HERTFORDSHIRE, BEDFORDSHIRE & CAMBRIDGESHIRE
Emergency Plumber in St Ives
Water where it should not be in St Ives? Call 01462 506 374 at any hour. A person helps you stop it and explains the out of hours charge before an engineer sets off.
St Ives on the Great Ouse
This page is for St Ives in Huntingdonshire, the PE27 market town on the north bank of the Great Ouse. Our engineers are our own staff, working from Stevenage in fully stocked vans, and we are Gas Safe registered under 956889.
The town grew from about 3,000 people in 1911 to more than 16,000 by 2011, mostly northwards, so homes range from old buildings on a medieval street pattern in the centre to estates from every decade since.
Get a fixed price before we start
Call and talk to an engineer, or send us the details and we will come back to you with a price.
Now or morning
Not every leak justifies a night visit. The rough sort we use on the phone:
Ring now: water you cannot stop, or a ceiling sagging with it
Ring now: water dripping near a socket, a light or the consumer unit
Leave it: a dripping tap or a cistern that keeps running
Leave it: a slow leak shut off at its own valve
If the water is off and contained, a weekday visit from 8am avoids the out of hours call-out, and we will tell you so.
The first five minutes
Turn the stopcock clockwise until it stops. If one fitting is to blame, a toilet, a tap or a washing machine hose, closing its own isolation valve is enough, and most need only a quarter turn with a flat screwdriver.
If water is anywhere near electrics, switch off at the consumer unit and keep wet hands away from switches. Put the heating and any immersion heater off so nothing fires into a system that is losing water.
Then open the downstairs cold taps to drain what is left, and catch drips in buckets.
Finding the stopcock in a St Ives house
The old centre
Behind the frontages of Bridge Street, Church Street, The Broadway and Market Hill, buildings are far older than the mains. Look low where the supply comes in, often under a later kitchen or behind fitted units. Old valves here are often seized, so do not lean on one until the spindle snaps.
The estates to the north
Off Ramsey Road, Somersham Road, Needingworth Road, Westwood Road and Houghton Road, try under the kitchen sink first, then the hall or airing cupboard. Newer homes tend to have it in a service cupboard by the front door.
The outside stop tap
A small chamber near your boundary holds the outside stop tap. Cambridge Water supplies the town and the main up to that point is theirs. The supply pipe from there into the house is yours to repair.
River, floods and drains
The Great Ouse flooded St Ives in 1947, at Easter 1998 and in January 2003. Defences built in 2006 and 2007, including 500 metres of brick clad steel piling, cut the yearly flood risk from about 10% to 1%, and the floodplain south of the town is kept open.
When the river is high, gullies in the lowest parts of town can surcharge. Water rising through a floor gully or a downstairs toilet is a drainage problem, not a burst pipe, and we will help you work out which you have.
Where a drain needs checking afterwards, a CCTV drain survey gives you the recording and a written report that insurers accept.
Where pipes let go
In the estate housing, pipes in lofts, garages and outside walls are the first to suffer in a freeze, and older systems may still run gravity hot water from a loft tank. With a tank, the hot taps keep flowing after the stopcock is shut until it drains, so open the hot taps too.
In the older centre, pipes run wherever someone could fit them over the centuries, and water can surface well away from the leak.
Answered by a person, day or night
A genuine 24 hour line, the charges explained before anyone sets off, and the common parts on the van.
What we deal with
Burst and leaking pipes
No water to the house
Overflowing cisterns and loft tanks
Leaking cylinders and failed shower pumps
Blocked toilets and drains, jetted from the van
If the job turns out different from what you described on the phone, the engineer stops and prices it before carrying on.
Evening and weekend charges in plain numbers
In weekday working hours, 8am to 5pm, you pay no call-out fee at all. The first hour, which is the minimum, costs £140 + VAT (£168 including VAT), with £60 + VAT for every half hour after it.
Outside those hours every attendance carries a £50 + VAT (£60 including VAT) call-out on top of the hourly rate. Out of hours plumbing is £198 + VAT for the first hour on weekday evenings until 8pm and weekends from 8am to 8pm, or £250 + VAT overnight from 8pm to 8am, and on reactive call-outs we take 50% of the first hour up front. See the pricing page.
Smelling gas
A gas smell is not a plumbing call. Get everyone outside, leave light switches and appliances alone, and ring the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 first.
Once they have made the supply safe, we can attend as a Gas Safe registered firm. Out of hours gas work is £225 + VAT for the first hour, then £75 + VAT per half hour, plus the call-out.
Once the water is off
Hidden leaks, such as a meter that turns with everything off or a damp patch that keeps spreading, are best traced in daylight. We isolate sections of pipe one at a time so only the right floorboards come up.
Take photos, and ask the engineer to note what failed and what was repaired. Insurers want both before making good, and our labour carries a 12 month guarantee.
★★★★★
Rated 4.9 on Google by the people we work for
Why choose Vantage
Rated 4.9 on Google from more than 700 reviews across Google, Checkatrade and Trustatrader. Qualified, accredited engineers, a fixed price before any work begins and a labour guarantee on every job, from an established local company with an office team you can actually reach. No job too small.
Gas Safe registered
Company registration 956889. Every gas engineer carries their own Gas Safe ID card, and you can ask to see it.
Refcom F-Gas certified
REF1024550. Legally required for air conditioning installation and servicing, and we hold it.
CHAS Elite accredited
Veriforce CHAS assessed for health and safety, which is why commercial clients and landlords use us.
City & Guilds and BPEC qualified
Qualified, insured engineers on every job. No subcontracted strangers.
700+ reviews, 4.9 on Google
Across Google, Checkatrade and Trustatrader. Read them before you book.
Labour guarantee on every job
12 months on repairs, installations and everything else. Two years on a full bathroom refit. If anything we did develops a fault, we come back and put it right.
Fixed price before we start
The price is agreed with you before any work begins. No hidden extras on the invoice.
24/7, answered by a person
The emergency line is answered every day of the year by someone who can send an engineer, not a call centre.
Fully stocked vans
Five vans carrying the parts that fail most often, so most jobs are fixed on the first visit.
An office team behind every job
An established local business with multiple engineers and a dedicated office team to keep you informed.
Vaillant myREWARDS and Ideal Max accredited
Accredited installer status means extended manufacturer warranties on the boilers we fit.
Emergency response within the hour
Our average response to an emergency call is under an hour across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
Trusted & Accredited Professionals
Frequently asked questions
Should I pay out of hours rates for a dripping tap?
Usually not. Close the valve underneath or the stopcock and book a weekday slot, when there is no call-out fee.
Who looks after the pipe under my front garden?
The supply pipe from the boundary stop tap into the house is yours. The main up to that point belongs to Cambridge Water.
What will I be asked when I ring?
Where the water is coming from, whether it is off, whether it is near electrics and what sort of property it is. Then you hear the charges.
What if my stopcock will not turn?
Do not force it. Use the outside stop tap if you can reach it and ring us, and we will free or replace the valve.
Do you cover St Ives in Cornwall?
No. We cover St Ives in Cambridgeshire, postcode PE27.
Water is coming up through a drain in heavy rain. Is that a burst?
Usually not. It is more likely a drainage problem while the river and drains are high, and it needs a different fix.
How much is a Saturday night call-out?
£50 + VAT (£60 including VAT) on top of the out of hours hourly rate, which we quote before setting off.
Are your engineers subcontracted?
No. They are our own staff, Gas Safe registered under 956889.
Areas we cover around St Ives
We cover the whole of PE27, from the conservation area around Bridge Street, The Quay, The Waits and Market Hill out to the estates reached from Ramsey Road, Somersham Road, Needingworth Road, Westwood Road and Houghton Road.
In the narrow riverside lanes we plan where the van will stop before leaving. See our St Ives page for our other work in the town.
Leak in St Ives right now
Ring 01462 506 374. A person answers day and night, helps you shut off the water and tells you the cost before we set off.
Related services
Repairs, leaks and installations
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Every rate, published