Home › Burst Pipes
Take a breath with me. The next five minutes matter far more than the next five hours, and every step here is something you can do yourself.
What do I do about a burst pipe right now? Close the main stopcock — usually under the kitchen sink — then open the cold taps to drain the pipes, and cut the electrics at the consumer unit if water's anywhere near them and it's safe to reach. Once the flow's stopped, ring 020 4577 2888 and I'll put you through to a local plumber, any hour of the day or night.
Water off, taps open, electrics safe, heating off, then the phone. In that order — the towels come last, not first.
The instinct is to chase the water with whatever's nearest — a towel, a bucket, a mop. I'd stop you there. Nothing gets better until the pipe stops being fed, so here's the order I'd talk you through on the phone:
If a tap slowed to a dribble in frosty weather and the leak arrived as things thawed, I'd say almost certainly yes. Keep the water off and don't warm anything else up yet.
It's a pattern I see every time a cold snap settles over the orchards around Armagh: the freeze blocks the pipe quietly, the split happens without a sound, and the flood waits politely for the thaw. Lofts, garages, outbuildings and pipes buried in external walls are the usual victims, and farms and rural properties out towards Loughgall or Keady with long, exposed supply runs get it worst of all.
If you've caught a pipe that's frozen but not yet leaking, count yourself lucky and let me talk you through it gently: stopcock off first as insurance, then a hairdryer on low or towels soaked in warm water, working along the pipe from the tap end inward. A naked flame near a pipe is never the answer, not a blowtorch, not a lighter, not once. And if the pipe's already split, stop thawing altogether — leave the water off and call me, because melting the ice with the mains on simply books your flood in for later.
You can slow it down; you can't fix it. Repair tape or a pipe clamp on a drained pipe is a fine stopgap — turning the water back on afterwards is the mistake.
Self-amalgamating tape or a slip-on repair clamp will hold a small split well enough to stop the dripping while you wait, and I'd never talk you out of using them. Where it goes wrong is when the patch gives someone the confidence to reopen the stopcock — a taped joint against mains pressure is a bet you'll usually lose, often at two in the morning.
I'd be doubly careful in the older streets around the cathedrals. Those houses often carry generations of pipework spliced together — lead into copper into plastic — and the joint next to the one you're patching might be just as tired. Disturb one and you can spring another. Leave the water off, keep your patch as a courtesy to the carpet, and let me make the repair that actually holds when I arrive.
One test tells us both: close your stopcock and watch. Leak stops — it's your side. Water keeps coming, or it's rising outside — it's likely the supply pipe or the mains.
Here's the boundary as I'd explain it standing in your driveway: everything from the property boundary into and through your home is yours to fix, while the public mains beyond the boundary belongs to the water utility — in Northern Ireland, that's NI Water. Water bubbling up through a footpath, a soaked verge outside your gate, or a leak that ignores your closed stopcock all point to the public side, and NI Water is the right call for a suspected mains leak.
The grey area is the supply pipe between the boundary and your walls — usually the owner's responsibility, and a common culprit on rural properties out around Tandragee or Blackwatertown, where a long private run crosses a field or lane. When I'm there, I can help you pin down which side of the boundary the trouble sits on, and I'll tell you plainly when the fix isn't mine to sell you.
I'd check the kitchen sink cupboard first — that's where I find it more often than anywhere else in Armagh's older streets. No luck there? Try the hall cupboard, the utility room, the garage, or wherever the mains pipe first enters the house. Rural properties often have an outside stop valve under a small cover near the boundary too. If it's seized, don't force it until it snaps — call me and I'll free or replace it.
If the burst is on the heating or hot water side, or you've drained the system through the cold taps, yes — I'd switch the boiler off until it's been checked over. A boiler firing with little or no water in the system can damage itself, and that turns one repair bill into two.
Many UK buildings policies cover escape-of-water damage, but the excess and the fine print vary a lot, and damage put down to gradual wear and tear can be treated differently. Read your own policy, tell your insurer promptly, and photograph everything before you start mopping up — those photos are your evidence.
Stopcock off, then electricity off at the consumer unit if you can reach it safely — never touch wet switches or fittings. Stay out from under any ceiling that's sagging badly. If there's just a small bulge, I'd pierce it with something thin over a bucket, which lets the water down in a controlled way instead of all at once.
The main page — how the line works and the areas it covers.
Go to home →Pressure drops, no heat, error codes — and gas safety.
Walk through it →What to try yourself and when it's the sewer, not your drain.
Walk through it →Honest ballparks and the questions to ask before work starts.
Walk through it →Pressure, controls, the immersion — the checks before you call.
Walk through it →Thawing safely with gentle heat — and the lagging that prevents it.
Walk through it →Damp patches, dropping pressure and the stopcock test.
Walk through it →Ring any hour and I'll put you through to a local plumber covering Armagh and the surrounding villages.
Call now