Forty years in the trade gives you a different perspective on plumbing. Here are ten things we think every homeowner should know.
- A dripping tap wastes around 5,500 litres per year. That's a significant amount on a metered water supply — and it's typically a £5 part and half an hour's work to fix.
- A running toilet can waste 400 litres per day. The constant trickle into the pan from a faulty flapper or fill valve is easy to miss — but on a water meter, you'll notice it on your bill.
- Your stop tap is often under the kitchen sink. Know where it is before you need it. In a plumbing emergency, turning it off quickly can save thousands of pounds of damage. If you haven't turned it in years, turn it slowly — seized stop taps are very common in older properties.
- Banging pipes are almost always fixable. Water hammer — the thumping sound when you turn off a tap quickly — is caused by the momentum of moving water stopping suddenly. It's not harmful immediately, but over time can stress joints and fittings. Pressure regulators or hammer arrestors solve it.
- Boilers over 15 years old are significantly less efficient than modern ones. Pre-2008 boilers had efficiency ratings as low as 60–70%. Modern A-rated condensing boilers run at 90%+. If your boiler is old, replacement may save more than servicing.
- Cold radiators at the top are usually air locks. Air collects at the highest points of a heating system. Bleeding your radiators — letting the trapped air out via the bleed valve — is something most homeowners can do themselves. Cold spots at the bottom of a radiator usually mean sludge, which requires professional flushing.
- Lead pipework is still present in many Scottish homes. Pre-1970 properties often have lead supply pipes, particularly from the street into the property. Lead leaches into drinking water. If your home was built before 1970 and hasn't been replumbed, it's worth getting the supply pipe checked.
- Limescale is a soft-water non-issue in Scotland. Scotland has naturally soft water — unlike much of England. Limescale problems (which reduce boiler efficiency in hard water areas) are much less common here. If your Edinburgh boiler is "kettling" (making a rumbling sound), it's more likely to be sludge than scale.
- Gas Safe registration is mandatory, not optional. It's illegal for anyone who isn't Gas Safe registered to work on gas appliances in the UK. Always check your engineer's registration at the Gas Safe Register website before any gas work. Our registration covers natural gas and LPG.
- Prevention is genuinely cheaper than cure. Annual boiler servicing, bleeding radiators, and dealing with minor leaks quickly all cost a fraction of the reactive repairs they prevent. The most expensive plumbing jobs we attend are almost always ones where a small problem was left to grow.
If something on this list has prompted a question about your own home's plumbing, give us a call on 07719 488 282 — we're always happy to give a straight answer.