Almost every expensive water disaster has the same shape. Something fails, nobody knows where the stopcock is, and by the time it is found the damage has moved from a pipe to a ceiling, a floor and a wall. The fix is not technical skill — it is a ten-minute walk around your own property while nothing is wrong.
Do this once, take photos on your phone, and tell everyone else in the house. If you rent, do it anyway and tell your landlord or managing agent what you found.
The four things to find today
- 01The main stopcock. This is the valve that stops all water to the property. Look near the water meter at the boundary, in a concrete or plastic box in the pavement or garden, on an outside wall near the kitchen, or in the garage. Turn it clockwise to close. If it is seized, that is a job to book now rather than discover in an emergency.
- 02The geyser isolator. A dedicated switch, usually near the geyser, in a passage, or in the distribution board. It cuts power to the element. If a geyser drains and the element keeps heating, the element burns out and you add a repair to a repair.
- 03The geyser's cold-water isolating valve. A separate valve on the cold feed to the cylinder that lets you stop the geyser without shutting off the whole house.
- 04The water meter. Note where it is and how to read it. It is the only instrument you own that proves whether water is escaping, and the reading is the first thing a plumber will ask about for a suspected hidden leak.
If a pipe bursts or a geyser lets go right now
- 01Close the main stopcock. If you cannot find it, close the geyser's cold-water valve and any other valve you can identify.
- 02Switch off the geyser at its isolator or breaker so a draining cylinder cannot keep heating.
- 03If water is anywhere near a distribution board, a plug point, a downlight or a ceiling rose, switch off the main breaker and stay out of the water. Electricity comes before plumbing.
- 04Open the lowest taps in the house — usually an outside tap or a ground-floor bath — to drain what is still in the pipes.
- 05Move furniture, rugs and electronics out of the affected room, and pierce a sagging ceiling only if a professional tells you to. A bulging ceiling can come down as one piece.
- 06Photograph everything before it is cleaned up: the source, the water, the damage, and the time. Insurers ask for this and memory is not evidence.
- 07Request a quote or call a plumber, and say clearly that the water is already isolated. It changes how the job is scheduled.
The meter test, in plain terms
Close every tap in the house. Switch off appliances that draw water — washing machine, dishwasher, ice maker — and close the toilet inlet valves if you can. Then look at the water meter and watch the smallest dial for a few minutes.
If it is still moving, water is leaving the system somewhere between the meter and your fittings. Write down the reading, avoid using water for an hour, and read it again. Two readings and a time are far more useful to a plumber than a description of a damp patch, because they turn a suspicion into a measurement.
If the meter is completely still and you can still see damp, you may be dealing with rainwater ingress, rising damp or condensation rather than a plumbing leak. That is worth knowing before anyone opens a wall.
Worth doing before winter
- Lag exposed outside and roof pipework, particularly in the Free State, Northern Cape and on the Highveld where hard frost is normal.
- Fit covers on outside taps, or at least wrap them. A split outside tap is a cheap part and an expensive discovery.
- Exercise the main stopcock and the geyser isolating valve — open and close them — so they do not seize shut.
- Check that the geyser drip tray overflow is clear and discharges somewhere you can see, not into the roof space.
Common questions
My main stopcock will not turn. What now?
Do not force it with a spanner in the middle of an emergency — a snapped valve makes things worse. Book a plumber to replace it as a planned job. A working stopcock is the cheapest insurance in the house.
Should I switch off the geyser during a water outage?
It is a sensible precaution. If the supply drops and the cylinder partially empties while the element is still switched on, you can burn out the element. Switching it off at the isolator and back on once supply is restored avoids that.
Who is responsible for a leak in the street outside my house?
Generally the municipality is responsible up to and including the meter, and the owner is responsible for the installation on their side of it. Log street-side leaks with the municipal call centre and keep the reference number.