Maintenance
Tap Maintenance: Stop Drips Before They Start
A dripping tap wastes about 20,000 litres a year and usually needs a part that costs a few dollars. Here's how to keep taps working and when to stop turning them harder.
· 3 min read
24/7 Emergency Plumbers — Burst Pipes & No Water
Water going somewhere it shouldn’t? Turn off the mains, then call us. We run 24/7 emergency call-outs across the Hills, Hornsby and the Upper North Shore, and we’ll talk you through limiting the damage while we’re on the way.
- No call-out fee
- Fixed price before we start
- Lifetime labour warranty
Get a fixed price
No call-out fee. We’ll call you straight back.
Available 24/7
Burst pipe, no water or sewage backing up?
Don’t wait for business hours. We run emergency call-outs across the Hills, Hornsby and the Upper North Shore, 24 hours a day.
Sound familiar?
What we get called out for
If any of these describe what’s happening at your place, we can help — usually the same day.
Burst pipe or water spraying
Turn the mains off at the meter first — it’s the tap at the front boundary. Then call. Every minute of flow is damage.
Sewage backing up inside the house
The main line is blocked and the house is downstream of it. Stop using every fixture — each flush adds to what comes back up.
No water at all
Could be a main break, a failed valve, or a supply issue. We’ll identify which and restore supply.
Banging pipes when taps close
Water hammer. Annoying now, but it fatigues joints and eventually causes the burst you’re trying to avoid.
Hot water unit leaking heavily
A failed tank empties continuously. Shut it off at the isolation valve above the unit, then call.
Storm damage letting water in
Overwhelmed gutters and stormwater put water under the slab and against footings. It needs clearing while it’s still raining, not after.
What to do before we arrive
Turn off the water at the mains. The isolation tap is at your water meter, usually at the front boundary — turn it clockwise until it stops. If the leak is on the hot water side only, you can isolate at the hot water unit instead.
If water is anywhere near power points, switchboards or light fittings, turn the electricity off at the switchboard and don’t touch anything wet.
Move what you can out of the water and photograph the damage before you clean up — your insurer will want it. Then call us, and we’ll tell you what else to do while we’re on the way.
Not everything that leaks is an emergency
A burst pipe is. A concealed leak that has been quietly running under your slab for six months is not — it’s urgent, but it’s a job for equipment and a methodical search rather than a 2am call-out, and treating it as an emergency usually means someone opens up the wrong wall.
If your water bill has jumped, you can hear running water with everything off, or you have damp patches with no obvious source, that’s leak detection work: acoustic correlation, thermal imaging and tracer gas to find it before anything is opened up. We do it, it just isn’t this page.
What counts as an emergency
A burst or uncontrollable leak. No water supply. Sewage backing up inside the house. A gas leak — for that, leave the building and call us from outside. A hot water unit leaking heavily. Storm damage causing water ingress.
A dripping tap or a slow-running drain is not an emergency, and we won’t charge you emergency rates to make it sound like one. We’ll book it for the next available slot at normal pricing.
Response times across our area
We’re based in Annangrove, which puts us within about 15 minutes of Kellyville, Rouse Hill, Dural and Glenhaven, and 20–30 minutes of Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills, Cherrybrook, Hornsby and the Upper North Shore.
That matters in an emergency. A dispatcher in the CBD sending whoever is free is not the same as a local business that can actually be there.
How it works
Our emergency plumbing process
- 1
Call — a person answers
We’ll triage it and tell you how to limit the damage right now.
- 2
We contain the leak
Stopping the water is always the first job on site.
- 3
Locate the fault properly
Acoustic, thermal or camera detection — we find it before we open anything.
- 4
Fixed price, then repair
You approve the price. Emergency or not, we don’t quote after the fact.
Customer reviews
What people say about our work
“Precision Pipes helped out with a leak on our main water line in our front yard. They were very professional and got the job done very quickly on short notice.”
Google reviewReviewer name not published “Excellent service, very friendly and went above and beyond to get what was needed done.”
Google reviewReviewer name not published “Great communication, Colin was professional, polite and friendly and did a magnificent job. Highly recommend for any plumbing needs.”
Google reviewReviewer name not published
Where we work
Emergency Plumbing across the Hills, Hornsby & the North Shore
Based in Annangrove and covering the whole of the north-west and upper north shore.
The Hills District
Hornsby Shire
- Asquith
- Beecroft
- Cheltenham
- Cherrybrook
- Galston
- Hornsby
- Hornsby Heights
- Normanhurst
- Pennant Hills
- Thornleigh
- Waitara
- Westleigh
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Upper North Shore
Common questions
Emergency Plumbing questions, answered
We don’t charge a call-out fee at any hour. After-hours labour is charged at a higher rate than standard, and we tell you what that rate is on the phone before we come out — never afterwards. Beyond that it depends on the job: an accessible burst pipe is at the cheap end, a slab leak that has to be located before it can be fixed is more. You get a fixed price before we start work.
Yes, for genuine emergencies — bursts, no water, sewage backing up inside, gas leaks and major hot water failures. A person answers the phone rather than a message service.
Find your water meter, usually at the front boundary near the footpath. There’s an isolation tap next to it — turn it clockwise until it stops. It’s worth locating yours now, while nothing is going wrong, and making sure it actually turns. A seized meter tap is a genuinely bad discovery to make at 2am.
Ring us anyway and say so first — it changes what we tell you to do and how fast we move. Meters seize, and on some older properties the isolation tap is buried or was never accessible. In the meantime, get everything you can out of the water’s path and turn the power off at the switchboard if water is anywhere near electrical fittings. We carry the gear to isolate at the meter ourselves.
Stop using every fixture in the house immediately, including toilets — the main line is blocked and everything you run adds to what comes back up. Keep people and pets out of the affected area, and don’t try to clear it with a chemical. This is priority work and we’ll get someone to you the same day, day or night.
Yes. We provide a written report with photographs, the cause of loss and the scope of works, which is what insurers ask for. We deal with these regularly and know what they need to see.
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How to Find Your Water Meter (and Why You Should Do It Today)
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How to Clean Your Kitchen Pipes (and Stop the Sink Blocking)
Kitchen drains block more than any other in the house, and it's almost always the same cause. Here's how to clean them properly and keep them clear.
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Need emergency plumbing sorted?
No call-out fee, a fixed price before we start, and a lifetime labour warranty on everything we do.