Angie Hicks of Angie's List says, "Unfortunately, plumbing disasters can happen to anyone. They happened to me, in fact, this summer. My injector pump went out on my basement bathroom when I had guests over for the weekend. Needless to say, I had to call in the emergency plumber."
Homeowner Anita Rudy had a similar experience. What she thought was a small leak on a Saturday meant she had to call an emergency plumber as well. She said, "What happened was I came home Sunday from shopping and noticed that there was some water on the floor in the kitchen and I thought, 'Oh gosh, something is leaking.'"
Plumbers get extremely busy around the holidays.
Ryan Carpenter is a Plumber. He explains, "You get a lot of people from out of town that aren't used to the home so they'll start putting things down the disposal that shouldn't be going down there or that the homeowner would not normally put down there."
Know where your shut off valve is in case you do have an emergency and have to wait for a plumber. Carpenter adds, "Our guys are all instructed that as soon as we get the dispatch after hours to call the homeowner and figure out what the problem is and try to do a little self-diagnostic over the phone. For instance, if their water heater is leaking, walk through the customer and show them how to turn off the water heater or maybe even the main water line. I think it really depends and customers should expect a technician to walk them through a few of those things until they can get there; especially if it is going to be 2-3 hours from then."
Having a relationship with a plumber in advance may help you in and emergency situation. But you should expect to pay more on holidays.
