Actions To Take On Discovering A Burst Pipe

A leak can occur at any time and in most cases will be fairly insignificant. It's possible for major leaks to occur if a tap or other appliance fails though. We don't expect you to browse the internet when you have a burst pipe in your home - that's why we added a print this page link.

Burst pipes usually occur during the Winter months. When most substances cool, they shrink. Not so for water which expands when it turns to ice. This expansion can cause pipes to burst suddenly. A burst pipe will quickly damage a home if the right initial actions aren't taken. Ideally, keep these instructions with our phone number ready to call us!

	Locate the stopcock In most cases, a burst pipe will be on the cold water mains. Your stopcock is likely to be near your kitchen sink. Find it and turn it fully clockwise to disconnect your house from the water mains.
	Draining your cold water system Closing the stopcock should stop the flow of water from the burst. If water is still running, do you have a cold water storage cistern in your loft? If so, open all cold water taps and flush the toilet several times to empty the cistern. When water no longer runs from the taps the cistern is empty.
Draining hot systems If the burst pipe is still leaking then the fault lies either on your hot water system or your central heating system. To drain either, you first need to turn off your boiler and immersion heater. Then, open all hot taps. This will drain any hot water cylinder in the house. To drain your heating system (last because it's very unlikely this will have a burst pipe on it) grab a length of hose and find the lowest radiator in your house. There will be a drain valve on or near it. Connect one end of the hose to the valve and place the other end outside before opening the valve!
Call Dripbusters! Hopefully by now we've helped prevent excessive damage to your house. We can help you get your water on again quickly and at about half the cost of bigger emergency plumbing companies, so call us on the number at the top of this page and we'll be out shortly.

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