What to do if…
a flexible supply line under a sink starts spraying or dripping rapidly

What to do now

1. Move to a safer pause. Step away from the spray and keep clear of pooled water. If water is touching sockets, plugs, appliances, or cables, do not touch anything electrical in that area.
2. Make electrics safer only if you can do it without touching water or wet equipment. If you can reach the consumer unit from dry ground, switch off the affected circuit, or the main switch if you are unsure. If the consumer unit is wet, near the leak, arcing, overheating, or unreachable without standing in water, stay away and call qualified help.
3. Close the small isolation valve under the sink if you can reach it safely. Look on the hot and cold feed pipes for a small valve with a slotted screw or lever. On many quarter-turn valves, the slot or lever is usually “on” when it runs along the pipe and “off” when it sits across the pipe. If you are not sure which line is leaking, close both hot and cold feeds.
4. If the water is still spraying or dripping rapidly, close the home stopcock. It is often under the kitchen sink, near where the pipe enters the property, in an airing cupboard, under stairs, near the front door, in a bathroom, cellar, garage, or utility room. Turn it clockwise to close, slowly and without forcing it.
5. Drain the remaining pressure. Once the supply is off, open a cold tap, ideally at a lower level if there is one, and keep a bowl or bucket under the leaking flexi line while the remaining water drains.
6. Contain the water. Put towels at the edge of cupboards, units, and skirting boards. Move stored items out of the wet cupboard. Mop water into a bucket rather than pushing it towards walls, sockets, appliance spaces, or floor gaps.
7. If you are in a flat or shared building and the stopcock does not stop it, get building help immediately. Contact the building manager, concierge, landlord, agent, or emergency repair number. A communal valve may be involved, and turning off a shared or external stop valve can affect other homes.
8. Call an emergency plumber if you cannot stop the flow or the valve is stuck. Use a WaterSafe-approved emergency plumber where possible, especially if a valve, tap tail, or flexi connector needs replacing.
9. If you rent, tell your landlord or letting agent as soon as the immediate water flow is controlled. Use the emergency repair route in your tenancy information if there is one, and say whether water has reached electrics, flooring, ceilings, cupboards, or another flat.
10. Record only what is safe to record. Once the water is off and you are not near wet electrics, take a few photos or a short video of the leaking hose, valve position, wet cupboards, flooring, and any spread of water.