Emergency plumbing in Falmouth
We cover emergency work across Falmouth and the surrounding villages. Before anything else, get the water off — the steps are below, and those five minutes prevent more damage than anything we can do once we arrive. Then send the form marked urgent and we will call you back.
- TR11 · TR10 and surrounding villages
- Fixed price agreed before we start
If you can smell gas, stop and call 0800 111 999 first. That is the National Gas Emergency Service and it is free from any phone. Open the windows, do not touch any electrical switches, get everyone out, and contact us afterwards.
Why emergency plumbing in Falmouth is its own job
Falmouth runs down a series of steep hills to one of the deepest natural harbours in the world, and the town has two quite separate plumbing economies going on at once. There is the resident and marine trade around the docks and Penryn, and there is the enormous student and holiday rental market that the university has built up over the past twenty years.
The property here
Victorian and Edwardian terraces make up much of the town, a very large share of them now converted to shared houses and flats. Many are three and four storeys, built into the hillside, with the bathroom at the top and the boiler somewhere improbable. Out towards Mylor, Flushing and Maenporth you get detached and coastal property with a different set of problems again.
What catches people out in Falmouth
Two things define Falmouth work. First, the shared houses: a combi sized for a family simply cannot supply six students who all want a shower between eight and nine, and we spend a lot of time correcting undersized systems and issuing landlord gas safety certificates to deadline. Second, the salt. Properties facing the water lose flue terminals, external condensate runs and exposed copper years earlier than an inland equivalent, and it is worth siting new work with that in mind rather than discovering it in five years.
Emergency plumbing in Falmouth — what actually matters
Shared houses out of hours
In a shared house nobody is quite sure where the stopcock is or who to ring, and the landlord is often not local. We will deal with a tenant directly to make the property safe and square the paperwork with the owner afterwards.
Storm and exposure damage
An Atlantic gale takes out flue terminals, external pipework and vent covers. After a big blow we get a run of these, and we carry the common parts rather than ordering them in.
Terraces and shared services
In a terrace the leak is not always in the house that noticed it, and shared drains mean a blockage two doors down can surface in your kitchen. Worth mentioning on the phone if your neighbours have had trouble too — it changes where we look first.
Low-lying and harbourside
A big tide with heavy rain behind it backs drainage up in the lowest properties, and that is a different emergency from a burst pipe — the water is coming the wrong way up the system rather than out of it. Tell us which it is and we will bring the right kit.
What we cover
- Burst and frozen pipes
- Major leaks and water coming through ceilings
- Complete loss of water or hot water
- No heating in cold weather, especially where there is a health need
- Overflowing or blocked toilets where there is only one in the property
- Leaking or failed hot water cylinders
- Suspected gas smell — though your first call must always be the National Gas Emergency Service
What to do before we arrive
Turn the water off first
Your internal stopcock is usually under the kitchen sink, in a downstairs cloakroom or by the front door. Turn it clockwise. If you cannot find it, the outside stop tap is generally under a small metal cover at the boundary.
Then open the taps
Once the stopcock is off, opening the cold taps drains the pipework down and stops it feeding the leak. It makes a real difference to how much damage you end up with.
Water near electrics
If water is anywhere near a consumer unit, lights or sockets, switch the electricity off at the main switch and do not touch anything wet. This is the one part of the job we would rather you did not wait for us on.
If you smell gas
Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 immediately, open the windows, do not touch switches and get everyone out. Call them first and us second — that order matters.
How it works
- 1
Get the water off first
Stopcock clockwise, then open the cold taps. Do this before you contact anyone — it is the single most useful thing that happens in the first ten minutes.
- 2
Send the form, tick urgent
Urgent enquiries are flagged and go to the top of the list rather than into a queue. Give us your number and as much detail as you can.
- 3
We ring you back and triage
We work out whether this needs someone tonight or whether it is safe until morning, and we tell you honestly which it is.
- 4
We give you a realistic arrival time
Cornwall is long and thin. A truthful hour beats an optimistic twenty minutes.
- 5
We make it safe, then fix it
The first job is stopping the damage. The permanent repair sometimes follows the next day, and we will be clear about which is happening.
What it costs
Emergency and out-of-hours work is charged differently from planned work, and you will be told exactly how when we ring you back, before anyone is dispatched. Nobody should discover the rate on the invoice.
Mains gas in Falmouth
Falmouth and Penryn have good mains gas coverage; the outlying villages towards Constantine and Mawnan Smith are more variable.
Where we work around Falmouth
TR11, TR10 and the villages around them. These are the places we are in most weeks — if yours is not listed, it does not mean we do not cover it.
Near Pendennis Castle, Falmouth Docks, National Maritime Museum Cornwall? That is well within our normal patch.
Everything else we do in Falmouth
Plumbers in Falmouth
Leaks, taps, toilets, tanks, pipework and everything else that carries water around a house.
Read moreBoiler repair in Falmouth
Fault-finding and repair on gas, oil and LPG boilers — diagnosis first, parts second.
Read moreBoiler installation in Falmouth
New boilers and full replacements, sized properly to the house rather than to the old one.
Read moreBoiler servicing in Falmouth
Annual servicing and landlord gas safety certificates — the full check, not a five-minute glance.
Read moreBathrooms in Falmouth
Complete bathroom installations, managed start to finish by the people doing the plumbing.
Read moreCentral heating in Falmouth
Radiators, pipework, power flushing, controls and full system installations.
Read moreEmergency plumbing in Falmouth — your questions
If yours is not here, send us the form and ask. We would rather spend five minutes answering a question than have you book something you did not need.
How fast will you come back to me?
As fast as we can, and urgent enquiries are dealt with first. We will be straight with you: we do not currently run a staffed round-the-clock phone line, so if water is escaping right now the most valuable thing is to get your stopcock off yourself using the steps above — that stops the damage immediately, which no plumber arriving later can undo.
Where is my stopcock likely to be?
Under the kitchen sink is the most common, then a downstairs cloakroom, by the front door, or in an airing cupboard. It is genuinely worth finding it now, while nothing is wrong.
Is a leaking radiator an emergency?
Usually not. A radiator can normally be isolated at both valves and left until morning, which is cheaper for you. We will tell you that on the phone rather than sending someone out at night.
Will my insurance cover this?
Escape of water is covered by most home policies, but they generally want the cause fixed and documented. We photograph and write up emergency work so you have something to give your insurer.
Do you cover the villages around Falmouth as well as the town?
Yes — Penryn, Flushing, Mylor Bridge, Budock Water, Swanpool, Maenporth, Constantine and Mabe Burnthouse are all part of our normal Falmouth patch, along with the smaller places between them. If you are not sure whether we reach you, send the form and ask.
How quickly can you get to Falmouth?
A straightforward run down from Truro on the A39. Parking in the town centre is the constraint, not the distance.
We also cover, close to Falmouth
Need emergency plumbing in Falmouth?
Get the water off first — stopcock clockwise, then open the cold taps. Then send the form and tick urgent, and we will ring you back to work out how fast we can reach you.