When it comes to plumbing, there’s no denying emergencies can happen. If you’ve experienced one first-hand, you’re likely well aware of this! And if you’ve been lucky enough to avoid a plumbing emergency up to this point, we hope it stays that way! Nonetheless, when a real plumbing emergency strikes, you need to be able to act fast in an effort to limit the overall damage. In terms of immediate action items, this could mean a few different things, including knowing a reliable plumbing company that can get a technician out to your home or business as quickly as possible.
Here at Stine-Nichols Plumbing, we’re well aware of the financial toll that can be caused by major plumbing problems, especially when left unattended for longer periods of time. As a company that offers both residential and commercial plumbing services, we also understand that time is money, both with plumbing emergencies and routine plumbing issues. Generally speaking, the longer an issue is left unresolved, the bigger headache it can create. In any case, we would first like to welcome any new visitors to our plumbing blog! With this week’s post, we’ll discuss how plumbing emergencies can occur and why it’s so important to know how to act once you notice something is clearly not right.
What could be considered a plumbing emergency?
As you could likely guess, not every single plumbing problem out there would fall under the category of “emergencies.” Yes, most reliable plumbing companies should be able to get a technician out to your house fairly quickly, but for the sake of this blog, something like replacing a flapper in a toilet would probably be less time-sensitive than a flooded basement, right?
Having said that, does anything immediately come to mind when you hear the phrase, “plumbing emergency?” Here are a few that typically require attention sooner rather than later:
Hot Water Heater Issues – While a water heater problem isn’t always an urgent emergency, it’s safe to say that having no hot water can be incredibly frustrating for homeowners. Sometimes this can be fixed relatively easily by an experienced technician, while other times you may be soon needing a water heater replacement. Whether it be having no hot water at all, the tank actually leaking, some weird noises coming from the unit or anything else, it’s typically going to be wise to get a licensed plumbing professional out there relatively quickly.
As a side note, any guesses what lesson can be learned from this? Similarly to many other aspects of owning a home, keeping your water heater running at optimal performance is going to require some routine maintenance. With water heaters, this routine maintenance is going to involve an annual flush of the tank to remove any sediment that may have accumulated.
Sewer Line Troubles – When it comes to residential (and even most commercial) settings, making repairs or replacing a sewer line is going to be one of the more expensive and complex projects out there. Considering they’re more than a few feet underground, you could have some trouble brewing down there for a little bit of time before you really notice any major warning signs. Luckily, advanced sewer inspection cameras allow our plumbing technicians to get an inside look at what exactly is going on inside of your sewer line.
Before we continue on though, it’s important to understand that sewer lines can fail for a number of different reasons. It could just be the pipe deteriorating due to old age, tree roots finding their way inside the line or even just putting the wrong things down your drains. If you start to experience consistent sewer back-ups or multiple drains clogging up, it may be wise to call your local plumber.
Pipes Bursting – More often than not, when someone thinks of plumbing emergencies, the first thing that comes to mind is water spraying everywhere. Unsurprisingly, water damage is a real issue and not something you’ll want to take lightly. From mold outbreaks and ever-increasing water bills to property damage and so much more, it’s always going to be something worth getting fixed in a timely manner. However, since this blog is focused on emergencies, it’s impossible to ignore those instances where a pipe actually bursts and water starts spraying out. A perfect example of this comes from the colder months when your pipes may freeze and then eventually burst. No matter what the cause for the pipe burst may be, your first step should be to turn off the water at the main. While this won’t take care of everything, it will ensure that you’re limiting the potential damage. After this, you’ll get your local plumber on the phone and they can help with the next steps before turning back on the water.
Flooded Basement – Going hand-in-hand with the point we referenced above on pipes bursting, a flooded basement is almost always something that would be considered an emergency. Long story short, without diving too deep into it, basements can get flooded for a variety of different reasons. As we often say, one of your best friends in preventing a massive headache like this is going to revolve around having a functioning sump pump installed. The key word there being “functioning.” In other words, if your sump pump isn’t ready to go the next time a heavy rainfall makes it through, then it really isn’t all that useful! The purpose of a sump pump is fairly straightforward. It’s generally installed in a basement or crawl space and designed to disperse any water (that may accumulate) away from the home’s foundation. All in all, this is designed to prevent any flooding from occurring. However, they can fail for a few different reasons, so it never hurts to give it a test every now and then.
Commercial Plumbing
If you own or manage a commercial facility, emergency plumbing can be expanded to not only the bigger problems, but also even some of the smaller ones. Particularly for bigger facilities, such as retail stores, or businesses that have multiple locations, there’s not a whole lot of time to waste and you would like to avoid having this plumbing issue negatively impact your daily operations. With that in mind, before I wrap up this blog post, one point that I wanted to highlight is that CONSISTENCY is a critical quality to look for in any commercial plumber. As usual, you’ll want to do your own due diligence in terms of vetting their experience, licenses, pricing, services and so on, but you’ll also need to get an idea of how consistently they can follow through on what they promise. Like I mentioned above, commercial businesses that have multiple locations need a company with enough manpower to handle the plumbing at each of these spots. And that includes both the emergency situations that require immediate attention (even on the weekends), as well as the routine stuff that still needs to be completed in a timely manner.
Call Your Local Kansas City Plumbers at Stine-Nichols Plumbing
As mentioned above, here at Stine-Nichols, we understand that plumbing emergencies are something that can happen. Can they be prevented? Some of the time, yes. Unfortunately though, other times, it is simply out of your control. Being a business that takes pride in providing our customers with a one-stop shop for all of their plumbing needs, emergency solutions is something we’re happy to offer. We hope this blog helped educate you on some of the different areas where an emergency could arise. If you ever need a plumber out to your home or business in a hurry, don’t hesitate to give us a call at (816) 348-3481 or fill out the form HERE. We’re always ready to help!