"Philip Eden" philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote

I'm seriously worried about the pipes in our French hovel ...
-10C (dewpoint -16) with a 20kn nor'easter this morning.
(We have a neighbour put the heat on minimum when
necessary during the winter. All the same ...)

Best of luck.

In that bitter winter of 1982 I was living in Deeside, Scotland. I was one
of two people on our road who did NOT have burst pipes. I had removed the
hatch into the roof space to keep a trickle of warmth up there. Sure it
cost me extra heating bill, but at least I didn't have call out a plumber.

I use that same trick nowadays, but it is hardly necessary here as there are
plenty of gaps to allow at least some heat to percolate into the roof space.

Jack