Plumbing emergency in Chorley? What can wait and what cannot
Some plumbing problems need someone tonight. Plenty can wait until morning without costing you a penny more. Here is how to tell which one you have.
By Dan, Gas Safe registered engineer5 min read
If water is escaping and you cannot stop it, it is an emergency. If you can smell gas, it is an emergency, but not one for a plumber. Almost everything else is somewhere in between, and the honest answer is that a lot of late night calls could safely wait until the morning. This is how I would sort it if you rang me from Chorley, Euxton or Buckshaw Village at eleven at night.
Smell gas? Do this first
Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. Turn the gas off at the meter if you can reach it safely, open doors and windows, do not touch light switches, and get everyone outside. Once they have made it safe, a Gas Safe engineer can sort the appliance.
Ring someone now
- Water you cannot stop, even with the stopcock off, or a stopcock that will not turn.
- Water coming through a ceiling or running near sockets, lights or the fuse box.
- No heating or hot water in cold weather with a baby, someone elderly or someone unwell in the house.
- Your only toilet is blocked or overflowing.
- Waste water or sewage coming back up into a sink, bath or shower.
- Water leaking from the boiler itself.
For any of those, get the water off at the stopcock if it is a leak, then ring an emergency plumber in Chorley. If it is me you get, I will talk you through what to do while I am on my way and give you an honest time.
It can wait until the morning
- A dripping tap. Put the plug in or a cloth in the sink so it does not keep you awake.
- A sink or bath that is draining slowly but still draining.
- One radiator that will not warm up while the rest are fine.
- Boiler pressure that has dropped but comes back when you top it up.
- A boiler that is noisy but still heating the house and the water.
- A toilet that keeps running, as long as you have another one or can turn the water off to it.
None of these get much worse overnight. Ring in the morning, and it is a normal booking rather than an out of hours call. If the boiler is the problem, my guide to a boiler that is not working has six safe checks that often get it going again without anyone coming out.
The grey areas
No heating, but nobody vulnerable in the house
Uncomfortable, not dangerous. Put an extra layer on, use an electric heater in one room if you have one, and get the boiler looked at first thing. If it is properly freezing outside and the house is getting cold enough for pipes to freeze, that changes things, so ring.
A small leak under a sink
Many taps under sinks have small isolating valves on the pipes. A quarter turn with a flat screwdriver stops the water to that tap and nothing else, so the rest of the house keeps working. If that stops it, it can wait. If it does not, use the stopcock and ring.
What to tell me when you ring
- 1Your postcode, so I can tell you how long I will be.
- 2What is happening and where, as plainly as you can.
- 3Whether you have got the water off at the stopcock.
- 4Who is in the house, if anyone is vulnerable.
- 5If it is the boiler: the make and any fault code on the display.
Chorley is the far end of my patch, a run south from my Preston base through Leyland or down the M61. I would rather tell you an honest arrival time on the phone than promise something I cannot keep, and if I genuinely cannot get to you quickly enough, I will say so. For jobs that are not emergencies, including boiler servicing and repairs, have a look at my page for a plumber in Chorley or boiler repair in Chorley.
Need this doing?
I am Dan, and I cover Preston and the towns around it.