The right tool, and the right card in the wallet
Answer a few questions about the job. It's free and there is no obligation.
A leak you cannot stop, a boiler that has given up or a bathroom to replace? Describe the job in a few clicks and get a free, no-obligation quote from a plumber near you.
Pick what you can see or smell. You get the first steps to take now, who to call and what to tell them. A gas smell is an emergency of its own: it is on the list.
Can wait a few days
A plumber. Once the valve is closed, most small leaks can wait for a booked visit.
Urgent, act now
An emergency plumber, and your home insurer's helpline.
Same day if you can
A Gas Safe registered engineer for a gas or LPG boiler, an OFTEC registered engineer for an oil boiler, and any plumber for an immersion heater or a cylinder.
Can wait for a booked visit
A heating engineer or a plumber. If the boiler itself needs work, Gas Safe for gas and LPG, OFTEC for oil.
Within a day or two
A heating engineer: Gas Safe for gas and LPG, OFTEC for oil.
Emergency
The gas emergency service first. A Gas Safe registered engineer comes afterwards, to repair or check the appliance.
Same day if it backs up
A plumber or a drainage engineer.
Some plumbing work is only legal, or only eligible for a grant, when a registered person does it. Ask to see the card or the certificate before the work starts.
Gas boiler, gas fire or gas hob
Gas Safe Registergassaferegister.co.ukThe law requires gas work to be done by an engineer on the register. Ask to see the photo ID card and check it covers the work you want.
LPG boiler or heater, bottled or in a tank
Gas Safe Registergassaferegister.co.ukLPG is a gas, so the same rule applies. Ask for LPG on the list of work the engineer is registered for.
Oil boiler and oil tank
OFTECoftec.orgOFTEC registers technicians for oil heating. Plenty of homes away from the gas network have one: ask about the tank and the flue as well as the boiler.
Unvented hot water cylinder
G3 qualificationInstalling one needs a specific qualification, known as G3. Ask for proof of it and for a certificate when the work is finished.
Heat pump
MCS certificationmcscertified.comThe installer must be MCS certified for the home to qualify for government grants such as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales.
Taps, bathrooms and general pipework
WaterSafewatersafe.org.ukWaterSafe lists approved plumbers who know the water regulations. Ask for proof of insurance and for photos of recent work as well.
Along the Dorset coast, plenty of homes are lived in for only part of the year. Pipes cope with that if the house gets a little care at three moments.
Close the main stop tap if nobody will be there for weeks. Leave the heating on low, on a timer, in the cold months. Ask someone to look in now and then for damp patches and drips.
Run every tap and flush every toilet for a few minutes, hot and cold, to clear the water that has stood in the pipes. Then look under the sinks and around the boiler for damp, and read the boiler pressure.
Run the showers and taps that were not used, check that each cistern refills and stops, and leave a card for guests and cleaners saying where the stop tap is. Water that stands unused can grow bacteria such as legionella, so owners of lets are expected to assess the risk and keep the water moving.
South Dorset follows the Jurassic Coast and reaches inland to Dorchester and Wareham. Choose a place to see its postcode, then type your own in the quote form to check your street.
Place
PostcodeDT3, DT4
Schematic map: the coast is simplified and positions are approximate.
Get my free quoteWater you cannot stop, water running near lights or sockets, sewage backing up into the house, or no heating or hot water for someone who is old, ill or very young. If you smell gas, call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 before anyone else.
Usually under the kitchen sink, or where the main pipe enters the house: a utility room, a garage or the hallway. In some older homes it is in a cellar, or in a small box in the pavement outside. Turn it clockwise to close it, and try it twice a year, because stop taps that are never used seize.
Yes. In Great Britain, work on a gas or LPG boiler has to be done by an engineer on the Gas Safe Register. Oil boilers are different: look for an OFTEC registered technician. In both cases, ask to see the ID card before work starts.
Heating oil, LPG and electricity are the usual ones, and heat pumps are growing. Each one has its own kind of engineer, its own tank or supply and its own yearly check. Tell the installer which fuel you have, or want, in the first message.
A plain description of the work, the parts with the make and model of any boiler or fittings, the labour, VAT, any call-out charge, the time the job will take, the guarantee and what is not included, such as making good the decoration afterwards.
Once a year, which is also what most makers ask for to keep the guarantee. Landlords, holiday-let owners included, need a gas safety check every year for gas appliances in the property.