Emergency Plumber in Colorado Springs, CO
Shut the main water valve off first, then call us. The main is usually where the service line enters the house, on the street side of a basement or crawlspace, and there is a second shutoff in the meter pit at the curb. Turn it clockwise until it stops. Then open the lowest faucet in the house to drain the system. Our emergency line is answered around the clock.
Do this first
1. Shut the main off. That is the valve where the water line enters your house, usually on the street-facing side of a basement or crawlspace, before the water heater. A round handle turns clockwise. A lever turns a quarter turn until it is across the pipe. If you cannot find it or it will not move, there is a second shutoff in the meter pit by the curb, which needs a curb key to reach.
2. Drain the system down. Open the lowest faucet in the house, a basement sink or a laundry tub, and let the pipes empty. Every gallon that comes out there is a gallon that does not come out of the break.
3. Turn the water heater off. Gas valve to off, or the breaker for an electric unit. A heater firing on an empty tank damages itself quickly.
4. Cut power to anything near water. If water is anywhere near outlets, a panel or an appliance, switch that circuit off at the breaker. If you would have to stand in water to reach the panel, do not. Stay out and tell us on the phone.
5. Call. Tell us what is running, where it is coming from and whether the main is off. If the main will not close, say that first, because it changes what we do next.
If you smell gas near the water heater, leave the building and call the gas utility from outside before you call anyone else.
What we treat as an emergency
Water running that you cannot stop. A burst supply line, a split hose bib spraying into a wall, a failed connector under a sink.
Sewage backing up into a tub, a shower or a basement floor drain. That is a health problem as much as a plumbing one, and every flush upstairs makes it worse. Stop using water in the house.
A water heater dumping its tank across a finished basement.
No water at all in the house, particularly in a hard freeze when a line has frozen solid and may already be split.
A gas smell near a gas appliance. Call the utility, from outside, first.
What can safely wait until morning
One slow drain with everything else working. A dripping faucet. A toilet that runs on. A water heater that is cooler than usual but not leaking. A small drip from a shutoff valve that you can put a bucket under.
Booking these in normal hours costs you less and gets the same plumber. We would rather tell you honestly that it can wait than charge an overnight rate for something that can.
How after hours works here
The emergency line is answered around the clock, every day of the year, including holidays. Whoever picks up will walk you through shutting the water off before anything else, because stopping the flow is worth more than the fastest possible arrival.
You get told the after hours callout charge on the phone, before anyone is dispatched. Nights, weekends and holidays carry a higher rate than a weekday appointment, and that is the honest reason to book non-urgent work in normal hours.
When your plumber arrives they find the cause, explain it and quote one flat price for the repair. You approve that number before any tool comes out of the van, at 2am the same way you would at 2pm. If the permanent repair needs a part or daylight, we will do whatever makes the house safe and usable tonight, quote the full fix, and come back to finish it.
Shoe covers and drop cloths apply on an emergency call too. So does clearing up afterwards.
While you wait
Move furniture, rugs and boxes clear of the water. Lift curtains off the floor. If the ceiling below is bulging, put a bucket under it and stay out from underneath.
Photograph everything before you clean up, from several angles, including the failed part if you can see it. Insurance claims turn on that evidence and it takes two minutes.
Do not put a wet vacuum into standing water that has come up from a drain. That water is contaminated and it needs different handling.
If it is a freeze, leave the cabinet doors open under sinks on exterior walls and do not use a naked flame anywhere near a frozen pipe.
Preventing the next one
Most of our winter emergencies trace back to the same few things. A garden hose left on a hose bib over winter traps water in the bib and splits the copper behind it. Supply runs through a vented crawlspace with no insulation freeze on the first hard night after a mild day, and the Old North End, Manitou Springs and older Fountain homes are full of them. Crawlspace vents left open all winter keep the space at outside temperature.
Pull the hoses off in fall. Insulate any pipe in an unheated space. Close the crawlspace vents for winter. Find your main shutoff, make sure it turns, and tag it so anyone in the house can find it in the dark.
Common questions
Where is my main water shutoff?
Look on the street-facing side of the house where the supply pipe comes through the floor or the wall, usually in a basement, a crawlspace or a utility closet. It is a round handle or a lever on the pipe before the water heater. Outside, there is a meter pit near the curb with a valve in it that needs a curb key. Find yours now and tag it, while nothing is wrong.
What should I do in the first five minutes?
Shut the main off. Open the lowest faucet in the house, usually a basement sink or a laundry tub, so the system drains and stops feeding the leak. Turn the water heater off at the gas valve or the breaker. Kill power at the breaker to any circuit near standing water. Move what you can out of the way. Then call and we will talk you through the rest.
What counts as a real emergency?
Water running that you cannot stop. Sewage coming up into a tub, a shower or a floor drain. A water heater emptying across a finished floor. No water at all in the house. A gas smell near a water heater, which means leaving the building and calling the utility first. Everything else, including a single slow drain or a dripping faucet, is safe to book for the morning.
Does an emergency call cost more?
Nights, weekends and holidays carry a callout charge that reflects the hour, and you are told that number on the phone before anyone is dispatched. The repair itself is still quoted flat and approved by you before work starts. We do not price off how worried you sound, and we do not add to the number once it is agreed.
Will my insurance cover this?
Most standard homeowners policies pay to dry out and repair sudden water damage from a burst pipe, while the cost of repairing the pipe itself is generally excluded. Slow leaks that ran unnoticed for months are often excluded too. Photograph everything before you clean up, keep the failed section of pipe and call your carrier the same day.
Can you come out to Monument or Fountain at night?
Yes. The emergency line covers Colorado Springs and El Paso County, from Monument down to Fountain and out to Manitou Springs. Drive time is longer at the edges of the county, so you will get a realistic arrival window on the phone rather than an optimistic one. Keep the main off until we get there.