Pipe split, line froze, or the pump’s running and nothing comes out — call and tell us where in Alton the house is. Up by Mount Major, down on the Bay, or out on an island makes more difference to the first hour than the pipe does.
Alton has about nineteen and a half square miles of water inside its town line. Close to a quarter of the whole town. Most days that’s just the view. In an emergency it’s geography, because some of the houses that call us can’t be reached by truck at all.
Rattlesnake Island is the obvious one. The camps out there are boat-access, with the island association’s landing on the mainland for parking and launching. Fine in July. In November, with skim ice forming in the coves, and again in the weeks around ice-out, there’s a stretch where nobody gets out there safely by boat or on foot. We won’t cross ice to get to a job. Nobody should.
Want a measure of how little that ice can be trusted? The state plows a landing strip on Alton Bay most winters — the ice runway — and it only opens with a full foot of ice under the whole surface, mostly so the plow trucks don’t go through. It never opened at all in 2023 or 2024. If the bay won’t hold a plow, it won’t hold you dragging a wet-vac. For island owners, the emergency plan gets made in October.
If your camp is on one of Alton’s islands, decide in October whether it’s getting drained. Once the bay skims over, the decision’s been made for you.
Short version: a camp you can’t reach in winter should be drained, not heated. Heat out there is only as good as the power line or the last propane delivery, and if either quits in February there’s no running over to check. An island place that’s been drained and blown out can sit through anything. One that was “left on low” is a bet.
On the mainland, and it’s happening right now? Get the water off. On Alton Water Works service that’s the main valve where the line comes into the house. On a private well, kill the pump breaker and close the valve after the pressure tank. Open a faucet low in the house to let the rest out. Gentle heat on pipe you can see — hair dryer, not a torch. The old cottages around the Bay sit close together, and fire travels.
Once we’re there we find the break, thaw the run, and pressure-test the whole system rather than just the piece that split, because a line that froze in one spot usually got stressed in two. If it’s an island call in shoulder season, we’ll tell you plainly whether it can be done now or has to wait for open water.
Emergency work in Alton is a call-out charge plus $120–$250 an hour, higher after hours. A single split line usually lands around $400–$1,200. Boat-access work is quoted on its own, since getting there is half the job. Either way you hear the number before anything gets cut.
Not across the ice, no. With open water, yes, by boat from the mainland. In between — freeze-up in late fall and the weeks around ice-out — there are stretches when nobody can get out there safely. That’s the real reason an island camp should be fully drained in the fall instead of left heated and hoped for.
Close the main valve inside the house where the service comes in, then call us. If that valve won’t close, or the leak is outside in the yard, call Alton Water Works too — they run the system and can tell you what’s theirs and what’s yours. Then open a faucet and shut power to anything near standing water.
Could be. On a cold morning with no snow cover, a shallow line coming into the house is the usual suspect. But no water can also mean a bad pressure switch, a failed pump or a tripped breaker. Check the breaker first. If it’s on and the gauge on the tank reads zero, leave the pump off and call.
Depends on the day and the end of town. The Bay, the village where Routes 11 and 140 meet, and the back roads toward New Durham are different drives, and we won’t promise a time we can’t keep. You’ll get an honest place in line and somebody walking you through the shutoff, which is what limits the damage.
Usually the water damage, not the pipe itself. The vacancy clause matters too: most New Hampshire policies expect an empty house kept at 55°F or above, or the water shut off and drained. For a boat-access camp nobody checks all winter, drained is the safer side of that line. Photograph everything before cleanup starts.
Tell us what’s happening and we’ll give you a straight answer — what it likely is, what it should cost, and when we can be there.
Describe what’s happening and where the property is. We’ll come back with a straight answer on what it likely is, what it should cost, and when we can be there. If it’s an emergency, say so in the first line.
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