How to Get Your Home Winter-Ready: Essential Plumbing Tips for Wrexham Homeowners

Ollie Owens
Nov 28
3 min read

Winter can be tough on your home’s plumbing and heating system. As temperatures drop across Wrexham and the surrounding areas, pipes, boilers, and outdoor plumbing all come under extra pressure. A few simple checks now can save you from costly repairs, burst pipes, or boiler breakdowns when you need heating the most.

Here’s our expert guide to getting your home winter-ready.

1. Turn Off and Drain Your Outside Tap

One of the most important winter jobs, and also the most forgotten, is to isolate your outdoor tap.

When water freezes inside external pipework, it expands and can cause pipes to burst.To prevent this:

Locate your outside tap’s isolation valve indoors
Turn the valve off
Open the outside tap to drain any remaining water
Insulate the outside pipe and tap if possible

A simple 5-minute job can prevent a costly leak later.

2. Insulate Exposed Pipework

Pipes in cold areas are at risk of freezing, especially in:

Garages
Lofts
Outbuildings
Porches
Utility rooms

Use foam lagging (pipe insulation) to keep them protected. It’s inexpensive and easy to fit, and it greatly reduces the chance of pipes freezing or bursting.

3. Check Your Boiler Pressure

Low boiler pressure is a common cause of heating issues in winter.Before the cold hits:

Check your boiler’s pressure gauge
It should generally sit between 1 and 1.5 bar
If it’s low, top it up using your filling loop

If the pressure keeps dropping, it could be a sign of a leak or a failing component, get in touch and we’ll take a look.

4. Bleed Your Radiators

Cold spots in your radiators mean trapped air, making your heating system work harder and cost more to run.

Before winter, bleed each radiator to ensure:

Better heat output
A warmer home
Lower energy costs

If some radiators still won’t heat up evenly, you may need balancing or a system flush.

5. Book Your Annual Boiler Service

A boiler breakdown in winter is the last thing anyone wants.

A professional service:

Improves efficiency
Reduces the risk of a breakdown
Helps keep heating bills lower
Ensures your boiler is operating safely

As Gas Safe registered engineers, we help homeowners and landlords across Wrexham prepare their heating systems for winter with full servicing and safety checks.