Signs You Have a Plumbing Emergency on Your Hands

Posted September 5, 2025

Did you know that over one million Americans needed a plumber to come to their home more than 10 times in the past year? While that’s rare, it clearly happens!

But how do you know when to call a plumber and not try to deal with it yourself? You may think that if it’s a small leak or your toilet is being funny, you can ignore it for the day and try to fix it tomorrow.

That’s not always the case, though. In many situations, you should actually be calling an emergency plumber for certain situations. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the signs to look out for with your plumbing problems to know you should call a plumber right away.

How to Know If It Is a Plumbing Emergency

How do you know what is a plumbing emergency? Is it when your toilet overflows or is it when you have a leak? Is it both? While some plumbing issues are simple inconveniences, others can hinder your daily routine. If you are noticing some of the following issues, you can rest assured that it is a plumbing emergency.

Safety Risks

If there is a plumbing problem that puts any risk on you or your family, you need to treat it as an emergency.  This may include gas leaks, not having hot weather, or having a leak that is destroying a ceiling that could potentially fall in.

Water Damage

If there is something wrong with your plumbing that could cause water damage, that is also considered to be an emergency. This could not only pose safety risks, but would also cause property damage.

When your roof caves in, you’ll have a lot of monetary fixes that you have to do, especially if the roof caves where something else is sitting.  This is something to consider as soon as you notice a leak causing water damage.

The Severity of the Issue

Most of the time, you can tell how severe an issue is. Is there a slight trickle coming out of the faucet of your sink or shower, or is there water damage on your ceiling? Is there no water coming out of the faucet at all, or is there just light pressure?

Knowing the answers to these questions will help you determine what you should do about a plumbing issue.

Risks Associated With Ignoring Warning Signs

When you notice any of these warning signs, like water damage, severe plumbing issues, and safety risks that seem to be hindering your everyday life, you need to get help from a professional.

But what happens if you ignore all of the signs? What are the risks associated with it? Here are a few risks that you may encounter:

• Water damage, which can be quite costly
• Risks in hurting yourself or others that live in the home from something leaking and causing flooding or ceiling damage from water leaking on another floor
• No hot water in the colder months

You don’t want to have to deal with any of these things, so you should never ignore the warning signs with plumbing issues.

Examples of Plumbing Emergencies That You Do Not Want to Ignore

So now that you know what is classified as a plumbing emergency, you may want to know more about examples for when you should call a plumber to help you fix your plumbing issues.

Your Water Isn’t Running

Have you ever gone to turn on the water in your sink or your shower only to realize that you have none?

This is definitely a sign that you need an emergency plumber. Rather than waiting to figure it out yourself, it is one of those times that you definitely need to pick up the phone and call the plumber. But first, you should call your neighbors to see if they are having the same issue as well. If they are, you will want to call your landlord to figure out the issue.

While this may be frustrating and time-consuming, especially when it comes to the work week, you need to have water of some sort. By making the right calls, you will ensure that your water comes back in a timely manner.

Your Water Is Leaking

Nearly 10,000 gallons of water is wasted every year from Americans having leaks in their home that they don’t fix. Not only is this wasteful for each homeowner, but this is also detrimental to the environment.

Think about it like this: if your sink or shower drips slowly, only 10 times per minute, you’re still wasting over 500 gallons per year. That’s a lot of water and a lot of money.

You may feel obligated to fix the drip as soon as you see it but forget about it. When that happens, you’re letting the problem get worse over time. The steady drip can become worse or faster as well, which will have the leak letting more water out.

While some leaks are easy to fix, that’s not always the case. Some plumbers will be able to apply plumbers’ tape or a new bracket to the faucet, while other times, a new element will have to be added.

Even if you cover up the leak at first, you should still always have a professional look at the issue so that you can ask questions or they can find anything else that may be causing underlying issues.

On the other hand, there may also be a bigger problem behind the leak. You could have a pressure buildup behind it that is causing the leak. A professional will have to diagnose this issue. And these leaks could be causing damage to the entire structure of the home, so you’ll want to figure that out as soon as possible.

Hot Water Isn’t Working

Sometimes hot water in your faucets fluctuates. There are moments when you shower when the water will go from being freezing cold to hot. There are other times that the water may hover at a lukewarm temperature.

If this happens every once in a while, it is not an issue. However, if it is happening all of the time, you’ll want to have a professional check it out.

For instance, if you turn on your sink to get some hot water to boil and the hot water never comes out, that is an issue. If you turn on your shower as the first person in the morning to shower, and there is no hot water, that is another issue.

While this could be a simple fix, again, you never know. This could be a huge issue. But the only way you will know is if you call a professional to diagnose the issue.

Common root issues of this are:

• Your hot water tank isn’t big enough for your home size
• Breaker issues with the hot water tank

It also may be more serious. While this can seem like just an annoyance at first, the issue can be much worse than a slight annoyance. If you hop in the shower and the water goes from cold to scalding hot, you could end up with burns which is a severe safety risk.

Clogged Drains

Clogged drains are another common plumbing problem that you may be able to fix with an at-home fix. However, sometimes clogged drains are from another larger issue that only a plumber can fix.

Your sinks and tubs may get clogged, and you may be able to unclog it after a bit of work. However, if the drain is then clogged again in a few days, you know that there is something bigger that you may need the help of a plumber to look at.

You may be wondering how plumbers can do a better job. They actually have the right tools like little cameras that they can stick into pipes to see what is causing the constant issue.

The problem may actually be with the septic tank rather than the drain area like you may think. The only person who has the tools and the special training to figure it out would be a plumber.  Plumbers can use special tools like cameras that can look deeper into pipes for

Your Toilet Keeps Overflowing

Every once in a while, you’re going to have a clog in your toilet. It may be embarrassing when it first happens, but you can easily fix it with a plunger and call it a day!

But other times, you may find that your toilet backs up randomly – even if there isn’t a clog that is going on! This is a sign that there is a bigger issue. If you notice it once or twice a year, it may not be something too big to worry about

That’s because it may be a flapper on the back of the toilet that keeps getting stuck or the toilet accidentally keeps running. These are small fixes that don’t cost a lot of money.

However, if it starts becoming a larger issue and happens often (and becomes annoying), then you’ll want to call for help. You will also want to call for help if the toilet actually overflows onto the ground around the toilet. If this happens, you’ll immediately want to turn off the water with the water shutoff valve on the toilet.

There are a couple of issues that could be causing the toilet to overflow:

• It may be a clog if the toilet overflows right after flushing it
• It could be out of nowhere, which signals a clog in the pipes or the drain, or even the sewer line (this is a larger issue that will need a plumber)

A plumber would be able to determine where the clog is coming from to unblock the system to get it flowing and working like normal again. They will know where to check and what to do to fix the problem, even if that means looking at all pipes around the home to find the true issue.

If the septic tank is full, you could also experience a backflow of sewage, not just water. In this case, it is dangerous for the bacteria as well as the mess it would cause. To avoid this, be sure to have your tank cleaned regularly.

Your House Smells Bad

If there is a blockage or overflow, you may start to notice a foul smell. If you notice that this is becoming overbearing or happens often, you’ll want to call a plumber to figure out this large plumbing issue. Doing something wrong could easily make the problem worse or last even longer than you want it to.

What could cause this? A few reasons could be:

• Pipes that are not properly ventilated
• Damage from storms or heavy rainfall
• Clogs in a toilet or pipe beneath the toilet

All of these things can cause a smell, each of which may need to be fixed in a different way.

Call an Emergency Plumber for These Issues

If you feel that you need an emergency plumber, your instincts are probably right. This is not something that you want to wait around on, as the issues can easily get worse (and potentially dangerous and more expensive).

Don’t wait for an emergency to happen. Contact us today!

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