No Water in the House? What to Check First

Updated July 2026 · Emergency Plumber Chelsea

Test the kitchen cold tap before anything else. In most London homes it is fed straight from the rising main, so it tells you whether mains water is reaching the property at all. If the kitchen cold tap runs normally but the bathroom taps and toilets are dry, mains water is getting in and the problem is further along, usually an empty loft tank on a gravity-fed system. Our guide to cold water storage tank problems covers that. If only the hot taps are dry, see our guide to no water coming out of the hot tap. If the kitchen cold tap is dry too, carry on below.

Next, find out whether the street is affected. Knock next door, ask in the building's group chat or check Thames Water's online service updates for your postcode. Burst mains and planned repairs are common across Chelsea and Fulham, where much of the Victorian water network is still in use. If the outage is on the public network there is nothing a plumber can do until the supply is restored, and Thames Water is responsible for the repair. Keep one cold tap slightly open so you notice when the water comes back.

If neighbours have water and you do not, check your internal stopcock. It is often under the kitchen sink, in a hall or under-stairs cupboard, or in the cellar of a period house. Stopcocks get closed during building work, decorating or a previous repair and are not always opened fully again. Turn it anticlockwise to open it. If it will not move, do not force it with a wrench, because an old stopcock can shear and leave you with a leak you cannot stop. Our guide on how to turn a stopcock on and off shows which way to turn it, and there is a separate guide for when you cannot find your stopcock.

In cold weather, a frozen supply pipe is the most likely cause. The rising main is exposed where it enters the house, in unheated cellars and vaults, in outbuildings and anywhere it runs along an outside wall. If the water stopped overnight during a frost and your neighbours are fine, find the coldest section of pipe and warm it gently with a hairdryer or hot water bottle, starting from the tap end and working back. Never use a blowtorch or open flame. Once the water returns, check the thawed section closely, because ice can split a pipe and the leak only shows when the water starts moving again. Our guide on how to stop pipes freezing explains how to lag the vulnerable runs.

A leak on the underground supply pipe can also cut the flow to a trickle or nothing. Signs include a wet patch or sunken area in the front garden or light well, water bubbling up around the outside stop tap or meter chamber, a hissing sound near where the pipe enters the house, or a water meter that keeps turning with every tap closed. The section of supply pipe from your boundary to the house is normally the owner's responsibility, while Thames Water looks after the pipe up to the boundary. Our leaking water mains repair service finds and fixes supply pipe leaks, and our guide to underground water leak detection explains how they are traced without digging up the whole path.

Some properties have equipment on the incoming main that can fail and stop the water. A pressure-reducing valve, fitted to protect an unvented cylinder or high-pressure fittings, can stick closed or clog with debris. A water softener or whole-house filter can block, or its bypass valve can be left in the wrong position after a service. If you have one of these and the stopcock is open, look for a bypass valve and try it. If the water comes back on bypass, the unit is the problem and can be looked at without leaving you dry in the meantime.

Flats in mansion blocks and converted houses add another layer. Many Chelsea and Knightsbridge blocks are fed by communal booster pumps or large tanks in the roof, and a pump failure or empty tank takes out the water to every flat on the system, or only to the upper floors. If other flats in your building are also dry but the street is fine, contact the managing agent or porter first, because the communal plant is usually the freeholder's responsibility. If only your flat is affected, the valve on your branch may be shut. Our guide on how to shut off water in a mansion block flat explains where these valves tend to be.

When the water comes back on, expect some spluttering and cloudy or discoloured water. Run the kitchen cold tap first until it runs clear and steady, then each tap in turn, starting with the lowest in the house. Cloudy water that clears from the bottom of a glass is just air. Brown water usually clears in a few minutes; if it does not, see our guide to discoloured tap water. If a tap still spits or runs weakly after the supply returns, there may be an airlock, and our guide on how to clear an airlock in pipes shows the hose method. A combi boiler may need resetting if it locked out while there was no flow.

Call a plumber when the street has water but you do not and the stopcock is open, when you suspect a frozen or leaking supply pipe, or when a pressure-reducing valve or stopcock needs replacing. Emergency Plumber Chelsea is based at 189 Brompton Road, SW3 1NE, and covers SW3, SW10, Knightsbridge, Sloane Square, South Kensington and Fulham. Call 020 3002 6667 and tell us what you have checked; it helps us bring the right parts. See our plumbing repairs page for the wider service. There is no call-out fee on jobs over 3 hours.

Quick tips

• Test the kitchen cold tap first: it is usually fed straight from the mains.
• Ask a neighbour or check Thames Water's website before calling anyone out.
• Turn the stopcock anticlockwise to open it, and never force a seized one.
• Thaw a frozen pipe gently with a hairdryer or warm cloths, never a flame.
• In a mansion block, call the managing agent if other flats are dry too.

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