Emergency plumber in Sheffield

An emergency is anything that is causing damage now or puts people at risk. That means water you cannot stop, water near electrics, sewage coming into the house, or no water at all in a home with young children or someone vulnerable.

A dripping tap, a slow drain or a toilet that keeps running is annoying but can wait for a booked visit. Calling it in as a booked job is usually calmer for you and easier to plan.

If you smell gas, it is not a plumbing emergency. Leave the building and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. If the power is off in your street, call 105.

Most Sheffield homes built before the war have the internal stop tap in the cellar, usually on the front wall where the supply pipe comes in from the street. In newer homes it is usually under the kitchen sink or near the downstairs toilet.

If the inside stop tap is seized, there is often an outside one in the pavement or at your boundary. Yorkshire Water owns stop taps in the road or pavement, and you are responsible for stop taps on your own property, according to its pipework guidance. Turning one off is fine in an emergency, but if it is broken, report it to Yorkshire Water.

In terraces in Walkley, Crookes and Hillsborough, some houses still share one supply pipe. If turning your tap off does not stop the water, the leak may be on a shared pipe. Your neighbour's stop tap may be the one that works.

Cold snaps are the big one. Stocksbridge and Deepcar are often among the first places in the city to get snow, and pipes in lofts, cellars and outside walls freeze there first. The split usually shows when the ice thaws, not when it freezes.

The second is shared drains. Many terraces drain into one pipe that runs behind the row. When it blocks, the house at the bottom of the run gets the overflow. If neighbours have the same problem, the blockage is probably in a public sewer, and Yorkshire Water says that is theirs to fix.

The third is old fittings. Lead and galvanised pipes, old compression joints and tired ball valves in loft tanks can all give way without warning.

Once the water is stopped, the next job is drying out and finding out why it happened. We will tell you if the cause is likely to happen again, for example a pipe in an unheated cellar that needs lagging, and what it would take to fix for good.

If the leak was on your supply pipe and you have a water meter, you may be able to claim a one off leak allowance from Yorkshire Water. Its supply pipe page says the leak must be repaired, or reported, within 28 days.