Burst Pipes
A split supply line under a slab, in a wall or across the yard. We isolate it, expose only what has to be exposed, and repair the section rather than opening the whole run.
Home / Emergency Plumber
An emergency plumber in Alberton is worth more to you in the first four minutes than in the next four hours, because what happens before anyone arrives decides how much damage you end up paying for. Phone us and the first thing we do is get you to the right valve. Then we come out, make it safe, and quote the repair before we touch it. There is more on leak detection if the water is coming from somewhere you cannot see.
Water actually moving? Ring us, do not type. This form is for anything that will hold until morning, and we will take the first slot of the day.
Water that is running and will not stop, waste that is coming back into the house, or anything that will get materially worse overnight. Everything else is better and cheaper as a booked job the next morning, and we will tell you which one you have.
A split supply line under a slab, in a wall or across the yard. We isolate it, expose only what has to be exposed, and repair the section rather than opening the whole run.
The tank has gone and the ceiling is soaked. Power off at the board, cold feed closed, tank drained down and the roof space cleared before we talk about what replaces it.
Waste coming back through a shower or a gully. We clear it, then tell you honestly whether the blockage was on your side of the connection or in the municipal line.
A stopcock that snaps or seizes when you finally need it, which is the moment most people discover theirs has not been turned in fifteen years. Replaced under live conditions.
An inlet valve stuck open or a cistern overflowing behind a wall. Small job, large water bill if it runs for a month, and quick to put right.
Outside 7:00 to 17:00 on weekdays and Saturday mornings, emergency calls are taken and the call-out figure is given to you on the phone, before we set off.
Every emergency call has a phase nobody plans for: the stretch between realising the water is running and anybody arriving to stop it. In Alberton that is usually twenty to forty minutes. At mains pressure, a split 15mm supply line will put several hundred litres through your ceiling in that time, and the difference between a repair and a rebuild is almost never the plumbing. It is whether the water was still running when help got there.
So find your stopcock tonight rather than at midnight. In most Alberton houses it is at the municipal meter on the street boundary, under a hinged lid set flush into the grass or the paving. Lift it and you will see the meter, and on the house side of it a tap or a quarter-turn lever. Turn it, confirm the taps inside die, turn it back. Do that once now and you have bought yourself those four minutes for free.
Two things about Alberton make this worth more here than elsewhere. The City manages demand by dropping pressure and closing reservoir outlet valves overnight, so a supply that has been sitting empty refills against air, and that refill surge is when tired joints let go. It is also why bursts here cluster in the early morning rather than spread evenly through the day. And older stopcocks in the boundary box seize precisely because they are never moved, so the first time many people turn theirs is the night it breaks in their hand.
The geyser has its own order and it matters. Power off at the distribution board first, then close the cold feed. Do it the other way round and the element carries on heating an emptying tank, and a repair you could have had becomes a replacement you cannot avoid. If you cannot reach either one safely, shut the whole property at the boundary and wait for us rather than climbing into a wet roof space.
What we will do on that call: ask you three questions, name the valve, tell you whether to lift carpets, and give you a straight answer on whether this needs somebody now or is cheaper at eight in the morning. That conversation is free and it is the most useful thing we do all night.
If you can do these safely, do them. If not, leave them and call. Nothing here is worth an injury or a fall through a wet ceiling.
Four steps, in this order, every time.
We name the valve and walk you to it before anything else is discussed.
You hear the call-out amount on the phone, not when we are standing in your passage.
The first job is stopping the damage. The repair is priced separately and agreed before it starts.
Itemised invoice, photographs of what failed, and the compliance certificate where one applies.
What people ask at the worst possible moment, answered here so you do not have to ask them then.
An emergency call-out is charged, and you are told the figure on the phone before we get in the vehicle rather than after we arrive. It covers getting to you out of hours and making the situation safe: isolating the supply, stopping the flow, and stabilising whatever is running. The repair itself is quoted separately once we can see what actually failed, and you agree that number before we start on it. Nothing gets added to an emergency invoice that you have not heard first.
Nine times out of ten it is at the municipal meter on the street boundary, in a rectangular box set into the ground with a hinged plastic or metal lid. Inside you will see the meter and, on the house side of it, a tap or a lever. That is the one that shuts off the whole property. Plenty of houses carry a second isolator where the supply crosses into the building, commonly beside an outside tap or tucked in behind the geyser. Find both now, while nothing is wrong, and mark them.
Two switches, in this order. Turn the geyser off at the distribution board, because an element left running in a draining tank will burn out and turn a repair into a replacement. Then close the isolating valve on the cold feed to the geyser, which is usually on the pipe entering the tank in the roof space or on the outside wall behind it. If you cannot reach either, shut the whole property off at the meter box on the boundary and phone us.
Most South African household policies cover the water damage a burst causes, and many cover the repair itself. Two things decide whether the claim pays. The first is evidence, so photograph the damage before anything is cleaned up. The second is the invoice: your insurer needs parts and labour as separate lines, and a single lump-sum figure does not give them that. Ours is itemised as a matter of course, which is one less thing to argue about later.
The diary runs 7:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday and 7:00 to 13:00 on a Saturday, and emergency calls are answered outside that. We would rather publish the real hours than put a 24 hour badge on the van and leave you waiting for a reply at 2am. If water is moving and you cannot shut it off, ring us. If it can hold until morning, say so and we will book you first thing, which usually costs you less.
It depends where the blockage sits. If waste is backing up at the lowest fitting in the house while the gully outside is clear, the blockage is on your side of the connection and it is yours. If the gully outside is also overflowing, or a manhole in the street is surcharging, the blockage is likely to be in the municipal line and Ekurhuleni is responsible for it. We can tell which within minutes of arriving, and we will say so plainly even when the answer means the job is not ours.
Yes, and it is worth calling. Outages are when burst-pipe damage often shows up, because an empty network refills against air and the surge finds the weakest joint. It is also when a leak on your erf finally becomes visible. If the supply is off across the suburb there is nothing to repair until it comes back, but we can make the property safe, cap what needs capping, and be there when the water returns rather than behind a queue.
More than you would expect. Which valve to close and where to find it, whether to kill power to the geyser or the pump, whether to lift carpets and move furniture, and whether what you are describing can safely wait until morning. That conversation costs nothing and it is the part that saves the most money, because water running for another three hours does more damage than almost any plumbing fault does by itself.
Get In Touch
Need an emergency plumber in Alberton? If water is moving right now, ring us. If it will hold overnight, leave the details here and we will take the first slot tomorrow.