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Stop a burst pipe fast: what to do before the plumber arrives

A burst pipe does more damage in the time before help arrives than during the repair itself. Knowing where your stopcock is and how to shut it off, before you ever need to, is the single most useful piece of plumbing knowledge in the house.

Find the stopcock now, not during the emergency

Every property has a main stopcock, usually under the kitchen sink, sometimes in a downstairs cupboard, utility room, or near where the mains supply enters the building. Older Sandwich town-centre properties can have it in less obvious spots given how houses have been extended and altered over the centuries. Find it today, while nothing is wrong, and make sure everyone in the house knows where it is and which way it turns.

Turn it off, then open a tap

Turn the stopcock clockwise to shut it (righty-tighty applies here too). Once it is off, open the lowest tap in the house, this drains the remaining pressure out of the system and stops water still in the pipes from continuing to leak out at the burst point.

If it is a hot water leak specifically

A leak from a hot water cylinder or the hot side of the system may need a separate isolation point shutting rather than, or as well as, the main stopcock. If you are not sure which applies, shut the main stopcock anyway, it stops mains-fed leaks regardless, and call or WhatsApp us for guidance on the hot-water side.

Limit the damage while you wait

Move anything valuable away from the water, place a bucket or towels under the leak if it is manageable, and if water is coming through a ceiling, put a bucket underneath and, if you can do it safely, pierce the ceiling at the lowest point of the bulge to let the water drain in a controlled way rather than the ceiling collapsing on its own.

Then call

Once the water is off and the immediate mess is contained, get in touch. A burst pipe is one of our genuine same-day emergency priorities, see our emergency call-out page for what to expect on pricing and response.