Plumber in Old Farm Park
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Ask people where a flood is most likely to start in their house and they will say the bathroom. It is usually the kitchen or the utility, behind a machine nobody has moved in eight years.
Washing machine and dishwasher connections are the quiet failure point in domestic plumbing, and they are among the cheapest things to sort before they go.
Based in Two Mile Ash, around twenty minutes across the city. Gas Safe registered, registration number 981362.
- Gas Safe registered 981362
- Around twenty minutes across the city
- A fill hose is under mains pressure whether the machine runs or not
- Booked work Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm
Last updated
Why appliance connections fail
- The fill hose perishes. Rubber hoses degrade with age, heat and pressure. They are under mains pressure continuously, whether the machine is running or not, so when one lets go it does not stop until somebody turns the water off.
- The connection loosens. Vibration from a spin cycle works at a fitting over years.
- The waste connection slips. Less dramatic and more insidious, because it leaks only while the machine is draining and dries out in between, so the damage accumulates in a floor nobody sees.
- The isolating valve seizes. In this water, the small valve behind the appliance scales up and stops closing. Then the one time you need it, it does not work.
What to do about it, in fifteen minutes
- Pull the machine out and look. Damp, staining, corrosion at the fittings, or a hose that has gone hard and shiny. If you cannot remember the last time you did this, do it this weekend.
- Check the hose date if there is one. Many are marked. A hose past about five years is worth changing on principle, and they cost very little.
- Test the isolating valve. Turn it fully off and on again. If it will not close, replace it before you need it.
- Consider braided hoses rather than plain rubber, and consider a hose with an integral shut-off device on a machine in an upstairs utility or a flat.
- Do not overtighten. More connections are damaged by force than by age.
If one does let go
Turn the appliance valve off if you can reach it. If not, go to the main stopcock and turn it clockwise. Then open the lowest cold tap to drain the pipework down. If water is anywhere near electrics, kill the power at the consumer unit first.
See emergency plumber and our stopcock guide.
While we are on appliances
New installations are worth doing properly rather than pushing a hose onto whatever is there. Every appliance should have its own isolating valve in a position you can actually reach, and a waste connection that is secured rather than resting in place. See kitchen plumbing.
The housing in Old Farm Park
Late 1980s and 1990s estate housing in the south-east of the city. Original appliance connections in a house of this age are well past the point where they should have been looked at, which is exactly why this comes up here.
Second and third generation boilers, and gravity hot water in many of the original arrangements where converting to an unvented cylinder is the biggest single improvement available.
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. It is directly why the isolating valves behind appliances seize open here, so testing them annually matters more than it would elsewhere. See our hard water guide.
Getting to Old Farm Park
Around twenty minutes from Two Mile Ash. Fine for booked work and out of hours.
Frequently asked questions
How often should appliance hoses be replaced?
They are cheap and they perish. Past about five years is worth changing on principle rather than waiting to find out.
My washing machine has leaked onto the floor.
Usually the fill hose or its connection, sometimes the waste connection at the trap. Both are inexpensive and both are worth doing preventively on an older machine.
The valve behind my machine will not turn off.
Common in this water. Replace it before you need it, because during a burst hose is the wrong moment to discover it.
Are braided hoses better?
Generally more robust than plain rubber, and worth it particularly in an upstairs utility or a flat.
Do you cover Walnut Tree and Tilbrook?
Yes, along with Browns Wood, Caldecotte, Wavendon Gate and Simpson.
What we do in Old Farm Park
Where we cover in Old Farm Park
- Old Farm Park
- Walnut Tree
- Browns Wood
- Caldecotte
- Tilbrook
- Wavendon Gate
- Simpson
Get in touch
Call 07514 312117 or send a WhatsApp. Gas Safe registered 981362, CIPHE member, fully insured.