak.
The thaw over the last few days has also seen bursts at customers’ homes requiring plumber call-outs and at properties managed by estate or letting agents. The latter, in particular, are vulnerable as unprotected pipes under floorboards, in unoccupied premises and in outbuildings are most likely to see bursts.
