There are a lot of plumbers which advertise themselves as emergency 24 hour plumbers. And for good reason. They know that they can charge a lot more to customers who have a serious situation. If you look through your local business directory you are going to find a list of plumbers. A lot of them are going to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As such, an emergency plumber is really easy to find. It's in your best interest to call as many plumbers as possible so that you have some bargaining power if you suspect that one is giving you a particularly high quote.
That Sunday, after giving up on Mr. Godot, I called a few other Trustworthy plumber and eventually called the Sears Service Center. They had a local sub-contractor call me back that very afternoon. He assured me that my house was not going to float away, helped me determine the severity of the problem and pick out a replacement heater. He was here the next day, friendly, courteous, competent, and about $300 less expensive than the other plumbers I talked to. For the record, his name is Len Lamothe and he operates his plumbing business, Spearpoint Plumbing and Heating, out of Canterbury, New Hampshire. I am happy to recommend him.
Toilets have a shut off valve that is most often located on the pipe at the back of the toilet. In all cases look for a silver knob and turn it to shut off the water. A plumbing professional can help you locate these valves if you encounter a problem finding the valve or want reassurance you are handling it correctly.
For this reason it is highly important to make sure you are prepared in a plumbing emergency. The first thing to do then is to make sure that you already have the number of a plumber in your phone book that you can find immediately. The sooner the emergency plumber gets there, the less damage you'll do and the less water you'll waste. Meanwhile you will be more likely to be successful in having your plumbing repaired. Don't make yourself rummage around to try and find the number of a plumber at the last minute - keep it somewhere where you can retrieve it easily when necessary.
He continues to review the scene of destruction, occasionally muttering "Hmmm" under his breath. Somehow I intuitively know that every hmmm is costing me an additional bathtub fifty dollars.
Preventative care is what is needed here such as using commercial products for unclogging a drain and wrapping your pipes and having them insulated. You may also want to invest in drain covers for your drains to catch hair and grease before it becomes a problem that warrants the call to your Local plumber. If you have pipes outdoors that have hoses, before fall sets in, disconnect these hoses and bring them indoors. This is just some of the preventative maintenance that can be used.
If after using a plunger and a plumbers snake your drain is still blocked then it's time to summon your local emergency plumbing services to take over.
Any plumbing problem that involves working with main water lines or gas lines needs to be done by a professional. It takes special gear to turn off city water, and messing with gas lines can be extremely dangerous. Anything else that's a little tricky to do yourself, call a professional plumbing services. You'll have to pay now, but it'll save money - and potentially major repairs for your house - later on.