Plumbing emergencies get messy fast. It doesn’t matter from where, when there’s water gushing there’s damage bound to be done. But, the worst thing you can do in a plumbing emergency is panic. In this article, Emergency Plumber Boca Raton goes over the most common types of plumbing emergencies that they encounter along with how to deal with them.
1. Damaged Water Heater
A damaged water heater means two things: no hot water until it’s fixed and probably a hefty repair bill. This means no hot showers, not hot water for doing the dishes or washing clothes.
However, there are some telltale signs that your water heater is about to break down. Knowing these signs will help you prepare for the worse and maybe even prevent them. It’s a financially wise move to inspect your water each once a quarter and look for signs of rusty, corrosion or leaks.
Catching these damages early will give you enough time to prepare and save the money that you’ll need to replace your water heater. The good news is that the average lifetime of a water heater is anywhere from 8 to 12 years – so once you’ve bought a new one then you’re worry free for years.
Worse case, your water heater is already broken, then the only thing you can do is to call an emergency plumber to hook you up with a new one. Unless you don’t mind cold water for the rest of your life.
2. Broken Water Lines
A broken water line quickly degenerates into an expensive mess. We wish there were better tips and tricks we could offer but the truth is that you need to call an emergency plumber right away. Water lines are usually compromised by tree roots.
Worst case, your water line breaks and you don’t know about it. This type of leakage, even if it’s small one, will rack up a massive water bill fast. Best case, your yard floods and you can easily detect and fix the broken waterline.
3. Leaky Pipes
A leaky pipe can quickly lead to water damage and a flooding basement. Both are expensive problems to deal with. However, out of everything we’ve talked about so far, a leaky pipe is the least worst and easiest to deal with.
If you have any experience, then you can solder the pipe at the leaky spot. To do this you’ll need HVAC/Plumbing sandpaper, solder alloy and a blow torch. A few YouTube DIY videos will show you how to take care of this problem.
Do be warned, soldering is a dangerous thing. You need to be extremely aware of your environment. For example, if you’re soldering near insulation, you need to be extremely careful about what way the flame faces. At the same time you need to be aware of where the excess solder will drip as to not burn yourself or start a fire. Not to mention, you’re operating a blow torch.
This DIY method is only recommended if you’re a handyman type of guy. Otherwise, call an emergency plumber.
