Help -leak

[TheSpottedZebra]

Talk to me like an idiot please. I've got a leak, I assume it was a frozen pipe that has defrosted. It's in the kitchen and coming from the shower room above.

I've turned of the water at the stopcock, I think.
I've mopped up and got water catchers out. Its a drip/s not a gush.

Do I need to drain the system?
What next, a plumber can I have heating on?

It's come at a bad time and my head is mush. I don't know any plumbers, or handy people.

Oh no, how annoying! 😣

..but you’ve done exactly the right thing and turned the stopcock off. If you turn on any tap now, any residual water should run out almost immediately.

As for the heating, assuming it’s central heating/a boiler, this should be an enclosed system and fine to use.

Just need to get a plumber to sort the leak! I had one a few weeks ago and DynoRod were very good and I’d recommend.

Hope this helps 🙂

Do I need to let all the water out the system, do you know?

It'll be a plumbers busiest time of year, won't it? Bugger.

It’d be worth turning on a tap and making sure that there’s no water continuing to flow.
If the stopcock is off then there shouldn’t be any more water coming into your houses pipework and the leak should stop.

You might have emergency cover for this kind of thing with your home insurance? I had a problem with my boiler over new year and had forgotten I had that emergency cover as never used it before and someone here suggested it. There was no excess on mine. Worth checking and saves you ringing around plumbers if you have got it.

OP if you don't know what you're doing then ring someone who does. Yes it'll cost but if you've got a burst pipe, you'll need it sorting.

Have left messages within plumbers.... I guess a thaw after a cold pathx is their busiest time of year?

Now to read through insurance to see if we've got cover...

Thanks for advice. I have no idea about these things and I'm relatively practical, normally.

Also, it is in the shower room that I had redone about 7 months ago so wondering whether it is an installation fault. Hmm...

It does sound like it's a pipe buried quite well inside the fabric of your house. You don't say where you are, but the outside temperature would really have to drop very low for a long time with no heating in the house at all for pipes well inside to freeze up. I reckon faulty installation.

I'm north bucks, so middle of the country. Not especially cold, it was -3, maybe -5 for 12 hours.

I really don't think that's near enough to freeze up pipes in an inhabited house.

If it's a new shower installation there should be isolator valves for both hot and cold supply (or just cold if it's got it's own heater).
have a good look around, try and see if you can trace where the pipes are coming in to it, they definitely should be there & accessible.

No I agree - we've been colder than this before for longer, and never frozen.
And it's on the sw side of the house so not the coldest area either, it does get some sun at this time of year.

You'll need a plumber

They always come out first emergencies if you have no access to water

It's a thermostatic shower so no separate heater, right?
The valves, do mean the things that cut across the pipes, the ones you turn with a screwdriver?

I've turned water off at (what I hope is) stopcock, but not yet fully drained system as I have stomach issue and need to flush loo hutnit and running low. I've saved buckets of water etc.

Should I also try to trun off every bit in the shower room? There are valves behind sink, bit I can't see any for shower so presume they're the sink ones also? I'll look again...

I've left messages with 4 plumbers!

It's a thermostatic shower so no separate heater, right?
The valves, do mean the things that cut across the pipes, the ones you turn with a screwdriver?

Yes to both. Turning off those valves will only help if they are before the leak. If they are you can use them to isolate the leaky bit of pipe by turning the valve 90° and then turn the main stopcock back on.

Should I also try to trun off every bit in the shower room? There are valves behind sink, bit I can't see any for shower so presume they're the sink ones also? I'll look again...

It can't do any harm, but these are almost certainly just to isolate the taps and are after the leaky pipework, so they won't really help. The only point of using the isolation valves is if you can cut the shower room off from the supply and then turn the mains back on.

Do you have emergency cover on your home insurance?

OP, it would help you to know if it is a cold water pipe (mains fed), hot water pipe (tank fed if you have a cylinder) or heating (unvented(sealed) or unvented (header tank) system.

Also where isolation valves are for showers, taps and central heating system.

Once you get to the bottom of the problem, get the plumber to walk you through what is what and label all the pipes and valves, and write yourself an easy guide.

Check your insurance to see if you have emergency cover, they should be able to get a plumber out. Is there any damage/drying needed or did you catch it quick enough?

So the shower was installed by Wickes. We have 2 yrs installation warranty. Are they open Sundays? Nope. AVOID WICKES, PEOPLE.

No plumbers have called me back yet. I guess they're busy. Or at rest.

We DO have home emergency cover thank god. So they'll be my next pot of call.

I can't find the isolation valves for the shower. The pipework all seems to be within the walls, is that right? Or could it be inside the thermostatic bar thing? Looking at the instructions now....

I think you're probably wasting your time on that. See my earlier post about isolation valves. All you'll do is to isolate the shower fitting itself from the supply. But the leak must be on the pipework before that, so you'll need to keep the main stopcock off anyway.

Thank you for your posts. I literally know nothing about plumbing- I'm relatively practical usually but it's been a trying time recently!

It looks like the leak is coming from the loft, from the pipes going into the shower (but after the tank). I'm guessing that the pipes were not insulated after the shower was fitted, as they just seem to be bare up there in the loft.

One plumber (of 5) called back and said he could come tomorrow. He's prioritising other customers with more emergency problems - ie no water.
Our home emergency cover don't cover looking for the leak and opening up the wall - I called them before my neighbour went in the loft to have a look, when I thought the issue might be in a wall.

I'm going to make do for today and get on to Wickes tomorrow as I really think it is to do with an installation fault. Water excess on the insurance is £700 so I'd rather not pay that if it is Wickes' fault.

Thanks again for people's help. I'm kicking myself that i didn't read the small print on the home emergency cover!