Plumbing Emergency? What You Should Know

When there's a plumbing emergency, there are things you need to know since you may have to wait for a little while until help can arrive. The best thing you can do is to hire a professional plumber to help you in an emergency situation, but even an emergency plumber may take a little while to get to you. In the event of an emergency, you need to be prepared and have some knowledge of what needs to be done until help can arrive. Read on for some helpful tips you can use.

Shut Off The Water

If you have water coming into your home via a water supply pipe, you can turn off the water supply to prevent any more water from coming into your home. A pipe can burst in your home for any number of reasons, and if it's a water supply line, you can turn off the water nearby to shut off the pipe. If it's coming in near the main water supply line, you may have to shut it off at the main. In this case, you need to know where this is located in your home, and you should know where all of the shut-off valves are located in your home.

Clear Your Drains

If you have water coming in via a pipe that is a drain, this is wastewater, and you will not be able to shut off the water to prevent the water and waste from coming inside your home. In this case, you will need to clear the drains to get the water and waste to go down. You may be able to clear your drains, at least temporarily with a plunger, or you can use a snake or a drain cleaner to get the drains cleared, at least until help can arrive to clear your drains out a bit better.

Prevent Issues

Prevent issues in the first place by taking better care of the drains in your home and taking better care of the water lines in your home as well. Keep an eye out for minor leaks and have them repaired to prevent a major leak in your home. If you are putting improper items down your drains, you are eventually going to have a clog. Toilet paper and waste are all that should ever be flushed down your toilet. You need to use drain stops in your sink basins to prevent other things from going down your drains. You also need to keep food scraps, oil, and grease out of your drains to prevent clogs.

If you have a plumbing issue, you should hire an emergency plumber to help you make the necessary repairs.

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