If you need an emergency plumber in Edinburgh, ring 07427 195142. We deal with urgent plumbing and drainage faults: burst and leaking pipework, toilets that will not flush or are overflowing, and blocked soil stacks. We do not work on boilers or heating. Phone, describe the problem and the address, and we will be straight with you about when we can get there. Our emergency plumbing page covers the service across the wider area.
What counts as a plumbing emergency
An emergency is anything that is damaging the building or stopping people using the toilet or water. In practice that means water coming through a ceiling, a pipe that has split, a toilet overflowing onto the floor, waste backing up from a soil stack, or a drain that is sending dirty water back into the house. A dripping tap or a slow basin can usually wait for a booked visit.
Plumbing we handle in an emergency:
- Burst and leaking supply pipework
- Overflowing or blocked toilets
- Blocked or leaking soil stacks
- Waste pipes backing up from sinks, baths and showers
- Drains surcharging into the house or garden
First steps before we arrive
Find the stopcock and turn it clockwise to shut off the mains. In older Edinburgh flats it is often under the kitchen sink, in a hall cupboard or near the front door, and in some blocks it is in the common stair. If water is near light fittings or sockets, switch off the electricity at the consumer unit. Move valuables away, put towels down, and stop using the sinks, toilet and washing machine so nothing more goes into a blocked pipe.
If you live in a flat, knock on the door below. A leak you can see may already be running into a neighbour's ceiling, and they will want to know before the plaster gives way.
Tenements, stairs and shared pipes
Much of the city lives in tenements and flatted blocks. Dalry is a good example, and the same pattern runs through Leith, Marchmont and Bruntsfield. In these buildings the soil stack and the drain below are usually shared, so a blockage on the ground floor can be caused by something flushed three floors up, and a fault in a common pipe can affect every household on the stair.
That changes how an emergency is handled. We clear the immediate problem so people can use their kitchens and bathrooms again, then explain where the fault was and whether it sits in a private or shared section. Where a repair is needed on a common pipe, the owners usually need to agree it between them, and a clear explanation of what was found helps that conversation. Our guide on who is responsible for a blocked drain sets out the general position.
Older buildings in the centre
The New Town was built as a planned Georgian extension in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and much of the Old Town was rebuilt in the Victorian period. Buildings of that age often have pipework that has been altered many times, with old cast iron joined to newer plastic, and drains that run under basements and back courts. A burst or a leak in that setting is usually fixable, but it pays to find the actual failure rather than patch the first wet spot.
Edinburgh has 50 conservation areas, and the Old Town and New Town together are a World Heritage Site. Emergency plumbing inside a property is not affected, but if a follow-up repair means lifting paving or disturbing a frontage, it is worth checking what permission is needed before the work is planned.
Weather and burst pipes
Easterly winds bring cold air off the Firth of Forth, and Atlantic storms can arrive between October and April. Pipes in unheated lofts, external walls and under-stair cupboards are the ones that freeze and split. If you are going away in winter, leave a little heating on and know where your stopcock is. If a pipe has frozen but not burst, warm it gently with a hairdryer or warm cloth, never a naked flame.
When the problem is the drain
Some emergencies that look like plumbing are really drainage. If every toilet and sink in the building is slow, or water is coming up through a floor gully, the blockage is probably in the drain outside. We clear drains with rods or high pressure water jetting, and our drain unblocking in Edinburgh page explains that service. If the drain keeps blocking, a drain survey in Edinburgh shows the cause on camera. For an overview of the city, see our Edinburgh area page.
Questions
Do you fix boilers or central heating?
No. Our plumbing work covers leaks, burst pipes, toilets, soil stacks and waste pipes. For a boiler fault you need a heating engineer.
Water is coming through my ceiling from the flat above. What should I do?
Switch off the electricity if water is near fittings, then contact the upstairs neighbour so they can shut off their water. Call us once you know whether the leak is in their flat or a shared pipe.
Where is the stopcock in an Edinburgh flat?
It is often under the kitchen sink, in a hall cupboard or near the front door. In some tenements the valve for each flat is in the common stair.
Who pays if the leak is in a shared pipe?
Usually the owners who share that section of pipe split the cost, but it depends on the title deeds. We explain where the fault is so owners can agree the next step.
Can you tell me roughly when you will arrive?
Yes. When you call, tell us the address and what is happening, and we will give you an honest idea of when we can be with you.