Cold Weather Tips

Cold weather payments

You may be eligible for cold weather payments if you have experienced freezing temperatures for over seven days. Find out on the Direct Gov website - money and tax benefits

Outdoor Tips:

• When outside wear lots of layers and always wear a coat.
• Wear a hat – lots of heat is lost through your head so keep it covered up!
• Wear sensible shoes for walking in slippery conditions – flat with plenty of grip.
• Don’t forget to check your Local Authority website for the latest travel and weather information for where you live.

For your Home:

• Outside pipes - make sure that all exposed pipe work and storage systems are properly lagged, especially those in the loft or other areas exposed to freezing temperatures.
• Turn off water supply to outside taps.

For your car:

• Always check the anti-freeze, lights and tread on tyres, and keep petrol tank half full.
• Oil your door locks and boot locks and spray with water repellent to prevent freezing.
• When defrosting your windscreen - don't throw boiling water over it, it could crack the screen. Use an ice scraper or de-icer.
• Motorists need to be prepared for their journeys, it's better to be safe than sorry particularly if you are travelling with children. Where possible, try and stick to main roads when travelling which are already gritted in the event of heavy snow or icy roads.
• Essential items for winter driving: you should have a thermos flask, extra clothes in the car, a blanket, wellies, de-icer, scraper, torch and mobile charger, anti-skid matting, charged mobile phone.

Indoor tips:

For your home:

If your central heating breaks down over the winter months, the effects can be disastrous in terms of comfort and warmth. But these simple steps will hopefully mean it'll be a smooth winter:

• Make sure you enable your landlord to carry out its annual Gas Servicing to ensure your boiler is working properly and safely.
• Check your room thermostats - have you turned them up?
• Check if radiators are warming up properly. If they're hot at the bottom and cold at the top, or you hear a 'knocking' sound coming from your radiators, there's air trapped in the system and they will need to be 'bled'. You can get a key from most hardware stores.
• If the radiator is hot at the top and cold at the bottom this is a sign of sludge or sediment which has built up at the base of the radiator affecting the free flow of water. If this is the case, then a 'power flush' of the system may be recommended. Speak to your landlord
• If your boiler is in an outhouse or garage it's more susceptible to freezing temperatures at night when it's switched off. If you haven't already got a 'frost thermostat' it's worth getting one as this automatically switches the heating on if the temperature drops dramatically at night. You'll need to have it installed by a certified electrician.
• It's worth remembering if you go away over the winter months that it's always best to set your central heating to come on twice a day at a low temperature - this helps to avoid freezing and burst pipes if there's a sudden cold snap.
• Fit thermostats to radiators to control the temperature in each room.
• The average central heating system takes about half an hour to properly heat up a home and many modern boilers now take around 15 minutes. So set your heating to come on about 30 minutes before you get up. If the heating turns off 30 minutes before you go to bed, there will still be plenty of residual heat in the home.

Fuel poverty

If you spend more than 10% of your income on energy you are in fuel poverty. It is estimated that 4.6 million UK households are in fuel poverty.

Why not join the campaign to end fuel poverty. Full information is available on the campaign and how to get involved, at: www.consumerfocus.org.uk/campaigns/end-fuel-poverty

You can also get fuel poverty information from Help the Aged: www.helptheaged.org.uk/en-gb/Campaigns/PensionsBenefits/FuelPoverty/

Useful Links:

• British Gas
• AA
• Met Office – Check for up to date weather warnings.
• BBC – Frozen Britain

Last modified 08/01/10