When Should You Hire an Emergency Plumber

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Posted July 25, 2025

Plumbing. It may not be the first thing you think about in your home but you know you need it to keep your home running efficiently.  Luckily, some plumbers can help you keep your home in order. Over 537,000 plumbers are working in the United States alone.

However, you may have a sudden issue occur in your house that requires an emergency plumber.  What do you consider an emergency plumbing situation? What are the signs that you need a plumber? What should you do before deciding to call a plumber?  These are some of the signs and situations you need to look out for before calling a plumber.

No Water Access 

One of the most important times to reach out to an emergency plumber is if you are having trouble getting access to water. This is when you try to turn on your sink faucet only to see that no water is coming out.

Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon issue among Americans. There are more than 46 million of them that live with water insecurity.

What does this mean? It means that they live somewhere that does not have consistent access to clean drinking water. This is caused by the situation above when there is no running water or when the water that does come out is contaminated.

This is something that you should not let go of for too long. Yes, you may be able to get bottled water from a convenience store.  However, what if a storm hits such as a hurricane or a blizzard that leaves you trapped inside your house for days? In that situation, you are going to wish that you had running water to rely on.

To make a more extreme point on this, it could be the difference between life and death for some people. The reason why is that humans can only live about three days without water.  So, it is important that you restore your ability to access clean drinking water as fast as possible if you discover that there is no running water in your home.

Gas Leaks 

The next thing you need to keep an eye on is any potential gas leaks. This can be one of the most dangerous things that can happen in your home. Unfortunately, it can also be one of the most difficult things to spot in advance.

Think about it. Your gas pipes are likely not going to be in front of the naked eye. That means that you will have to use your ears and your nose if this happens in your home.  The reason for that is you will likely hear the leak from the walls of your home. On top of this, if gas starts leaking around your home, you may eventually end up starting to smell the gas.

If you think you have a gas leak in your home, you need to address that immediately and call an emergency plumber.  A plumber will show up and could end up telling you that you do indeed have a gas leak. If that happens, it can make the home no longer a safe environment. In this situation, you may end up having to leave the home for a few days until the situation is taken care of.

Gas leaks can cause two lethal things if left untreated. They can start fires inside the home and if it gets bad enough, you can get gas poisoning from breathing in too much of that gas.  So, you need to keep your nose and ears sharp if you suspect that there is a gas leak in your home.

Overflowing Toilet 

Once in a while, you may run into a situation where the toilet is clogged, and the stuff you just did in there will not go down the drain. You may feel gross about it but you just get your plunger until it starts to go down most of the time.

Now, imagine you tried that and you think your toilet will function properly now. You flush it only to discover that your toilet has gone haywire and started to overflow. This could cause your whole bathroom and more to get flooded, not to mention all of the dirty water that is now on the floor.

Unless you want to do your business in a bucket for the rest of the time that you live in your home, you are going to need to call a plumber as soon as possible to fix this. Going to the bathroom is a basic need, especially for times when you can’t stand up to do your business.

On top of this, a toilet that does not stop overflowing could spread to the rest of your house. That means if the overflowing goes on long enough, it could spread to other rooms besides your bathroom.  It is doubtful that anybody wants the water they just used to go to the bathroom to show up in their bedroom. So, do not hesitate to call a plumber if you find yourself in this situation.

Sump Pump Failure 

One part of your home that you may forget exists is your sump pump. Some of you reading this may not even know what a sump pump is.  Well, a sump pump is a tool in your home that can prevent it from getting flooded. This is particularly focused on rooms underneath the ground in your home such as your basement.

The reason why this tool is needed is that when there are heavy rain storms, the soil that surrounds your home can become saturated. All of that water in turn has to go somewhere, and your home is standing adjacent to that soil.

What the sump pump does is collect the water that is saturating your soil and pump it out before it flows to a room in your house below the ground such as your basement.  Let’s use the small effects of a hurricane as an example. A town in the northern half of the country may not directly get the hurricane but it could get some of the rain that comes with it.

When this happens, houses that are not prepared can get flooded quickly. If your sump pump fails, this could happen to you. That is why when you realize your sump pump is not working, you have to call a plumber as soon as you can to fix the issue.

Sometimes, you may already have flood damage in your home by the time you discover your sump pump failed. In that situation, you can only get it fixed to make sure a similar situation does not happen again to you.

Burst Pipes 

Burst pipes are one of the worst things that you can happen to the structure of your home. The reason why is that this is usually a bigger job to fix compared to the issues above. On top of this, you are vulnerable to all kinds of issues with burst pipes in your home.

One of the biggest things that you need to worry about is your vulnerability to mold. When pipes burst in your home, it increases the chances of mold spreading within a home at unhealthy levels.

Mold grows under these circumstances and it already has a presence in homes as is. About 70% of homes in the United States already have mold in them. What this should tell you is that when pipes burst, this mold is already there and could become a much bigger presence in your home.

When that happens, it could risk the integrity of your home. Houses and businesses get shut down all of the time because of mold infestations.

Besides mold, questions may start to rise about how stable your house structure is without those pipes holding steady. In other words, you may be dealing with a massive project if you ever run into a situation where your pipes burst. It could get to the point where you can’t live in your house. So, make sure you call a plumber to start this process as soon as possible.

Leaking Faucet 

Something that you may not think to call a plumber about right away is a leaking faucet. You probably will assume that it is not a big deal and that it could be something that just goes away on its own.  Then, days pass and the faucet continues to leak. This goes on for a while and then next month, you notice your water bill is a lot higher than usual.

That is because the faucet has been leaking all this time and you get charged for it. A leaking faucet could also mean that something is wrong with your pipes. When this happens, you should not hesitate to call a plumber.

You want to get this fixed to prevent additional costs on your water bill in the future. Also, calling a plumber about this could save you additional problems with your water pipes down the road.

Clogged Drain 

A toilet clogging is not the only thing you have to worry about in your home. What if water refuses to go down your sink? What if you are in the shower and the water that goes on the floor can’t go down the drain?

In these situations, you have very limited use of those areas when the drains are not working. You may not be able to take more than a couple of showers before the water from that area floods your whole bathroom. As for a clogged sink, after a handful of times of washing your hands or brushing your teeth, the water could overflow onto the floor.

What you need to do in this situation is call a plumber if you can’t get the water to go down the drain yourself. Sometimes, a clogged drain has an issue that is deeper than somewhere you can reach on your own.  If you use your sink as a garbage disposal, there is a chance that a piece of food got stuck in the middle of the drain. Then, it could prevent water from flowing through the drain properly.

Regardless, you are going to want to get a plumber in your house in this situation if you have exhausted other options and you do not want that water overflowing onto your floors and carpets.

Peace of Mind 

Finally, you may want to call a plumber just to get some peace of mind about a situation in your home. This may not always be the cheapest route to go but you will get guaranteed confirmation of any issue that you may suspect.

You could go crazy hearing something in the walls and think a pipe has burst. A faucet may leak once in a while and you just can’t make it stop for good.  These things are good examples of when it may be time to get a professional to take a second look.

Hire an Emergency Plumber 

These are just a few examples of times when you need to hire an emergency plumber. In these situations, time could be of the essence.

You want to make sure you have running water in your home before you run into a situation where you have no other clean drinking water. You need to take care of gas leaks before a fire starts and burst pipes before your house is compromised.

Are you looking for a plumber to fix something in your home? Contact us today!

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