Emergency Plumber Brighton: What to Do First

A pipe has burst, water is coming through the kitchen ceiling, and the plumber is forty minutes away. What you do in the next three minutes will decide whether you’re looking at a £200 fix or a £20,000 insurance claim.

Step 1: Stop the water

Find your internal stopcock and turn it clockwise until it stops. It’s almost always under the kitchen sink, sometimes in a cupboard near the front door, occasionally in the airing cupboard. If you can’t find it or it won’t move, the external one is in a small metal cover near the road or pavement outside your property — a long screwdriver lifts the lid.

If the leak is from the central heating system rather than the mains, turning the stopcock won’t help. In that case, drain the system: turn off the boiler, shut both valves on the burst pipe (or the radiator) if you can, and open every hot tap to let the water out.

Step 2: Kill the electrics if water is near anything live

If water is anywhere near light fittings, sockets, or the consumer unit, switch the consumer unit off at the main switch. Don’t be a hero about this — replacement appliances are cheaper than electric shocks.

Step 3: Contain what you can

Buckets under the leak. Towels around the edges. Move furniture and rugs out of the spill. If water has pooled on a ceiling and is bulging plaster, pierce it with a screwdriver into a bucket before it falls on someone. A controlled hole is much better than a collapsed ceiling.

Step 4: Document for insurance

Photos of everything before you start mopping. Wide shots and close-ups. Make a note of the time you noticed the leak. Insurance companies are reasonable when you give them evidence and unreasonable when you don’t.

Step 5: Call us

We’re 24/7 across Brighton and Hove. 01273 000 000. Average arrival within the city is under 60 minutes — but the steps above are what limits the damage in the meantime.