Maintenance

Emergency Plumbing Checklist: What to Do Before Help Arrives

August 15, 2025·5 min read

Burst pipe, sewage backup, no heat in freezing weather, water heater letting go — what you do in the first few minutes genuinely changes how much damage you are repairing afterward. This is worth reading before you need it, because nobody reads carefully with water coming through a ceiling.

One thing to do today, while nothing is wrong: find your main water shutoff and confirm you can turn it. In most NYC houses it is in the cellar near where the service line enters, often at the front wall. In an apartment it may be a valve serving your unit, or it may be a building riser you cannot control on your own. Knowing which, before an emergency, is the difference between a wet floor and a flooded one.

For an active leak or burst pipe

Shut off the main water valve immediately — this comes before everything else on this list
Cut power at the breaker to any area where water is near outlets, fixtures, a panel, or the boiler
Open faucets on the affected line to drain the remaining water and relieve pressure
Move furniture, electronics, and anything absorbent out of the path of the water
Contain what you can with buckets and towels, and pull up wet rugs so they do not soak the floor beneath
Photograph the damage once it is safe to do so, for your insurance claim

If you cannot find or turn the main, and the leak is significant, call us and say exactly that when you do. It changes how we dispatch.

For a sewage backup

Stop using water anywhere in the building — every flush, shower, and load of laundry adds to what has nowhere to go
Keep children and pets away from the affected area entirely
Do not attempt to clear a severe backup yourself, and do not pour chemical drain cleaner into it
Open windows for ventilation if you can do so safely
Wear gloves and boots if you have to be in the area at all, and wash thoroughly afterward

A backup is a health hazard, not only a plumbing failure. In a two- or three-family house it is also everyone's problem at once, which means letting the other units know to stop running water is a genuinely useful thing to do while you wait.

For no heat in freezing weather

Check the thermostat is set to heat and above room temperature, and that its batteries are not dead
Check the emergency switch — the red switch plate at the top of the cellar stairs or beside the boiler, which gets flipped by accident constantly
Check the breaker; a boiler needs electricity even when it burns gas or oil
Press a burner reset button once, and once only — repeated resets flood an oil burner with unburned fuel
Let faucets on exposed runs drip, so a cold house does not also become a burst-pipe call
Call rather than waiting it out overnight if temperatures are below freezing

If you smell gas or a carbon monoxide detector has sounded, none of the above applies. Leave the building first, then call the utility from outside.

For a failed water heater

If a tank is leaking rather than merely not heating, shut off the cold supply valve at the top of the unit and cut its power — the breaker for an electric heater, the gas control valve set to off for a gas one. A tank that has split will empty its full capacity onto the floor, so getting the supply closed matters more than diagnosing it.

If water is discharging from the temperature and pressure relief valve, that valve is doing its job and something upstream is wrong. Do not cap it, plug it, or tie it off. It is a safety device.

What actually counts as an emergency

Genuine emergencies: active leaks and burst pipes, sewage backing up into a fixture, no heat in freezing weather, total loss of water, a water heater that has let go, and any suspected gas leak or CO alarm. These are worth a call at 2am, and we dispatch for them.

Not emergencies, and we would rather tell you so than charge you emergency dispatch for them: a dripping faucet, one slow drain with everything else working, a running toilet, or low pressure at a single fixture. Those are next-day calls. A running toilet is worth shutting off at its supply valve overnight and dealing with in the morning.

Keep this somewhere you can find it

Where the main water shutoff is, and whether it turns
Where the electrical panel is, and which breaker serves the boiler and the water heater
Where the gas shutoff is, and the utility's emergency number
Whether your unit has its own shutoff or is on a building riser
Our number: 347-957-7054

We answer emergency calls nights, weekends, and holidays. Routine appointments follow standard business hours; emergency calls are answered 24/7.

Frequently Asked Questions

In most NYC houses, in the cellar near where the service line enters the building, often at the front wall. In an apartment you may have a valve serving your unit, or the shutoff may be a building riser you cannot control yourself. Worth locating and testing before you need it.

For an active leak or burst pipe, yes — that is the single most useful thing you can do. It stops the damage accumulating while you wait. If the valve will not turn or you cannot find it, tell us when you call.

Yes. It is a health hazard as well as a plumbing failure, and it worsens with every fixture used in the building. Stop using water, keep people and pets clear, and call.

In freezing weather it is an emergency — both for the people in the building and because unheated cellars and exterior walls are where pipes split. Call right away if anyone in the home is elderly, an infant, or medically vulnerable.

A dripping faucet, a single slow drain, a running toilet, or low pressure at one fixture. Those are next-day calls, and we would rather book you for the morning than charge emergency dispatch for something that can wait.

Yes. Routine appointments follow standard business hours, but emergency calls are answered around the clock, including nights, weekends, and holidays.