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Scarlet Heating & Plumbing

Emergency plumbing

Water where it should not be?

First job is stopping it. Second job is us. Scroll down for the make-safe steps for your exact situation — or ring now and we will talk you through it on the phone.

Talk to an engineer now
07490 623966Not a call centre. Someone who can tell you which valve to turn.

Find your stopcock

Under the kitchen sink, in a downstairs cloakroom, or near the front door. Clockwise to close.

Then the electrics

Water near sockets, lights or the consumer unit? Main switch off and stay clear.

Make it safe first

What is happening right now?

Pick your situation and follow the steps in order. They are the same ones we would give you on the phone, and doing them before we arrive genuinely limits the damage.

Burst pipe or major leak

Stop the water, then protect the electrics

  1. 1

    Turn off the internal stopcock

    Usually under the kitchen sink, in a downstairs cloakroom, or near the front door. Turn it clockwise until it stops.

  2. 2

    Open all the cold taps

    This drains the pipework down and takes the pressure off the leak.

  3. 3

    Turn the heating off

    Switch the boiler off at the fused spur. Do not let it fire with the system draining.

  4. 4

    Kill the power if water is near it

    If water is anywhere near lights, sockets or the consumer unit, turn the electricity off at the main switch and stay clear.

  5. 5

    Contain what you can

    Buckets and towels. Lift what you can off the floor. Photograph everything for your insurer before you clear up.

Made it safe? Now get an engineer to it.

You will speak to someone who does this for a living, not a call handler reading a script.

07490 623966

Leak detection

Finding it without taking your floor up

The old approach was to lift floorboards until you found the wet one. There are better ways now, and they cost less than the making-good afterwards.

  • Pressure testing

    Isolate sections of pipework and pressurise them one at a time. It tells us which run the leak is on before we open anything.

  • Thermal imaging

    A warm heating leak under a floor shows up as a clear plume on a thermal camera — often pinpointing it to within a few centimetres.

  • Acoustic listening

    Pressurised water escaping makes a very specific noise. Ground microphones pick it up through screed and concrete.

  • Sometimes, re-routing beats chasing

    Where a leak sits under a solid floor, running a new pipe by another route is often cheaper and far less disruptive than excavating. We will tell you when that is the sensible call.

Thermal imaging camera locating a hidden heating pipe leak beneath a floor

A note about your insurance

Most home insurance policies cover “trace and access” — the cost of finding a leak and repairing the damage caused getting to it — even where they do not cover the failed pipe itself. Photograph everything before you clear up, keep our invoice, and ring your insurer before you commit to major making-good. We are happy to write up what we found in a form they will accept.

What counts as an emergency

If in doubt, ring. We would rather talk you down than turn up late.

  • Burst pipes and mains leaks
  • Leaks through a ceiling or into a light fitting
  • No water at all in the property
  • Blocked or overflowing toilets, especially in a one-bathroom home
  • Blocked drains backing up into the house
  • Hot water cylinder or immersion failures
  • Leaking radiator valves and towel rails
  • Failed stopcocks that will not shut off
  • Frozen or split pipes in cold weather
  • Washing machine and dishwasher supply leaks
  • Outside taps and pipework split by frost
  • No heat or hot water in a vulnerable household

How we price emergency work

You get a price before we set off, not after we arrive. Emergency call-outs start at £95 including the first hour on site, with parts quoted separately once we can see what has failed. Nobody wants a negotiation while their kitchen ceiling is coming down.

07490 623966

Straight answers

Emergency questions

Worth reading before you need them — especially the one about where your stopcock is.
All questions
What should I do first if a pipe bursts?
Turn off the water at the internal stopcock — usually under the kitchen sink, in a downstairs cloakroom or near the front door. Then turn off the heating, open the cold taps to drain the system down, and if water is anywhere near lights or sockets, turn the electricity off at the consumer unit. Once it is contained, ring us. Knowing where your stopcock is before you need it is the single most useful thing you can do.
Can you find a leak without ripping up the floor?
In most cases, yes. We trace leaks using pressure testing, thermal imaging and acoustic listening to pinpoint the location before anything is lifted, so the repair is a small targeted opening rather than a wholesale strip-out. Where a leak sits under a solid floor, re-routing the pipe is sometimes cheaper and far less disruptive than chasing it.
Why is my water pressure so poor?
Poor pressure has three common causes: a partially closed or seized stopcock, a restricted or undersized incoming main, or scale and debris in the outlet itself. It is worth checking the simple things first — try a different tap, and check whether it affects hot only, cold only, or both, because that tells you a lot about where the restriction is.
How quickly can you come out?
Breakdowns in Llanelli, Burry Port and the surrounding villages can usually be seen the same or next working day, and Swansea and Carmarthen within a few days. Planned work such as a new boiler or a bathroom is booked to a date that suits you. If you have no heat or hot water, say so when you get in touch and we will prioritise it.
Do you charge for a quotation?
No. Quotes for installations, bathrooms and heating work are free, and we give you a written fixed price rather than a rough figure over the phone. Diagnostic visits for a fault are chargeable, because that is engineering time on site — but the call-out is credited against the repair if you go ahead with it.

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Made it safe? Now get it fixed.

Ring 07490 623966 for anything urgent — it is always faster than a form. For non-urgent plumbing, book online and pick your slot.

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