Scottish Water issue vital pipe protection advice to Falkirk residents as temperatures plummet

The tips, which are published on the Scottish Water website , will help people ensure their heating systems stay operational.

A Scottish Water spokesperson said: “From drinking, brushing teeth, cleaning or flushing, water plays an important part in everyone's daily life. To help be prepared during cold weather, we believe the best way to help prevent frozen or burst pipes is to follow our helpful advice on how to heat, insulate and protect your home, so we can all play our part to keep the water cycle running.”

When it comes to heat many modern central heating systems have frost-protection built in, which will fire up the boiler if needed, even when your heating is turned off.

However, if you don’t have frost protection built-in to your boiler, then set the heating thermostat to 10ºC and the programmer to “On” or “24h”. The heating will only come on if the temperature inside your home drops below 10ºC so it should not use a lot of energy and it could help prevent frozen pipes and expensive repairs.

Scottish Water also recommends people make a point of locating and checking their stop valve – which controls the water supply entering your home – every few months to ensure it can be opened and closed easily.

“Pipes don’t like the cold,” said the Scottish Water spokesperson. “Whether they are outdoor or indoor, metal or plastic, new or old. Making sure pipes and water tanks are properly insulated is one of the simplest, and cheapest, things you can do to help protect your property from the cold.“If you're going away then make sure you have someone who can regularly check for any problems. If your neighbours don’t have a key for your home make sure they have contact details for someone who does in case of an emergency.“Even when your home is winter ready sometimes damage can happen, so make sure you have adequate building and contents insurance.”