Is one of the toilets in your home clogged up right now? If so, this is not usually going to be a plumbing emergency.
You should be able to unclog the toilet on your own within a matter of just a few seconds. You won’t have to call a plumber to assist you with plumbing problems like this.
That being said, there are quite a few signs that will show you that you have a plumbing emergency on your hands. And you won’t want to ignore these signs for any longer than you absolutely have to. You also won’t want to take the DIY plumbing approach to dealing with them.
We’ve put together a list of five signs that’ll indicate the presence of a plumbing emergency in your home. You should have them addressed by a plumber before you have a true plumbing disaster that you have to be concerned about.
Check out these signs below.
1. Strange Sounds Coming From Your Plumbing System
When you flush one of your toilets or turn on one of your faucets, you’re obviously going to hear some sounds coming from your plumbing system. These sounds shouldn’t be anything that you have to worry about.
But if you’re hearing gurgling sounds coming from a toilet when it’s not in use or water rushing through your plumbing pipes when you aren’t using any plumbing fixtures, it could be a problem. You might have a plumbing emergency that needs to be dealt with.
Whatever the case, you shouldn’t hesitate to call a plumber if you ever hear strange sounds emanating from your plumbing system. An emergency plumber can come and listen to these sounds to see what might be causing them.
2. Weird Smells Emerging From Your Plumbing System
In addition to keeping an ear out for any strange sounds coming from your plumbing system, you should also take a whiff of any weird smells that could be coming from it. If your house starts to smell like a sewer at any point, this is not a good sign as it could mean a plumbing disaster is about to take place.
You should exit your home if you ever smell gas or any other bad smells that could be coming from your plumbing system. They could suggest that there is something wrong with your sewer line. You’ll need to have a plumber come out to take a look at what’s going on.
3. Consistently Low Water Pressure in Your Home
It’s not all that uncommon for homeowners to experience low water pressure in their houses every now and then. You might have low water pressure when you’re using a bunch of plumbing fixtures at once. You might also have it if there is a broken water main near your home that’s being fixed.
But if you seem to have low water pressure pretty much every day, you might have an issue that will need to be fixed. An unaddressed water leak, for example, could be to blame for the low water pressure in your home.
You shouldn’t put off calling a plumber for low water pressure problems. You can restore your home’s water pressure once and for all with the right plumbing repairs.
4. Broken Pipes in Your Plumbing System That Won’t Stop Leaking
If you have a small water leak somewhere in your home, you might be able to get away with it for a few days. It’s not always going to be a plumbing emergency situation.
But if you have broken pipes that are allowing water to continuously leak from them, that will be a different story. You’ll need to have an emergency plumber step in and replace these pipes as soon as they can.
This will be especially true when you have plumbing pipes in your home that burst after freezing. These pipes are going to become even more problematic than they already are once the water in them unfreezes and starts to shoot out all over the place. Replacing them right away will be your only option.
5. Sewage Backing Up Into Your Home
In a true worst-case scenario, you might have raw sewage from your home’s sewer line back up into your home at some point. It’ll happen when there is a blockage in your sewer line that won’t allow waste and wastewater to pass through the line cleanly.
This raw sewage will come back into your home in whatever ways that it can. It’ll come up through your toilets, your sinks, your bathtubs, and any other drains that you might have. And as you can imagine, it’ll make a gigantic mess in the process.
If you ever have even a little bit of sewage spewing back into your home, you should stop using your plumbing system immediately. You should also get an emergency plumber on the phone and have them pay a visit to your home to get to the bottom of your plumbing problems.
If you’re exposed to raw sewage, it could present some serious health issues for you and your family. It can also do extensive damage and force you to take on a messy cleanup job.
You Should Always Take Care of a Plumbing Emergency ASAP
Many people take their plumbing systems for granted. They don’t spend too much time thinking about just how important these systems are to their houses.
You should always be on the lookout for plumbing problems in your home. You should also know how to spot a plumbing emergency and what to do when you see one. You’ll want to Google “plumbers near me” as soon as you can and get a plumber out to your home to stop a plumbing problem from getting even worse.
Find more tips on taking care of your home’s plumbing system in our other blog articles.