How to bleed water from pipes to prevent freezing and bursting in winter?

[Adam78]

I am trying to bleed the taps so I turned off the cold water mains tap but there is still a considerable flow of water from the tap. It's been running for over 20 minutes with no sign of decreasing. I don't know why the mains tap isn't shutting down the water supply completely. I have a conventional boiler system with a cold water tank and hot water cylinder in the loft. Could it be that the the water is coming from the tank or cylinder. The mains stop tap is working because I have a water meter and the dial seems to stop when the main is off. However when I open the main, the water meter dial is turning really fast even with the kitchen taps switch off, which means it must be refilling the cistern up or something that maybe half drained whilst I had the main off and taps open. Any plumbers have an idea whats going on here? How do I completely bleed the pipes so that they don't freeze overnight in a system like this?

I remember in my mothers house they used to have another stop tap next the hot water cylinder. If my cylinder is in the loft could the tap be up there. If it is then thats a real inconveniunce in the event of a burst pipe having to get up into the loft space each time.

 

[Dotty]

Why not relag your pipework and tanks in the roofspace?

 

[Simon F]

hi Adam.
the cold could well be fed from the cold water tank.
you will need to take a look and see how many pipe come of the cold tank.
maybe some photo's and we could point you in the right direction.

 

[Adam78]

No space to move the cylinder to the first floor. Can the hot water stop tap be moved downstairs or does it need to be near the cylinder?

 

[village idiot]

If you manage to drain the pipes to stop them freezing, what happens when you need water?

 

[Adam78]

If you manage to drain the pipes to stop them freezing, what happens when you need water?

It's for when I'm away for week or two.

 

[Koogatubac]

Your stop tap is broke and passing.

Turn your water off by your outside stop tap at your boundry

 

[Worcester]

As the meter stops when he turns the stopcock off, it sounds like you are trying to empty the cold water cistern in the roof. When you open the stopcock, it will then look to re-fill the cistern. Yes there should be a stopcock on the exit from the cistern however you could then just end up with a nice large solid block of ice in the cistern 🙂

Why would you want to drain the cistern / pipes down? If you are worried about freezing pipes, then the pipes AND the cistern should be lagged Armaflex Insulation Rockwool Lagging HT PipeLagging.com

If you are still concerned, then consider removing the cold cistern altogether and replace / upgrade your plumbing to mains pressure (get it tested and checked first) either with an unvented cylinder or if the house isn't too large, a combi boiler. You can then through away the tanks in the loft, add a nice 300mm of insulation up there, have a cosy house, and no worries about freezing pipes 🙂

If you think you can't afford it and are on some kind of benefit - then you may not need to pay for it, you may be able to get it done for free under the ECO scheme, or at least heavily subsidised, and you could also pay for it on the savings you make on your heating bills.