Plumber in Tinkers Bridge
Tell Us About the Job in Tinkers Bridge
Tell us about the job in two minutes and we’ll come back to you with a clear, fixed price.
If your water bill has gone up and nothing about your household has changed, there is a leak somewhere. Not necessarily a dramatic one. Usually a silent one, and usually in the same place.
Your meter will find it in about an hour, and it costs nothing.
Based in Two Mile Ash, around fifteen minutes away. Gas Safe registered, registration number 981362.
- Gas Safe registered 981362
- Around fifteen minutes from Two Mile Ash
- The meter test costs nothing and takes under an hour
- Booked work Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm
Last updated
The test
- 1
Turn off every tap and appliance
in the property. Washing machine, dishwasher, outside tap, everything. Do not flush a toilet
- 2
Read the meter
and write the figure down, including the small red dials, which is where slow leaks show
- 3
Wait 45 minutes to an hour
using no water at all
- 4
Read it again
If the figure has moved, water is escaping somewhere between the meter and your taps.
To narrow it further, repeat the test with your internal stopcock closed. If the meter still moves, the leak is on the buried supply pipe between your boundary and the house. If it stops, the leak is inside.
That single extra step tells you whether you are looking at a job under the garden or a job under the sink, and it is worth doing before anyone quotes.
Where it usually turns out to be
- The toilet cistern, by a distance. A flush valve that has stopped seating lets water trickle continuously into the pan, and on a modern dual flush it frequently does it silently. Put a few drops of food colouring in the cistern, do not flush, and check the pan half an hour later. Colour in the pan means the valve is passing. It is usually a cheap part. See toilet repair.
- The outside tap, or the pipe feeding it, particularly after a winter.
- An underground supply leak, which shows as ground that stays damp or unusually green in dry weather. Though on some ground it shows no surface sign at all.
- A weeping joint under a sink or behind an appliance, quietly soaking a floor.
- A pressure relief valve on the heating system discharging outside, which is not on your water meter but is worth ruling in or out if your boiler pressure also keeps dropping.
Who is responsible for what
The supply pipe from your boundary into the house is yours. The communication pipe from the water main to the boundary is Anglian Water’s. So if water is surfacing in the pavement or road, report it to them rather than paying anyone.
It is also worth asking your water company about leak allowances. Many operate schemes that can reduce a bill inflated by a genuine underground leak, particularly where you deal with it promptly once found.
The housing in Tinkers Bridge
A small early 1970s estate, part of the first phase of the new town. Third generation boilers, decades of magnetite in systems that have often never been cleaned, small bore pipework in places, and gravity hot water in many properties where converting to an unvented cylinder is the biggest available improvement.
Hard water
Same Anglian Water supply as the rest of Milton Keynes, around 300 mg/l of calcium carbonate against a UK average of 207. Scale is why toilet valve seals and isolating valves fail earlier here than the averages suggest. See our hard water guide.
Getting to Tinkers Bridge
Around fifteen minutes from Two Mile Ash. Fine for booked work and out of hours.
Frequently asked questions
My water bill has jumped and nothing has changed.
Run the meter test. Turn everything off, read the meter, wait an hour, read again. If it has moved, you have a leak.
What is the most common cause?
A toilet cistern passing water silently into the pan. The food colouring test finds it in half an hour and the fix is usually a cheap part.
How do I know if the leak is under the garden?
Repeat the meter test with the stopcock closed. If the meter still moves, it is on the buried supply pipe outside the house.
Can I get money back on the bill?
Water companies often operate leak allowance schemes, particularly where a genuine underground leak is dealt with promptly. Worth asking Anglian Water.
Do you cover Coffee Hall and Peartree Bridge?
Yes, along with Beanhill, Netherfield, Woughton on the Green and Eaglestone.
What we do in Tinkers Bridge
Where we cover in Tinkers Bridge
- Tinkers Bridge
- Coffee Hall
- Beanhill
- Netherfield
- Peartree Bridge
- Woughton on the Green
- Eaglestone
Get in touch
Call 07514 312117 or send a WhatsApp with your meter readings. Gas Safe registered 981362, CIPHE member, fully insured.