• If pipes leak, place a dish or bowl underneath the leak. Pull back any carpets and lay down newspapers or towels to absorb any dampness.
• If pipes burst, turn off the water at the main stop cock, and any gate valves from the water tank, and switch off any water heaters. Open all taps to drain water from the system. Some items of equipment may have their own isolation valve (either a gate valve, or a service valve). If not, you may be able to isolate the fault by just turning off a gate valve on a pipe coming out of the cold water tank. This will leave you with some services, even though it might only be cold water at the kitchen tap. You could then temporarily flush toilets using a bucket of cold water.
• If electric fittings get wet DO NOT TOUCH and turn off electricity at the meter.
• If the ceilings bulges prevent the ceiling from falling down by placing a bucket under the bulge and pierce a small hole to let the water through.
• If pipes freeze turn off the water at the main stop tap and open the cold taps. It is best to leave the pipes frozen but you may try to thaw the pipe using a hot water bottle

Fuses 

Check your fuse box if you lose power to all of the sockets or lights in a room or on one floor of a house. Modern fuse boxes simply need you to flick a switch or press a button. The fuse box is normally located near to a front door, in a cupboard or perhaps under the stairs. Find out where yours is before you have a problem.

Remember a blown fuse indicates a problem somewhere else, possibly a faulty socket or light fitting. If you think electrics may have been affected by water, give them time to dry out before resetting a fuse switch. Fuses should be marked to indicate which circuit they manage, e.g. lights, sockets etc. If a fuse cannot be reset, this information is useful to the electrician in identifying where the problem will be in the property.

Switches and Sockets

Some fittings also have a fused switch or fuse in the circuit so that they can be isolated (this commonly applies to immersion heaters and the like). If something doesn’t work and it has a fuse switch, check the fuse first before reporting a problem.

Remember Electricity CAN KILL - repairs should be carried out by a qualified electrician. ALWAYS turn off power at the fuse box before doing any electrical repairs yourself. If in any doubt, call us out.

Your smoke detector has been designed to be as maintenance free as possible. To keep your detector in good working order you must:

• Test the detector weekly (see section below “How to Tell if the Detector is Working Properly”).
• ELECTRICAL SHOCK HAZARD: Turn off mains power at the fuse box or circuit breaker powering the detector before following these cleaning instructions.
• Vacuum the detector at least once a year, using the soft brush attachment to your vacuum cleaner.
• Clean the detector’s cover when it gets dirty. Hand wash the cover with a cloth lightly dampened with clean water. Dry it with a lint-free cloth. Be sure not to get any water on the detector components.
• Test detector after restoring power.

When the indicator light flashes about every 40 seconds, the detector is receiving power from the battery or electrical current. Test the detector weekly by pushing firmly on the test button until the horn sounds. This should take 20 seconds. If the alarm horn makes a continuous loud sound, the detector is working properly. This is the only way to be sure that the detector is working.

Never use an open flame of any kind to test your detector. You may set fire to and damage the detector as well as your home. The built-in test switch will accurately tests all detector functions as required by Underwriters’ Laboratories. It is the only correct way to test.

If you have a battery powered smoke detector, this will be replaced with a wired system whenever it becomes necessary to carry out an electrical check to your home.

Most modern houses have walls of lightweight materials which may require special fixings to secure heavy pictures, mirrors, bathroom cabinets etc. Steel pin picture hangers can be used for lightweight articles.

This is a list of some wall constructions and the fitting to use.

• Blockwork (breeze block): plastic or fibre wall plugs and screws.
• Paramount Partitioning (hollow plasterboard): “rawl plugs”, spring toggles, rawl and/or similar butterfly bolts.
• Plasterboard on blockwork: “rawl plug”, spring toggles, rawl anchors or similar, butterfly bolts, but heavy articles should be fixed direct through the partioning into blockwork using plaster or fibre wall plugs and larger screws.
• Plasterboard on timber supports: articles should be fixed directly through plasterboard into timber supports with timber screws/nails, or as for “Paramount” into the plasterboard

Please read the operating instructions for your central heating so that you know how to operate this safely. If you do not have instructions please call our Contact Centre on 01628 543101

If your central heating does not work, here are a few simple checks you should make before reporting this as a repair:

• If you have gas central heating this needs both an electrical and gas supply to operate the controls and ignite the boiler, so check that both of your supplies are working.
• Check that the timer is set correctly. This has to be re-set in Autumn and Spring when the clocks change.
• Check the thermostat is not set too low. If it is the heating will not come on.
• Switch your heating to constant. This overrides the timer. If the heating comes on this means that your timer is not set correctly.
• Check that your radiators are turned on and that if they are fitted with individual thermostats these are set to a high temperature so that they come on.

If your central heating still does not work, please call our Contact Centre on 01628 543101.

Heating and/or hot water loss is classed as an emergency for calls received between 08:45am to 5:15pm (Monday to Thursday) and 08:45am to 5:45pm (Friday) and at any time of the day or night for elderly and disabled customers.

Requests for the pruning of trees will only be considered if they are deemed to be a legal nuisance. We know that there are additional problems that trees can cause but these are minor in comparison to the benefits trees provide. We will therefore not prune trees for the following reasons:

• Loss of light or reduced light to properties;
• Effects on TV reception;
• Obstruction of views;
• Interference with private vegetation;
• Obstruction of BT or Utility cables;
• Minor or seasonal ‘nuisances’ such as:
– honeydew (dripping sap);
– bird droppings;
– squirrels gaining access to properties from trees;
– leaf, fruit or flowers fall;
– smells generated by trees

For more information about the benefits of trees please see our policies page.