Emergency Plumber in Valparaiso, IN: Burst Pipes, Clogged Drains and Water Heater Trouble

What to do first when a pipe lets go in your Valparaiso home

The first few minutes decide how much of the house gets wet. These are the safe steps any homeowner can take before a plumber arrives.

1. Find the main shutoff and close it. In most homes it sits where the water line enters the house, often in a basement, utility room or crawl space, close to the water meter. Turn the handle clockwise until it stops.
2. Open the lowest faucet in the house. A basement laundry sink or a hose bib drains the lines and takes the pressure off the break.
3. Keep away from standing water near electricity. If water is near outlets, appliances or the panel, do not wade in. Call 911 or the electric utility instead.
4. Photograph the damage and move what you can. Pictures help with an insurance claim, and lifting furniture and rugs off wet floors limits what you lose.
5. Call and describe what you see. Say where the water is coming from, whether the shutoff worked and how far the water has spread.

If the shutoff valve will not turn, do not lean on it with a wrench. An old valve can snap and leave you with no way to stop the water. Tell the plumber on the phone that it is stuck, and ask the city water utility about the valve at the street, which normally belongs to the utility and not to you.

A smell of gas is a different call. Leave the house, call the gas utility or 911 from outside, and bring in a plumber for repairing a gas line once the utility clears it only after the utility has cleared the home.

Whose pipe is it: yours or the city's?

Before you pay for a repair, find out which side of the line the problem is on. The answer decides who you call and what the work involves.

The City of Valparaiso utilities supply water from 16 groundwater wells in three wellfields, according to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. If low pressure or no water shows up on your block and not just in your house, ask the utility before you call a plumber. If the trouble is inside your shutoff, it is a plumbing job.

Sewer lines work the same way. Ownership of the lateral depends on where it crosses your property line and on city rules for your address, so ask City Utilities which section is yours before any digging is priced. That question matters most for a repeat backup, where the choice is between repairing the sewer line on your section on your section and a report to the city about the main in the street.

Digging brings two requirements. Indiana law says anyone who digs must contact Indiana 811 at least two full working days before starting, which covers a sewer or water service repair. Permits are set locally, and Indiana plumbing rules require a contractor to pull one wherever a local ordinance calls for it. Ask the plumber on your job whether a permit applies and who pulls it, and check with the building department that covers your address.

The Indiana Plumbing Commission licenses journeyman plumbers and plumbing contractors. License details are available on request before work begins.

Water heater running out of hot water early?

Most of the water heater calls we expect here start the same way: the tank is louder than it used to be, the hot water runs out sooner, or there is a puddle at the base. Valparaiso's tap water comes from wells, and water drawn from the ground carries dissolved minerals. Those minerals settle out as sediment in a tank and crust over fixtures and aerators.

Rumbling and popping from a tank usually points to that sediment. A tank that leaks from its body, as opposed to a fitting on top, is usually finished. A plumber doing fixing a failing water heater can tell the two apart, and will say when a tank has reached the point where replacing the water heater is the sounder choice.

The city utility can tell you the hardness of the water at your address. Ask for that figure before you buy a water softener, because it sets the size of the unit you need. The same number also helps if you are weighing a tankless heater, since scale is what shortens the life of those.