Gas Safe registered · 540834
Cambridgeshire · Countywide coverage
From fen villages and market towns to Victorian terraces and new-build estates, we install, service and repair gas heating across Cambridgeshire with a fixed price agreed before we start.
Free quote, usually within 1 working day. Fixed prices, no surprises on the invoice.
Since 2012
Serving Cambridgeshire and the surrounding area
Gas Safe 540834
Registered for all gas work
76 reviews
Verified Checkatrade reviews
Free quotes
Usually within 1 working day
1-year guarantee
On our workmanship
Local coverage
Reaction Plumbing & Heating was set up by Matthew in 2012 to serve Peterborough, but the patch grew naturally with the work: north into the fen villages around Whittlesey and Ramsey, south to Huntingdon and Godmanchester, west out along the A47 towards Stamford and Market Deeping, and south-east towards Oundle. Today that whole stretch of Cambridgeshire and its immediate borders is our everyday working area, covered by the same four-person, Gas Safe registered team from a single base near Yaxley.
What makes Cambridgeshire an unusual county to work in is the sheer variety of housing packed into a relatively small area. Drive twenty minutes in any direction from Peterborough and the building stock changes completely. Head north-east into the fens around Whittlesey, Thorney and Ramsey and you find low-lying brick cottages and farmhouses, many with older extensions bolted on over the decades, often on properties that sit below the level of the surrounding drains and dykes. Head south to Huntingdon and Godmanchester and the mix shifts to riverside period terraces alongside 1960s and 1970s estate housing at Oxmoor and Hinchingbrooke. Head west to Stamford and you are suddenly dealing with Georgian stone townhouses and conservation-area rules that simply do not apply anywhere else in the county. And within Peterborough itself, the city runs the full range from Victorian terraces in the older wards to sprawling new-build estates at Hampton and Great Haddon.
That range means a countywide plumbing firm has to be genuinely comfortable across very different jobs: stone-built cottages with narrow flues and awkward access, hard-water fen properties where scale is a constant background problem, ex-council semis on their second or third boiler, and brand-new estate homes still under NHBC warranty where a badly specified repair could cause more paperwork than plumbing. We have done all of it for over a decade, and we quote every job on what we actually find at the property, not on a generic countywide rate card.
Water hardness is worth calling out separately because it affects almost every property in Cambridgeshire to some degree. The county sits on a mix of limestone and chalk geology, and mains water across Peterborough, Huntingdon and the surrounding towns runs hard. That means scale build-up inside boilers, cylinders, immersion heaters and pipework is a normal part of the ageing process here, and it shows up as reduced hot water flow, noisy heat exchangers and heating systems that take longer to warm a house than they did a few years ago. We factor water hardness into every boiler installation and every service call, because ignoring it just means a repeat visit sooner than necessary.
We are Gas Safe registered under 540834, G3 qualified for unvented hot water cylinders, and the team holds City & Guilds / NVQ plumbing qualifications. Every Cambridgeshire enquiry gets a free quote, usually within one working day, with the price fixed before anything is booked — whether that is a fen cottage, a Stamford townhouse or a new-build in Hampton.
One team, the whole county
Peterborough, Yaxley, Hampton, Whittlesey, Huntingdon, Sawtry, Stilton, Ramsey and out to Stamford, Market Deeping and Oundle, all served by the same four-person team.
Base at the centre
Working from PE7, most Cambridgeshire addresses are within about 40 minutes' drive, with 24/7 emergency call-outs available for genuine emergencies.
Every kind of housing stock
Fen cottages, market-town terraces, Georgian stone properties, ex-council semis and new-build estate housing, each quoted on what the property actually needs.
Hard water throughout
Cambridgeshire's limestone and chalk geology means hard mains water almost everywhere we work, which shapes how we spec boilers and cylinders.
Postcodes covered: PE1, PE2, PE3, PE4, PE6, PE7, PE8, PE26, PE27, PE28, PE29
What we do here
Every service below is available anywhere in our Cambridgeshire coverage area, carried out by our own Gas Safe registered engineers using the same fixed-price approach wherever you are based.
Free quote · whole job in-house
Full bathrooms across the county, from compact fen-cottage layouts and period townhouses to modern family bathrooms on new-build estates, with tiling handled by our own team.
Read about Bathroom Installation
From £1,600 + VAT
New and replacement gas boilers from £1,600 + VAT, fixed-priced, whether that is a straightforward swap on an estate combi or a full re-spec for a stone-built or fen property with an awkward flue run.
Read about Boiler Installation
£80 + VAT
£80 + VAT annual servicing across the county, with particular attention to scale build-up given how hard the mains water runs through Cambridgeshire.
Read about Boiler Servicing
Quoted on the job · 24/7 call-outs
Faults diagnosed before quoting, on everything from modern estate combis to older system boilers in period properties. 24/7 emergency call-outs available for genuine emergencies.
Read about Boiler Repair
Quoted on the job
Leaks, blockages, dripping taps, running or leaking toilets and general plumbing repairs anywhere in the county, quoted on what we find rather than a generic call-out fee.
Read about General Plumbing
Free quote · G3 qualified
New systems, radiator replacement and relocation, power flushing and unvented cylinder work, sized correctly for solid-wall period houses and modern insulated new-builds alike.
Read about Central Heating & Radiators
Free quote · Gas Safe 540834
Underfloor Heating across Cambridgeshire and the surrounding area, carried out by our own Gas Safe registered team at a price agreed before we start.
Read about Underfloor Heating
Free quote
Cold water tank and hot water cylinder replacement, including G3 unvented cylinder work, specified with local water hardness in mind so scale does not shorten the new unit's life.
Read about Water Tank & Cylinder Replacement
£60 + VAT
£60 + VAT CP12 certificates for the county's rental market, covering student and family lets in Peterborough, Huntingdon and the market towns alongside village rentals.
Read about Landlord Gas Safety (CP12)
Quoted on the job
Gas safety checks, appliance disconnection and capping for kitchen refits, extensions and renovation projects across the county, carried out and certified by our Gas Safe engineers.
Read about Gas Checks & Capping Old Gas SuppliesWhy us
Trading since 2012 with 76 Checkatrade reviews, our coverage from Stamford to Ramsey to Oundle grew from real jobs over more than a decade, not from a list of towns added to a website.
Fen cottages, Georgian stone terraces, ex-council semis and new-build estate homes each bring different constraints. We work out flue routing, siting and system sizing at quote stage, whatever the building.
Boilers from £1,600 + VAT, servicing £80 + VAT, CP12s £60 + VAT, wherever you are in the county. Bathrooms include the tiling, so there is no second contractor and no gap in responsibility.
Gas Safe 540834, G3 unvented qualified, City & Guilds / NVQ team, £5m public liability, £10m employers' liability and a 1-year workmanship guarantee on every job.
Local property issues
The county's mix of fen drainage, market-town conservation areas, hard water and rapid estate growth each leave a distinct pattern in the jobs we are called out to.
Cambridgeshire's limestone and chalk geology produces hard water almost everywhere we work. Over years that means scale inside heat exchangers, cylinders and pipework, showing up as reduced hot water flow, banging or kettling noises, and boilers working harder than they should to reach temperature.
Georgian townhouses in Stamford, fen farmhouses and Victorian terraces in Peterborough's older wards were never designed with a modern condensing boiler in mind. Working out where the boiler can sit and where the flue can safely terminate needs doing properly at the quoting stage, not discovered on installation day.
Villages and cottages around Whittlesey, Thorney and Ramsey often sit close to drainage dykes, with ground-floor voids or cellars where pipework runs in persistently damp conditions. Corroded joints and slow, hidden leaks turn up more often in these properties than on higher ground elsewhere in the county.
Large parts of Peterborough, Huntingdon and the market towns were built out with estate housing across several decades, and much of it is now on a second or third generation combi boiler reaching the end of its working life. Falling hot water flow and intermittent lockouts are the standard early warnings.
At Hampton and other newer developments, heating and plumbing issues are often snagging rather than wear, and any repair needs to respect the NHBC warranty terms so homeowners do not inadvertently void cover meant to protect them.
Our process
01
Tell us the property, the postcode and what is wrong. Matthew or one of the team picks it up — you are not routed through a call centre.
02
Quotes are free. Most are turned around within one working day, either over the phone for straightforward work or after a visit for boilers and bathrooms.
03
You get the price before anyone starts. Larger jobs are fixed-priced, so the figure you agree is the figure you pay unless you ask us to change the scope.
04
We agree a date and an arrival window that suits the property, whether that is a tenanted flat, an occupied family home or a place you are selling.
05
Gas Safe registered engineers do the work, test it, talk you through it and clear up. It is backed by our 1-year workmanship guarantee.
In detail
Before quoting any Cambridgeshire boiler installation, we assess where the boiler can go, where the flue can terminate, what the incoming mains can deliver, and how the household actually uses hot water. In a Hampton new-build that is usually a fast, straightforward assessment; in a Stamford stone townhouse or a fen farmhouse it can change the whole recommendation, sometimes moving from a combi to a system boiler with an unvented cylinder to cope with genuine demand.
Installations start from £1,600 + VAT, fixed before work begins, with manufacturer warranties of up to 10 years available depending on the boiler chosen. Given how hard the water runs across the county, we routinely discuss scale protection at quoting stage, because a new boiler fitted without any thought to water hardness will simply repeat the same problems within a few years.
Where a property has never had its system cleaned, we deal with that as part of the installation, since fitting a new boiler onto a sludged, scaled system is the fastest way to invalidate its warranty and shorten its working life.
Annual servicing at £80 + VAT is the practical baseline for any Cambridgeshire property, gas or system boiler, terrace or farmhouse, and it is a condition of most manufacturer warranties. In hard-water areas — which is most of the county — servicing also catches scale build-up early, before it turns into a full repair or a premature replacement.
For repairs, we diagnose before we quote a fix. Falling hot water flow, a system that loses pressure over a week, radiators that stay cold at the bottom and a boiler that locks out intermittently each point to a different underlying cause, and the right fix on an estate combi is often not the right fix on an older system boiler in a stone or fen property. Getting to the actual fault avoids paying for parts the boiler never needed.
Bathrooms across the county range from compact rooms squeezed into period cottages to full family bathrooms on modern estates. We take on the whole room — strip-out, plumbing, tiling and finish — so a period-property layout can be improved rather than just reproduced, and so there is a single team accountable for the finished job.
Cylinder and tank replacement work benefits from the same local knowledge: an unvented cylinder specified for a hard-water Cambridgeshire property needs the right expansion and scale-reduction provision from day one, which is why our G3 qualification matters as much for a fen cottage as for a large family home. General plumbing — leaks, blockages, running toilets, dripping taps — is quoted on what we find at the property rather than a flat call-out rate.
Cambridgeshire has a substantial rental market spanning student housing in Peterborough, family lets in the market towns, and village rentals near Huntingdon and Ramsey. CP12 landlord gas safety certificates are £60 + VAT, servicing is £80 + VAT, and both can usually be arranged in a single visit around tenants' schedules.
We also handle gas checks and capping for kitchen refits, extensions and renovation projects, all carried out by our own Gas Safe registered engineers and properly certified.
Free, no-obligation quote
Send us the postcode and the details, wherever you are in the county. You will get a free quote, usually within one working day, and a fixed price agreed before any work is booked.
07921 123669Gas Safe registered 540834 · £5m public liability · 1-year workmanship guarantee
Common questions
Yes. Our everyday coverage runs from Peterborough, Yaxley, Hampton and Whittlesey through to Huntingdon, Sawtry, Stilton and Ramsey, plus nearby Stamford, Market Deeping and Oundle.
Our base near Yaxley sits roughly in the middle of the county, so most addresses are within about 40 minutes' drive. Free quotes are usually turned around within one working day, and 24/7 emergency call-outs are available.
No. Servicing is £80 + VAT, CP12 certificates are £60 + VAT and boiler installations start from £1,600 + VAT wherever you are within our coverage area.
Yes. The key questions are always where the boiler can be sited and where the flue can safely terminate, and we work both out at quoting stage so the fixed price reflects the real job, not a generic estimate.
Yes, and we factor it into every job we quote. Cambridgeshire's mains water runs hard across almost the whole county, which shapes how we spec boilers, cylinders and scale protection.
Yes. Whittlesey, Thorney, Ramsey and the villages around them are part of our regular working area, alongside the market towns and Peterborough itself.
Yes, 24/7 for genuine emergencies such as an uncontrolled leak or total heating failure in cold weather. Call 07921 123669. If you smell gas, ring 0800 111 999 first.
Yes — Gas Safe register number 540834. We are G3 qualified for unvented hot water cylinders, the team is City & Guilds / NVQ qualified, and we carry £5m public and £10m employers' liability insurance.
Yes. CP12 landlord gas safety certificates are £60 + VAT and issued promptly, servicing is £80 + VAT, and we arrange access directly with tenants wherever the property is based.
Nearby
We work across Peterborough and the surrounding Cambridgeshire towns from our base at 3 Nightingale Drive, PE7 3HR. If your postcode is not listed, call and ask — we will tell you straight away.
Popular services
Registered 540834, insured to £5m, and every job across the county backed by a 1-year workmanship guarantee.
