What counts as a plumbing emergency?

The test is simple: is the problem accumulating damage right now? A dripping faucet wastes water but waits politely for an appointment. A supply line spraying inside a wall does not wait — every minute is drywall, insulation, and flooring. If water is moving and you cannot stop it, that is an emergency, full stop.

Sewage backing up into the house is the other unambiguous one. That is wastewater with nowhere to go choosing your lowest fixture, and it is both a damage and a health problem. Stop running water — every flush and load feeds it — and call.

The gray areas: no hot water is an emergency for a household with infants or medical needs and an inconvenience for others — tell dispatch your situation and we route accordingly. A water heater actively leaking from the tank deserves urgent attention even if the leak looks small, because tanks fail forward, not backward. And if you turn your main shutoff and it will not close, treat that as urgent even without an active leak: you have no defense when something does let go.

When in doubt, call and describe what you see. Dispatch triages honestly — we would rather tell you it can wait than have you wait on something that cannot.