Emergencies
A burst pipe: the first fifteen minutes
With a burst pipe, what to do first is shut your stop valve by turning it clockwise, keep water away from electrics, then switch off the boiler and immersion heater and open the taps to drain.
By the Pipes Up the Stair site team · how pages are checked · Updated
Speed matters more than anything else here. Every minute the water runs, it is finding its way down through floors to the flats below.
The steps below follow Scottish Water's own advice on burst pipes, with a few additions for life in a tenement.
What is the very first thing to do?
Turn off the water at your stop valve. Scottish Water says to find your stop valve and turn it off; it is often under the kitchen sink or near the hot water system and normally closes clockwise. If you've never found yours, our guide to finding your stopcock shows where to look.
What do you switch off after the water?
The boiler, the immersion heater and any fire. Scottish Water says to switch off your immersion heater and central heating boiler and let any solid fuel fires die down. Use the boiler's normal on/off switch or controls. Don't open the boiler casing or touch anything gas-related; that is only ever for a Gas Safe registered engineer.
Why open the taps?
To empty what's left in the pipes. With the supply off, Scottish Water says to open all taps to drain the system, so the water left in the pipes goes down the plughole rather than through the ceiling.
- 1Turn the stop valve clockwise to close
- 2Mains off if water could reach wiring
- 3Switch off boiler and immersion heater
- 4Open all taps to drain the pipes
- 5Warn neighbours, especially downstairs
- 6Call a licensed plumber for repair
Who else needs to know?
Your neighbours, especially downstairs. Tell the flat below straight away, even if nothing has come through yet. Scottish Water also points out that in a flat, terraced or semi-detached home you may have a shared water supply, so check whether neighbours on the same pipe have lost their water. If water is coming into your flat from above instead, see a leak into the flat below.
If you rent, ring your landlord, letting agent or council landlord as soon as the water is off.
What if the burst is on a shared pipe?
Then it is the owners' problem together, and any one of you can act. The Tenement Management Scheme lets any owner instruct emergency work to scheme property to prevent damage (Rule 7), with the cost shared by all. That means calling out a plumber, not cutting into a shared pipe in the close or anyone else's flat. See how the Tenements Act treats shared pipes.
Can you patch it yourself?
Only as a stopgap. Scottish Water mentions a pipe repair clamp as a temporary fix, but says any temporary repair needs replacing as soon as possible with a permanent one by a licensed plumber. For pipes inside the home, its pipework guide also recommends a licensed plumber.
How do you get the heating back on afterwards?
Refill first, heat second. Scottish Water says to make sure the hot water system is refilled before you switch the boiler or immersion heater back on. Once the repair is done and the system has refilled, the heating can go back on. If the boiler shows a fault or low pressure, check its manual or call a Gas Safe registered engineer.
When do bursts happen in Edinburgh?
Mostly in cold snaps. Scottish Water's burst advice sits within its winter "protect your pipes" campaign, and the Met Office's long-term averages for Edinburgh Gogarbank put air frost at 48.01 days in an average year (1991 to 2020), with December the frostiest month at 10.63 days and a mean minimum of 1.40°C. For prevention, Home Energy Scotland ranks insulating pipes and tanks among the easiest, lowest-cost cold-weather protections; more is on our page about frozen pipes in stone tenements.
48.01
air frost days in an average Gogarbank year
Source: Met Office
10.63
frost days in a typical Gogarbank December
Source: Met Office
1.40°C
December mean minimum at Gogarbank
Source: Met Office
Asked on the stair
Should the stop valve stay shut overnight?
Keep it shut until the burst is repaired. Scottish Water treats clamps and other stopgaps as temporary, to be replaced by a permanent repair as soon as possible.
Will turning off the stop valve cut off the flat upstairs?
It shouldn't if it is the valve inside your flat. A valve where the supply enters the building may control several flats, so warn the stair before closing one of those.
Is a burst under the floorboards still mine?
If the pipe serves only your flat, yes. If it serves other flats too, the Tenements (Scotland) Act makes it common property of all of them, unless the deeds say otherwise.
What if water reaches the stair or the close?
The close is common property, so tell the other owners or your factor. If the defect risks health or safety and nobody can act, the council may step in.
Where this comes from
- Advice on frozen or burst pipes — Scottish Water (archived copy of its page): stop valve, electrics, boiler, draining, temporary repairs, refilling
- Your guide to water pipework — Scottish Water (archived copy of its page): licensed plumber for internal pipes
- Tenement Management Scheme — legislation.gov.uk: emergency work
- Edinburgh Gogarbank long-term averages — Met Office: frost days and minimum temperatures
- Protect your pipes this winter — Home Energy Scotland: insulating pipes and tanks