Plumbing Advice
Honest guides from our engineers: what you can safely fix yourself, what it should cost when you can't.
Leaking Pipes & Burst Pipes
Burst Radiator Pipe: What to Do Right Now
A burst radiator or radiator pipe floods fast with dirty heating water. How to stop it in the first five minutes, and what the repair involves afterwards.
Bathroom Leaks: How to Find Where the Water Is Coming From
Under the bath, the shower tray or the toilet? Four simple tests tell you which, and whether it is a seal, a waste or a pipe.
Seized Stopcock? How to Free It Safely
A stopcock that will not turn is usually furred with scale. Free it gently, and if it will not budge in an emergency, use the one outside.
What Causes Noisy Water Pipes?
Banging, humming and whistling pipes each point at a different fault. A guide to the noises.
Boiler Leaking Water & Heating Faults
Immersion Heater Not Working? Checks to Make First
No hot water from the immersion heater? Work through the switch, timer, fuse, thermostat and element in order, and know which checks are safe to do yourself.
Hot Water Pressure Low but Cold Fine? Causes and Fixes
When only the hot taps are weak, the cause is on the hot side. How to tell normal tank-fed pressure from a fault, and the checks to make in order.
Hot Water but No Heating? What to Check and in What Order
The taps run hot but the radiators stay cold. The cause depends on your boiler type, and several checks are safe to do yourself.
How to Reset a Boiler Safely, and When Not To
Find the reset button, but check the pressure first. Resetting a boiler more than twice hides the fault rather than fixing it.
Blocked Drains & Blockages
How to Unblock a Gutter Downpipe From the Ground
Signs a downpipe is blocked, how to clear it from ground level with a hose, rods or the shoe, why chemicals rarely help, and when it needs access at height.
How to Unblock a Sink: Plunger, Trap and Homemade Unblockers
Most blocked sinks clear with hot water, a plunger or ten minutes with the trap off. Here is what works, and what is mostly fizz.
Who Is Responsible for a Blocked Drain in London?
Since 2011, far more of the pipework under London belongs to the water company than most people think. Here is how to work out whose problem it is.
Blocked Outside Drain: What to Do and Who Pays
Lift the cover before you buy anything. Which chamber is full decides both the fix and whose bill it is.
Blocked Toilets, Taps & Bathrooms
Hairline Crack in a Porcelain Sink: Repair or Replace?
How to tell a surface craze from a crack that leaks, how hairline cracks in ceramic basins are repaired, and when a cracked sink has to be replaced.
Dishwasher Plumbing: How to Plumb In a Dishwasher
The three connections every dishwasher needs, water, waste and power, how each is made under a UK kitchen sink, and the mistakes that cause leaks.
How to Unblock a Toilet, With or Without a Plunger
Safe ways to clear a blocked toilet, from a plunger to hot water and a wire hanger, what never to pour down the pan, and when the blockage is in the drain.
Replacing a Toilet Cistern: Are Cisterns Universal?
When a cistern is worth replacing, why most are not interchangeable between toilets, and what a cistern swap involves on close-coupled and high-level toilets.
Plumbing Costs & Choosing a Plumber
How Much Does It Cost to Replace a Toilet in London?
Our fixed £245 price for a like-for-like toilet swap, old toilet taken away, how long the job takes, and what makes other toilets cost more.
What Is Plumbing Work? What a Plumber Does at Home
Plumbing work explained in plain terms, from water supply, hot water and waste pipes to first fix and second fix, and which rules apply.
What Does an Emergency Plumber Actually Do?
What the job involves, what to expect from a good one, and the questions worth asking at the door.
DIY vs Professional Plumbing: Where the Line Is
What you can safely do yourself, what is false economy, and what is actually illegal.
Frozen Pipes & Seasonal Prevention
Low Water Pressure in the House: Causes and Checks
When every tap is weak, not just the shower, the cause is usually the stopcock, the supply, a leak or old pipes. Here is how to find out which.
What Is Pipework Lagging, and Which Pipes Need It?
Lagging is a foam jacket that stops pipes freezing. Here is which pipes to cover, what thickness to buy, and the one thing never to lag.
Going Away? The Plumbing Checklist Before You Leave
Five minutes at the door that prevents coming home to a swimming pool.
The Annual Plumbing Check-Up
Fifteen minutes a year that catches the failures before they choose their own timing.