Plumbing

Plumbing: repairs, new pipework and hot water

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Plumbing covers everything from a dripping stop tap to replacing the pipework in a whole house. Some of it is routine. Some of it touches rules that many homeowners have never heard of: water fittings regulations, notifiable hot water systems, and the question of whether a leaking pipe is yours or the water company's. This page sets out what plumbers do, what the law expects of certain jobs, and how to describe the problem so the plumber arrives with the right parts. Your request goes to exactly one plumbing business near you.

Exactly one business. Your request is handed out once. After that, no other business sees it.
You know who will be in touch. Before the business receives your contact details, we send you its name, address and phone number.
Withdraw at any time. You can withdraw your consent at any time – using the link in our email.

What falls under plumbing

The work splits roughly into five kinds. New installations: a utility room, an outside tap, a second toilet, a kitchen sink in a new position. Repairs: leaking joints, faulty valves, cisterns that will not stop filling, low pressure. Pipe replacement: old lead or galvanised steel pipework, or copper that has been patched too many times. Water heaters and cylinders. And leak detection, where the job is to find a leak before anyone lifts a floor.

Heating is a neighbouring trade. Many plumbers also work on boilers and radiators, but any work on a gas appliance, including a gas water heater, needs an engineer on the Gas Safe Register. You can check an engineer's registration and the type of appliance they are qualified for on the Gas Safe Register website.

Which pipe belongs to whom

The water company is generally responsible for the water main and the pipe up to your property boundary or the external stop tap. The supply pipe from there into the house is usually the owner's responsibility, as is everything inside. If you rent, your landlord is normally responsible for keeping the water installations in repair. Water companies publish their own maps and rules, and some offer free or subsidised repairs to leaking supply pipes, so ring yours before paying for an excavation.

A leak on your side of the meter shows up on your bill. If a reading keeps rising with every tap turned off, that is a strong sign of a leak on the supply pipe or inside the house. Many water companies have a leakage allowance policy that can reduce the bill once the leak has been repaired, usually on condition that you fix it promptly.

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Water fittings regulations and notifications

In England and Wales, the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 set standards to stop contamination, waste and misuse of water. Scotland has Scottish Water byelaws and Northern Ireland its own regulations. For certain installations you must tell the water company before work starts and wait for its consent. The list includes a bath with a capacity over 230 litres, a bidet with an ascending spray or flexible hose, a pump or booster drawing more than 12 litres per minute from the supply pipe, a water treatment unit that discharges waste water, and a garden watering system unless it is operated by hand.

Plumbers who belong to an approved contractor scheme, such as those listed on WaterSafe, can carry out some of this work without prior notice and certify it themselves. The fittings themselves should also meet the regulations; the WRAS approval mark on a product is one way of showing that.

Source: legislation.gov.uk

Hot water cylinders and water heaters

An unvented cylinder runs at mains pressure and depends on safety devices to stay safe. Installing one is notifiable building work. The installer should either be registered with a competent person scheme for unvented hot water systems, who then self-certifies and arranges the compliance certificate, or notify Building Control before starting. Approved Document G suggests checking for a current operative skills card for unvented systems.

Electric water heaters and immersion heaters involve the electrical side as well. A new circuit for an instantaneous water heater is notifiable electrical work in England, so the plumber either works with a registered electrician or the work goes through Building Control.

Help the plumber quote accurately

Plumbing requests are often vague because the problem is hidden. The more precisely you describe it, the better the chance that the first visit fixes it instead of being a look-and-quote visit.

what you see: a drip, a stain on the ceiling, low pressure, noise, no hot water
where it is and whether it is getting worse
the type of hot water system: combi boiler, cylinder, unvented cylinder, electric heater
the age of the house and, if you know, the pipe material
whether you have found your stop tap and whether it turns
photos of the area and of any labels on the cylinder or heater
for businesses: opening hours, access, and who signs off the work

One request, one plumbing business

After you confirm your mobile number with a code and your email address with a link, we offer your job without your personal details to plumbers working in your area. One of them can buy it. Once bought, it leaves our list and no other plumber is offered it. The business pays for the request; you do not.

You receive an email with the plumber's name, address and phone number before your own details are released to them. Nobody is guaranteed to take the job, and a request that is not taken within 21 days is withdrawn. We confirm that buyers are registered businesses, not the quality of their work, so for gas ask for the Gas Safe card and for water regulations work ask whether they belong to an approved contractor scheme.

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Frequently asked questions

Is a leak on the pipe outside my house my responsibility?

It depends where it is. The water company usually looks after the main and the pipe up to your boundary or external stop tap; the supply pipe from there to the house is usually yours. Call your water company first, because many have schemes to help with supply pipe leaks.

Does a plumber need to be registered with anyone?

There is no general licence for plumbers. Gas work requires Gas Safe registration, unvented cylinders need competence that is usually shown through a skills card or a competent person scheme, and electrical work in England must be self-certified by a registered electrician or notified to Building Control. Approved contractor schemes such as WaterSafe cover water fittings rules.

Should I replace old lead pipes?

Lead pipes can release lead into drinking water, especially where the water is soft. If your house still has them, replacing the supply pipe and internal lead pipework is sensible. Ask your water company about its lead pipe policy; some help with the cost of replacing their part and yours.

What is leak detection and when is it worth it?

A leak detection specialist uses methods such as acoustic listening, thermal imaging or tracer gas to find a hidden leak without lifting whole floors. It is worth it when water is escaping somewhere under a solid floor or behind tiles and you want to avoid opening up more than necessary.

Can a plumber also fix my boiler?

Only if they are on the Gas Safe Register for that type of appliance. Many plumbers are, many are not. Say in your request that the job involves a boiler so the right kind of business picks it up.

Will several plumbers call me?

No. Your request goes to exactly one plumbing business and is then removed from our list. If you want more quotes, you can contact other plumbers yourself.