24/7 Emergency Plumbing in Metro Vancouver

First: Turn Off the Water

Everything else can wait. The single most useful thing you can do between noticing a leak and a plumber arriving is close the main shut-off valve — it turns an expensive problem into a contained one.

Then call. We answer the phone at 2am with a person, not a voicemail box, and we will talk you through what to do while a technician is dispatched.

• ✓Close the main — clockwise until it stops. Know where it is before you need it.
• ✓Kill the power if water is near it — only if you can reach the breaker safely and dry.
• ✓Photograph everything — before you mop or move anything — your insurer will ask.
• ✓Move what you can — furniture, rugs, boxes, anything on the floor.
• ✓Do not open walls yourself — you can make the damage and the claim worse.

Aging supply pipe

A huge share of Lower Mainland housing stock was plumbed between 1978 and 1995 in Poly B, which fails suddenly and from the inside. A large fraction of our emergency calls are this.

Cold snaps we are not built for

Vancouver homes are not built like prairie homes. A few days below freezing finds every uninsulated crawlspace run and unprotected hose bib in the city. More on frozen pipes.

Atmospheric rivers

Sustained heavy rain is when a sump pump that has never been tested gets asked to work. It is also when people discover theirs has no battery backup. Sump pump repair.