Plumber in Ifield, Crawley

Ifield village before the new town

Ifield was a village for centuries before Crawley was built around it. The old core around Ifield Green and the parish church still has period cottages, and they are a different plumbing job from the new town housing a few streets away. Their heating was fitted into buildings never designed for it, often more than once, so pipe routes follow whatever was easiest at the time and a single system can mix parts from several decades.

That changes how we work. We trace the whole system before quoting, look for old sections of pipe that have been buried or bypassed, and plan any new pipe runs and flue positions around the building rather than the other way round. The newer houses close to the green are standard modern construction and need none of that, which is why we look at the actual property rather than assuming from the postcode.

Hard water in Ifield

Ifield shares Crawley’s hard water, averaging around 280 parts per million. In a combi it scales the hot water side first. In an older open-vented system it gets into the heating circuit and onto the main heat exchanger, which is where kettling starts. A scale reducer on the incoming main and an annual boiler service protect the boiler, and our Crawley page covers the hard water in more detail.

Langley Green and Gossops Green: system first, boiler second

With the copper and the steel radiators wearing out together in the 1950s and 1960s houses through Langley Green and Gossops Green, the order of work decides whether a new boiler lasts. This is the order that works:

1. Test the system water and check each radiator top and bottom.
2. Repair pinhole leaks and replace any radiator too far gone to flush.
3. Powerflush the rest, from £400 and typically £400 to £780 for an average three-bedroom house.
4. Fit the new boiler with a magnetic filter and inhibitor, at a fixed price agreed before we start.

Emergencies in Ifield

A burst pipe in Ifield or Bewbush is about as close to our base as a job gets. Call, and we will talk you through turning off the stopcock and isolating the boiler while we come over. You get the price before any work starts, and there is no weekend premium. See emergency plumber and our guide to emergency boiler repair in Crawley.