What to Check After the Plumber Leaves

Check it the same night

Before the truck leaves, get the invoice, ask how long the repair is warrantied, and ask which permit covers the work.

Before they leave

1. Get the invoice and keep it. Some utilities offer a leak adjustment on the bill. Gwinnett, for one, offers one once in a 12 month period when the repair is made within three months of the usage spike and the request is made within three months of the repair date.
2. Ask how long the repair is warrantied. If it is a water heater, ask about the parts warranty and the labor warranty separately.
3. Ask which permit covers the work. Atlanta's rule, as published on ATL311, is that a permit is required to install, repair or replace any electrical, plumbing or HVAC equipment. Other cities set their own: see the offices on what to ask a plumber.

That night, confirm the repair held

1. Run the meter test. Stop all water use, reading the meter before and after a stretch with nothing running. If the reading changes at all, you probably have a leak.
2. Watch the meter's small leak-detection dial. With everything off, nothing should move.
3. Close the house's main shutoff and watch the meter again. If it keeps spinning, the leak is most likely in the line from the meter to the house. The slab leak page has the full test.
4. Plumber worked on a toilet? Put food coloring in the tank and do not flush. If color shows up in the bowl, you have a leak. Flush when you are done so the tank does not stain.
5. The line keeps leaking after the repair? Shut the main, then call the plumber back and ask what the warranty covers.

Smell gas right now? Stop reading. Leave the building now and take everyone with you. Once you are outside and away, call 877.427.4321 (Atlanta Gas Light, 24 hours) or 911.

If the job touched a water heater

• Check the thermostat setting. The CPSC urges 120 degrees; most adults will suffer third-degree burns from 150 degree water in two seconds. On an electric heater, the CPSC suggests calling your electric company to adjust it. If you do it yourself, turn off the heater's circuit breaker before you remove the access panels, and never switch power on or off while standing in water. On gas models, thermostats differ enough that the CPSC says to call your gas company for instructions.
• The temperature and pressure relief valve is a safety part. The CPSC describes its job as reducing pressure to avert a rupture of the tank. If it keeps letting water out, call the plumber back.
• Feeling unwell near a fuel-burning appliance, with headache, dizziness, nausea or confusion? Get everyone outside to fresh air and call 911. It may be carbon monoxide.

If sewage or flood water was involved

• Stay out of standing water or sewage that touches outlets, cords or appliances. If anything electrical is wet or near water, turn off power at the main breaker or fuse, but if you would have to stand in water to reach the panel, call an electrician to turn it off instead.
• Dry what got wet within 24 to 48 hours to head off mold.
• Throw out soaked things that cannot be steam cleaned or disinfected, such as mattresses and foam items; wall-to-wall carpet usually has to go, and the foam padding under it will likely have to be replaced. Wash hard surfaces with detergent, then disinfect per the product label. Never mix bleach with ammonia or other cleaners.
• Wear waterproof gloves, boots and eye protection around anything sewage touched. If sewage caused the water damage, EPA says to call in a professional with experience cleaning buildings damaged by contaminated water.
• Ask whether utilities were located through 811 and a camera went down the line before any machine went in, and what it showed. Atlanta Gas Light discourages running a rotary machine without both, because a gas pipe can be bored through a sewer line.
• Remember who owns which pipe. The public sewer main is the utility's. How much of the lateral, the pipe from your house to the main, is yours differs by county, so ask your sewer utility. If the backup may be in the main, call the utility's emergency line.

If something is not right

Water where it should not be, or the meter still moving: shut the main first, then call the plumber back. Where the main water shutoff is. If you have to find a plumber, the questions to ask apply the second time too.

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General information, not professional plumbing advice. In an emergency that threatens life or property, call 911.