So you come home to a blocked and overflowing toilet or sink, a flood of water which seems to be coming from no particular place, faucets that do nothing when turned on, or a heating system that has failed suddenly. These are just some of the plumbing emergencies people face every day, causing them both distress and inconvenience.
If you are unlucky enough to face an emergency plumbing problem, do you know what to do until an expert can get there? Most people don’t, which adds to the panic and stress of the situation, which is why we have put together this handy list of steps to take to deal with the emergency as best you can until a plumber arrives.
Here are general tips you can use to help with an emergency plumbing issue, then there are others which are more useful for specific plumbing problems.
What to do in a general plumbing emergency situation
1. Locate and cut off the water supply. You should always be aware of where the mains spigot is in (or outside of) your home. Don’t wait until you must find it to give it a thought. At the very least turn off the water source closest to the main cause of the problem – if it is obvious.
2. Call an expert. You should have contact numbers of reliable plumbing companies on hand at all times like 24 hr emergency plumber.
3. It’s good practice to turn off your water heater to avoid a buildup of heat inside it. (Gas heaters need you to turn off the gas supply first)
4. Open any spigots you have outside the property to help drain water from the main piping system.
5. Use buckets to collect water from obvious dripping sources, and use towels to block any small leaks from pipes you can see.
What to do if your sink or toilet has become blocked
1. Call an emergency plumber and explain the problem.
2. Turn off the closest water supply.
3. You can choose to try to resolve it by using a plunger, but don’t try to flush the toilet by adding more water as you risk it overflowing (if it hasn’t already).
4. Never try to fix a blocked sink or garbage disposal unit by pouring strong chemical drain cleaners (which are designed to dissolve everyday grime) into the problem area. As there is a blockage the chemical cleaner will sit on top of it and quite possibly start to erode the pipework around it.
Note – if you have a situation where water is erupting up through the sink or toilet this could…
Continue reading the article about plumbing on Daisy Linden’s blog.
