The very phrase “emergency plumbing” is enough to fill most homeowners with dread. No one likes to think about a serious plumbing problem in their home, but such problems occur from time to time, and sooner or later, your plumbing system will be hit with one. Unfortunately, not all of them take place during regular office hours. Some take place in the middle of the night or on weekends, when plumbers aren’t in business.
The good news is that many quality plumbing operations (including ours) recognize the need for emergency plumbing service, and offer such services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But when are such services necessary and when can you let the problem sit until normal business hours? In the end, only you the homeowner can make that decision. There are, however, several factors that can help guide you. We’ve provided a list of some of them below.
How Much of Your Plumbing Is Affected?
The first issue when dealing with any kind of a plumbing problem is contain the damage. In the event of a leak of any kind, you need to shut off the flow of water to the system immediately. Every plumbing system has a main water valve, which shuts off the water to the entire home. If the trouble spot doesn’t have a local shut off valve – such as the kitchen or bathroom sink – the eliminates the flow of water, you should turn the main water valve immediately. That will contain the damage and keep with from continuing to leak out of the breach. You should also refrain from using any of the affected appliances as long as the issue remains. If you can’t live without any of them for long, then an emergency call is the right one.
With that step out of the way, you have to ask yourself how much of your plumbing is affected by the problem. In some cases, it may affect something small, such as a sink in an unused bathroom, or something that can be avoided, such as a toilet in a house with more than one toilet. In those cases, you may want to wait until regular office hours. If the issue affects more outlets than you can comfortably do without until then, then an emergency plumbing call may be necessary.
How Long Do You Have to Wait?
The other important question you have to ask yourself when contemplating an emergency plumbing call is how long you have to wait until you can call during regular hours. If you can do without the outlets and it’s just a few hours to wait, you are probably safe sitting tight. But it the problem takes place over a long weekend, for instance, or the wait is long enough to seriously disrupt your life, then you should probably skip the wait and call in an emergency plumber as quickly as possible.
For emergency plumbing services in the Plano, TX area 24 hours a day, seven days a week, call the friendly professionals at Hutchins Plumbing & Air Conditioning.
