Toilet, tap and shower repairs in Limerick

Toilet repairs

Most toilet call-outs are one of three things:

1. It runs all the time.Water keeps trickling into the pan, usually from a worn flush valve seal, or the cistern overflows because the fill valve (the ballvalve) doesn't shut off. Both are parts, not a new toilet.
2. It won't flush, or flushes weakly.A broken lever, a snapped link inside the cistern, or a flush valve that has failed.
3. It's blocked, or leaks at the base.A blockage in the pan or the pipe behind it, or a seal under the toilet that has gone. Water on the floor after each flush needs looking at soon, before it damages the floor.

Published toilet repair prices run €150–€400.

Dripping taps and new taps

A dripping tap is usually a worn washer on an older tap, or a worn cartridge on a modern mixer tap. It's a small job, but a constant drip wastes water and stains the basin. Fixing one runs €60–€130 on published prices, and a new tap fitted runs €120–€250. If you're buying the tap yourself, say so: some prices are labour only.

Showers and pumps

An electric shower that runs cold, cuts out or trips the fuse board may need a part or a replacement. A power shower or a pressure pump that's noisy, cycles on and off, or leaves you with a trickle is often a pump on its way out, or a leak somewhere it's working to make up for. A shower installation, labour runs €600–€1,500.

Bathroom faults in Limerick houses

Limerick's city water comes from the Shannon and is treated at Clareville (Limerick City and County Council), and plumbersinireland.ie's Limerick tap page makes the point that it is relatively soft, so limescale is less of a problem on ceramic cartridges than in the east (plumbersinireland.ie). Most drips in Limerick come down to a worn washer on an older pillar tap or a failed cartridge on a mixer, and telling the plumber which type of tap you have saves time on the call-out.

Outdoor taps are the Limerick special: the same page notes the city sees frost in January and February, and a tap body cracked in a freeze is the usual reason for a dripping outdoor tap in spring. Published prices to replace one run €80–€140.

For toilets, the published figures come from Cork: Crowley Plumbing and HomePros.ie's Cork guide put a toilet repair at €150–€400, and no Limerick plumber we found publishes one. For a toilet that runs all night, lift the cistern lid before you ring: water rising to the overflow points at the fill valve, water trickling into the pan at the flush valve.

No source we use publishes a price for a new electric shower or a pressure pump in Limerick. plumbersinireland.ie's Limerick bathroom page puts a shower installation at €600–€1,500, the same figure as its Dublin page, so treat it as a benchmark rather than a Limerick quote.

What to tell the plumber

• What's wrong, and since when.
• The make of the shower or pump, if you can see it.
• Who is supplying the part: you, or the plumber.
• A photo helps: the cistern with the lid off, the tap, or the pump.

Pick "Toilet, tap or cistern repair" or "Shower, electric shower or pump" in the form.

Questions people ask