Emergency · London · 24/7

Frozen Pipes in London

A frozen pipe is a burst pipe on a timer, the split happens under the ice, and the flood arrives at thaw.

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No call-out feeNo night or weekend surchargeFixed price before we start12-month workmanship guarantee

Thawed carefully and checked properly, most freezes end without a drop on the floor.

Frozen pipes in London: do this now, while you wait

Turn off the stopcock nowIf the pipe has split under the ice, this is what stands between you and a flood at thaw.
Open the nearest cold tapGives melting water and pressure somewhere to go.
Thaw gently, from the tap endHair dryer, hot water bottles, towels soaked in warm water. Never a naked flame, and never start at the middle of the run.
Towels down before you warm anythingIf it has split, the leak starts as the ice retreats. Be ready for it.

Why it happens in London

What causes frozen pipes in London

01
Unlagged runs in cold spaces
Lofts, garages, under suspended floors, anywhere the heating doesn't reach.
02
Outside taps left connected
A hose left on traps water in the tap body; first hard frost splits it.
03
Heating off in empty homes
The most expensive economy in plumbing, a frozen house with the heating “off to save money”.
04
Condensate pipes
The boiler's white overflow pipe freezes and locks the boiler out, different symptom, same cold snap.

What this means in London

Local conditions we work around

Freezes in London are less about outright cold and more about where the pipe sits. Loft runs above the insulation line, pipework in unheated basement and vault spaces under pavements, and external condensate pipes on flats are what actually freeze here. The condensate is the most common winter lockout of the lot and rarely needs a plumber at all: warm, not boiling, water poured along the outside pipe and a boiler reset usually brings it straight back, and lagging stops it recurring.

Where we do this in London

Covered across London

Same published rate card and the same twelve-month workmanship guarantee everywhere below, there is no postcode loading. Each area has its own page with an arrival time taken from our job records rather than chosen for a website.

Brentwood Upminster Dartford Gravesend Orpington Sevenoaks Epsom Sutton Kingston Surbiton Woking Staines All London areas →

Straight answers

Frozen pipes in London, your questions

No water is coming out but nothing looks frozen, is it?

If it's below zero and one part of the house is dry, almost certainly. Track the dry fixtures back to the coldest space they share, that's where the plug is.

How long does thawing take?

A short accessible freeze, under an hour. Buried or long runs take longer, and we pressure-test after thaw, because “it thawed fine” is when splits announce themselves.

Can you stop it happening again?

Yes, and it's cheap: lagging, an isolation valve for the outside tap, and trace heating for genuinely exposed runs. We quote it while we're there; October is the right month to say yes.

What does it cost?

Thawing and checking typically £110–£180. If a split is found, repair pricing is the same as any burst, fixed and agreed before work.

Does London water make this more likely?

Frequently, yes. London runs 280 to 320 ppm off the chalk aquifer, and scale is the quiet cause behind a large share of the emergencies we attend, it narrows pipework, coats heat exchangers until a boiler overheats and locks out, and seizes the stopcock on the one night you need it to turn. Add pipework that in much of the city was last touched in the 1960s and the failures cluster in ways we can often predict from the postcode.

Related emergencies

Burst pipe repair No water at all Boiler breakdown All emergencies →

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