Overview
- With temperatures falling below freezing across the UK after a record-mild December, British Gas estimates about 54,000 households may need help with heating and hot water.
- Customers are urged to follow the “11am rule,” calling in the morning to secure a same-day engineer visit if they have no heat or hot water.
- Engineers report frozen pipes as the most common cause of failures, often a blocked condensate pipe on modern condensing boilers.
- Households can safely thaw a condensate pipe by pouring hot, not boiling, water over it and using a hot water bottle, then resetting the boiler to restore service.
- If a burst is suspected, shut off the stopcock and drain taps, and reduce future risk by insulating pipes, bleeding radiators, sealing draughts, and keeping thermostats between 18°C and 21°C, with last winter’s 1.2 million callouts indicating likely high demand.