The hours between a plumbing failure and significant damage to your home can be few. It is helpful to understand what a plumbing professional is actually doing during an emergency callout.
Isolating the Water Supply
The first task of an emergency plumber is to stop the flow of water. This is usually done by locating the appropriate stop valve to switch off. The stop valve can be inside your home or located outside at the boundary of your property. This would be far quicker than allowing a homeowner to try and find the correct valve while water continues to pour out.
Draining Down the Affected Area
With the water flow now stopped, the plumber will also start to drain the affected section of pipework and drain down the radiators to try to remove as much water as possible from the area. The longer water is allowed to sit against the floors, joists and walls of your home the greater the risk and degree of water damage to occur.
Containing an Active Leak
The emergency plumber can quickly place a temporary repair for a failed fitting or burst pipe, such as a push-fit connector, a compression fitting or a pipe clamp.
Protecting Floors and Electrics
Water could cause serious harm to any wiring or consumer units. They can then identify if any of the electrics in the area affected by the leak need to be isolated and advise on this. The floors and skirting boards can also be checked for damage or saturated wooden boards that may rot before they are noticed.
Making Safe Failed Fittings
This could be a burst stopcock, a broken flexi hose connection or a crack in a joint. A plumber can turn off the supply to these types of faults and temporarily repair them so you can have water while they can book in to repair permanently.
Emergency Plumber Cheltenham is covered in more detail at https://www.hprservicesltd.com/emergency-plumber-cheltenham/.
It makes a big difference in the long run if the emergency situation is handled properly in the first minutes.
