Emergency Plumbing
Shut off your main water valve first. It is usually in the meter box near the street, which may need a meter key to turn, or at a valve where the supply line enters the house: near the foundation wall in a crawlspace house, and in a slab house often in the garage, a utility closet or outside near the front hose bib. If hot water is involved, turn off the water heater too, at the breaker for an electric tank or by setting a gas unit's control to off or pilot.
Then a plain word about this site. A request sent here is read and answered as soon as we can, but it is not an emergency line, and nobody is dispatched the moment you press send. If water is pouring out or sewage is backing up, call a plumber directly once the water is off, and use the form for the follow-up repair or for work that can wait for daylight.
Montgomery Plumbing Pros is a referral service. We do not have plumbers on call ourselves; we connect homeowners with independent local plumbers. Water spraying out of a wall at night is a different problem from a slow drip you have been ignoring for a month, and the rest of this page covers the difference: what actually counts as an emergency, the steps that limit the damage once the main is off, and what to expect when you call someone out after hours.
What counts as an emergency
A short list covers most of it. Water you cannot stop from a broken pipe or fitting. Sewage coming up through a tub, shower or floor drain. No water at all to the house when the neighbors have water. A water heater leaking steadily from the tank itself, not just the relief valve line. A gas smell anywhere near an appliance, which is its own category: leave the house first and call the gas company or 911 from outside.
A toilet that will not stop running, a faucet drip or one slow drain is annoying but rarely an emergency. Shut off the fixture valve if you can and send a regular request; a daytime visit usually costs less than a night call.
Once the main is off
Open a faucet on the lowest floor to drain the pressure out of the lines. If the leak is near outlets, a light fixture or the electrical panel, switch off that circuit at the breaker, and if you cannot reach the panel without standing in water, stay out of the room. For a leaking water heater, also close the cold supply valve on top of the tank. Then move what you can off the wet floor and take photos for your insurance company before anything gets torn out.
On a calm day, it is worth finding the main valve and making sure it turns. Old gate valves can seize after years of sitting open, and a meter-box valve sometimes needs a meter key you will not want to be shopping for at midnight.
Burst pipes after a hard freeze
Montgomery does not freeze often, which is exactly why freezes catch houses off guard. In a mild climate, plenty of houses get built with pipes in exterior walls, unheated garages and open crawlspaces, with little or no insulation. During the deep freeze around Christmas 2022, WSFA reported water outages and low supplies across several River Region counties, including Autauga and Elmore, while Selma's mayor declared an emergency over pipes bursting across that city.
A frozen pipe often does not leak until it thaws. If a faucet gave only a trickle during a cold snap and then the weather turned, check under sinks, in the crawlspace and along exterior walls for wet spots. Split copper and cracked fittings are common in those spots. When the forecast calls for a hard freeze, insulating exposed lines and letting a faucet drip on outside walls are cheap steps compared to a wall full of water.
Storm nights and sewer backups
Montgomery averages a little over 51 inches of rain a year, and heavy spring storms can dump a lot of that in a few hours. When yard drains can't keep up and water soaks into an old clay lateral through cracked joints, the main line can back up into the lowest drain in the house, usually a tub or a downstairs shower. If that happens, stop running water and flushing toilets; everything you send down has nowhere to go. A plumber can clear the line, and if it keeps happening during storms, a camera inspection will show whether the trouble is roots, a sag in the pipe or a break. Read more about when the main line itself has failed and the repair options that follow.
Water heater failures that cannot wait
A tank that is leaking from the bottom is finished; the steel has rusted through and no repair will fix it. Water running out of the relief valve pipe is different. That valve opens when pressure or temperature in the tank climbs too high, and it should be checked soon, because the cause may be a failing thermostat or a pressure problem in the house. A water heater in an attic or a closet over finished floors is the one to move on fastest, since a slow leak there soaks drywall and subfloor before anyone notices. If the tank has given out, the plumber can talk through replacing a heater that has given out with the same type or a different one.
How after-hours pricing usually works
Plumbers set their own rates, and many charge more for nights, weekends and holidays than for a weekday visit. Some charge a trip or diagnostic fee on top of the repair. None of that is unfair, but you should hear it before the plumber heads your way, not after. Ask on the phone what the after-hours charge is and whether it gets applied to the repair. A good plumber will often stop the damage tonight and come back in daylight for the bigger repair, which keeps the expensive hours short. Get the price in writing for the actual job, whether that is one fixture or a whole line, before any work starts. That applies at two in the morning as much as it does on a Tuesday afternoon.
The towns around the capital are covered too, from homes out toward the newer streets of Pike Road to the older neighborhoods downtown.
Send the problem
Use the form to tell us what is leaking or backing up, then send it. Include whether you have the water shut off and whether it is a slab or crawlspace house. Every request gets a reply as soon as we can, and if water is pouring out or sewage is backing up, shut off the main and call a plumber right away. We connect you with an independent local plumber, and you can confirm their license and insurance before they start.