What can I do waiting for the emergency plumber?
Emergency plumbing problems will often happen at the worst possible time. So you’ve contacted an emergency plumber and they are on their way, however what can you do while you wait? Here are a few things you can do while waiting that can keep things from getting worse.
The most important piece of advice is to stop the water flow. There is a shut off valve somewhere on the line that will help stop the problem from getting worse. It might be right next to the issue, behind the toilet, along the wall near the appliance or if necessary at the street near the water meter. If you don’t stop the flow of water, it could cause additional damage to your property.
When you find a shut off valve, don’t force the valve. If it’s stuck and not moving, it’s best to continue on until you find a valve that will turn instead of trying force it. If you try to foce it you could break the valve and make the problems even worse. We had a leaking water line and when we had it replaced, we had our emergency plumber install a main valve under our house in the crawl space where the line came to the house. Now if we have an issue in the future, we have a quick location where we can go to stop the flow of water quickly.
Emergency Plumber: Slow Leak
If it’s a slow leak and the plumbing seems to be working, you might just need to place a bucket under the leak until help arrives. Just be sure to keep an eye on the bucket so that it doesn’t overflow. If it’s a small leak, you can plug the leak with the point of a pencil and tape it to the pipe. The whole idea is to minimize additional damage to your home.
Emergency Plumber: Overflowing Toilet
An overflowing toilet can be a difficult situation. If the plunger isn’t doing any good, it might be necessary to turn off the water to the toilet and maybe even us a bucket to lower the level of the water in the bowl. Do your best to cleanup any water on the floor around the area. Standing water could damage the floor and make the situation even worse.
Emergency Plumber: Leaking water heater
Again, as with other plumbing issues, turn off the flow of water if possible. Also be sure to flip the power breaker to the water heater. Once that is secured you might need to drain the water heater. Most water heaters have a hose bib and valve on the bottom of the tank. You can secure a hose to this bib and run it outside the home. Then turn the valve to allow the water to drain out safely.
Now that the water issues are temporarily taken care of, there is one more thing you can do while you wait. Clean out a space around the problem area so that that the emergency plumber has room to work. I know that in our house, the water heater closet has quite a few items stored in there that make it very difficult to get back to the water heater. This will speed up the process of getting the issue fixed.
These ideas are just a few things that you can be doing while you wait for the emergency plumber to arrive. However, read some of our other articles on how you can prevent problems like this from even happening in the first place. A little pro-active exercises can help you avoid problems in the future and having to call an emergency plumber in Portland.
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