When Is a Plumbing Problem an Emergency? | Tips from Your Carrollton, TX Emergency Plumber
Taking care of your plumbing system is the best way to prevent plumbing emergencies, but even that doesn’t guarantee problem-free plumbing. You never know when there’s going to be a problem with a pipe or fixture in your home, so the best thing you can do is be prepared to handle that situation if it occurs. This starts with understanding which plumbing problems are bad enough that you need to call an emergency plumber, but you also need to know how to minimize damage when emergency problems do happen. If you want to protect your Carrollton, TX home from plumbing disasters, here’s everything you need to know.
How Urgent Is Your Problem?
Something every homeowner should know is how to determine whether or not a plumbing problem is an emergency. This doesn’t mean simply knowing which problems are considered severe and which aren’t; it means knowing what to look out for when it comes to plumbing emergencies.
One of the biggest things you have to consider when it comes to finding out if a plumbing problem is an emergency is what sort of potential there is for damage. If your faucet is running or your water pressure is low, there aren’t really any parts of your home that could be damaged from those problems. Sure, your water bill could go up a bit due to a dripping faucet, but it’s not the end of the world. If a plumbing problem has the potential to cause structural damage to your home, it may be time to call an emergency plumber.
Another thing to consider when it comes to determining whether or not you need to call a plumber is where the leak or plumbing problem is occurring. If you have a water heater outside on concrete, it’s a big issue. This is also true if you have a sewage backup or there’s a chance one of your pipes might burst. These are the things you need to consider when you have a plumbing problem in your Carrollton, TX home.
Examples of Plumbing Emergencies
Even if you don’t know what to look for when it comes to identifying plumbing emergencies, knowing some of the most common ones is a big help. As you might expect, there are a few problems that require an emergency plumber every time, so you should have some idea of what those are and how you can recognize them.
A burst pipe is one of the most common plumbing emergencies because it can cause serious damage and cost you a lot of money. The water lines in your home have a lot of water running through them at any given time; in fact, even a small pipe can leak thousands of gallons of water monthly. You should call an emergency plumber as soon as possible if you’ve got a burst pipe.
Another common plumbing emergency is a complete lack of hot water. While this might not seem like a huge deal to some people, it’s a big problem if you’ve got a family that needs to wake up and shower each morning to prepare for the day. Fortunately, problems with your hot water supply can often be fixed by repairing or replacing your hot water heater, so they aren’t incredibly complicated.
If there’s a sewage backup in your home or on your property, you need to call an emergency plumber as soon as possible. The problem with sewage isn’t the amount of damage it can cause as much as the fact that it’s a hazard to your health. If you’ve got a sewage backup in or around your home, you’re exposing yourself to harmful substances that you shouldn’t be breathing.
While burst pipes are most commonly associated with frozen pipes, that’s far from the only way a water line can break. Whether a tree root grows into a water line and breaks it, water lines are damaged in an earthquake or you make a mistake with a shovel, fixing those lines as soon as possible will save you a lot of money and hassle, so you should call an emergency plumber if you suspect you have a broken water line.
Handling a Plumbing Emergency
For most people, the first reaction to a plumbing emergency is calling an emergency plumber. While this is a good step to take, there are things you can do to minimize the damage caused by plumbing problems while you wait for a plumber to arrive.
If you’ve got a burst pipe or another serious leak in your home, shutting off the water should be your first course of action. You should always have a good idea of where the water shut-off valve for your home is and how to use it. Even if you call an emergency plumber, shutting off the water to your home can save you from having to repair structural damage in your home.
Unfortunately, many leaks aren’t discovered right away, which means there’s some water built up from the very beginning. If you’ve got a puddle of water built up on wood or drywall that could cause structural damage, do your best to dry it out a bit after you turn the water shut-off valve so you can minimize the damage caused to your home.
No matter how much you take care of the plumbing in your Carrollton, TX home, you never know when you’re going to have a plumbing emergency. The best thing you can do is know how to recognize those emergencies, how to deal with them and when to call an emergency plumber. Whether you’ve got a burst or broken pipe that’s leaking a serious amount of water or a sewage backup, it’s important to remember that you should always call bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of North Dallas instead of trying to deal with the problem on your own.
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