What’s happening?

Pick the problem. Each guide starts with the moves that stop the damage, sourced from the agencies and utilities that deal with this daily.

Water is spraying or pouring out

Water around the tank

Cold showers, cold taps

Bowl rising or spilling

Sewage in tubs or drains

Every drain is slow or stopped

No flow in a hard freeze

Warm floor, hissing, high bill

Pit rising, pump silent

Rotten egg odor

Before the call, and after it

Not sure it is an emergency? Need the shutoff, the right questions for a plumber, or a checklist for when they leave?

What needs a call tonight and what can wait

Find it before you need it

Five questions for the phone call

One page to print and post

Paperwork, the meter test, and what to watch