Emergency Plumber in East London
From a Victorian terrace in Bow to a high-rise flat in Stratford, east London plumbing emergencies come in two very different kinds. Call 07861 933265 whichever you have. We answer at any hour, charge no call-out fee, and usually arrive within 60 minutes.
Make it safe: In a terrace, the stopcock is usually under the kitchen sink or below the floorboards just inside the front door. In a newer flat it is often in the utility or boiler cupboard, and in older council blocks it may be in a riser cupboard on the landing. Turn off electrics near the water if it is safe to.
Terraces: clay drains, shared stacks and lead
Through Bow, Bethnal Green, Leyton and Forest Gate the streets are mostly Victorian terraces, many now split into two or three flats. That brings the problems old houses always have: clay drains with roots in the joints, a soil stack doing the work of three households, and in homes built before 1970 a supply pipe that may still be lead. Thames Water lists pre-1970 homes as the ones to check. Under the front garden, the drain that serves only your house is yours, and the shared sewer is Thames Water’s.
Towers: risers, concierges and heat networks
Around Stratford, Canary Wharf and the Royal Docks, the problems are inside buildings. A leak from the flat above can come down a communal riser and reach several floors, and the valve that stops it may be in a locked plant room. Many of these blocks have no boilers: hot water and heating come from a district or communal network through a heat interface unit in each flat. When that unit scales up or a valve sticks, you lose hot water while your neighbours keep theirs.
Further out
Past the North Circular, in Ilford and towards Romford, the housing turns into Edwardian and interwar semis with loft tanks, cylinders and longer gardens. There the usual calls are a cylinder that has stopped heating, a frozen outside pipe, or a tank overflowing in the loft. See our pages for Ilford, Walthamstow and Hackney.
The rate
No call-out fee. The first hour is £110, then £45 per half hour, plus parts, at any hour.
East London at a glance
- Postcodes we cover
- E1
- E8
- E10
- IG3
- Streets we often visit
- Whitechapel Road
- Mile End Road
- Bow Road
- Commercial Road
- East India Dock Road
- Mare Street
- Kingsland High Street
- Lea Bridge Road
- Hoe Street
- High Road Leytonstone
- Romford Road
- Woodgrange Road
- Green Street
- Barking Road
- Cranbrook Road
- Local landmarks
- Stratford
- Hackney
- Bow
- Canary Wharf
- Walthamstow
- Ilford
Questions people ask
My new-build flat has no hot water but there is no boiler. What is wrong?
Flats on a district or communal heating network have a heat interface unit, a box usually in a utility or hall cupboard, instead of a boiler. If only your flat has lost hot water, the fault is usually in that unit, often a scaled plate heat exchanger or a failed valve. If the whole block is cold, the problem is in the central plant, and the managing agent or heat supplier needs to know.
Who fixes a blocked drain shared by the flats in my converted terrace?
The pipework inside the building is private, so it usually falls to the freeholder or is shared under the leases. Once the drain leaves your boundary and joins pipes from neighbouring houses, Thames Water says the shared part is theirs, even if it runs under a garden.
How do I get you into a tower with a concierge?
Tell the concierge we are coming, and give us the block name, flat number and any fob or lift arrangement when you call. If there is a car park with a barrier, let us know how to get through it. Those are the minutes that slow down an emergency in a tall building.
How much does an emergency plumber cost in east London?
There is no call-out fee. It is £110 for the first hour and £45 for every half hour after, plus parts, and the rate stays the same at night and at weekends.
Sources
- Sewer pipe responsibility, Thames Water
- Lead pipe replacement, Thames Water