Home emergency playbook
No water anywhere in the house
Conservative first steps for homeowners before cleanup, repair, or contractor dispatch. When safety is uncertain, leave and call first.
Immediate steps
- Call the utility emergency line first before hiring private repair.
- Check one cold tap, one hot tap, and an outside hose bib to confirm the outage is house-wide.
- Ask a nearby neighbor or check the water provider alert page to separate a public outage from your service line.
- Turn off laundry, ice makers, humidifiers, and recirculation pumps so they do not run dry while pressure is gone.
Do not do this
- Do not dig around the service line, meter pit, or curb valve to look for the break.
- Do not keep toilets, dishwashers, or washing machines calling for water during the outage.
- Do not assume a pressure surge is safe for old fixtures when service returns; open faucets slowly.
Who to call
- Call 911 if anyone is injured, trapped, in medical distress, or if fire, shock, collapse, or active crime is present.
- Call the utility emergency line before private repair when gas, electric service, public water, sewer main, or buried lines may be involved.
- Call a plumber for pipe, fixture, water heater, sewer, or private water-line repair after immediate hazards are controlled.
Damage mitigation
- Fill clean containers only if the provider says water is safe and pressure has not fully disappeared.
- Keep photos of the meter, utility notice, and any muddy sinkhole or wet strip along the service path.
- After pressure returns, flush sediment from a bathtub spout before running filters, valves, or appliances.
Prevention
- Keep the water provider's emergency number with the valve tag, not only in a phone contact.
- Review service-line responsibility before landscaping, driveway work, or tree planting near the route.
- Store drinking water for people, pets, and medical equipment that cannot wait for a main repair.
Typical cost band
Often low or no cost when the public utility owns the problem; high when a private service line or buried pipe must be excavated.
Insurance note
A utility outage usually is not a property claim, but a broken private service line may depend on separate buried-line coverage.
Related ProFix resources
Plumber emergency guideTrade-specific dispatch, utility-first, and after-hours cost guidance.Troubleshooting encyclopediaSymptoms, maintenance intervals, contracts, and warranty norms.National FAQHiring, licensing, scams, permits, and DIY boundaries.Cost calculatorPlan the permanent repair after the emergency is controlled.