What makes a plumbing situation into an emergency?
For homeowners and property managers, knowing what makes a plumbing situation into an emergency can save time and effort—and sometimes money—that can easily add up. One of the big factors that play into this decision-making is the potential for water damage.
"And it's very easy to categorize water damage as a serious issue, because the longer it sits, obviously, the more potential for damaging structural issues," said Josh Frisch, a service manager at Blue Sky Plumbing. A burst pipe, for instance, has the potential to cause flooding in a very short amount of time.
In defining a plumbing emergency, one factor that plays a critical role is the risk to health and safety. When plumbing issues like sewage backups arise, they pose serious health threats because of the bacteria and other pathogens involved. This not only creates a really unpleasant living environment but also directly risks residents' health, necessitating an immediate response from plumbing health professionals to restore sanitary conditions.
Another emergency plumbing issue is a gas leak from faulty plumbing. This can be dangerous for a number of reasons, the most obvious being fire hazards and respiratory issues. Any plumbing problem that creates a risk to the health and safety of the property's occupants is an emergency plumbing problem because it requires urgent and definitive action to resolve.
The presence of vital utilities extremely affects whether a plumbing problem is considered an emergency. If everything's working properly, we have access to hot water any time we need it. But if there's no hot water, or if the hot water is coming out of the wrong fixture (like a bathtub instead of a lavatory), then the plumbing has a serious problem that might eventually cause flooding. So instead of waiting for the issue to resolve itself, we should call for professional plumbers to come and fix it. These and other breaches of plumbing service are plumbing emergencies, severe enough to constitute a call for action.