Town water — the main valve where the line enters the building. Well — the valve after the pressure tank, then the pump breaker. Not sure? Sixty-second guide.
Burst pipe, frozen line, no water, or water going somewhere it shouldn’t. Tell us what’s happening and we’ll tell you honestly how fast we can be there — including if the answer is that someone else can get there sooner.
Anything where water is actively getting somewhere it shouldn’t, or where a building has no water and is going to be damaged or uninhabitable because of it. In practice that means:
Shut the water off. This is worth more than everything else combined. On town water it’s the main valve where the service line enters the basement, usually near the meter. On a well it’s the valve on the outlet side of the pressure tank — and shut off the pump breaker too, so the system can’t just refill and keep pumping water into your house.
Then cut the power to any circuit near standing water, at the panel. Not by unplugging something while standing in it. Then open a faucet at the lowest point in the house to drain the pressure out of the lines, which slows the flow at the break considerably.
Then photograph everything before you start cleaning up. Your insurance carrier will want it and you can’t go back and take those pictures later.
A large share of the housing in this region is unoccupied for months at a time, and that’s where the worst damage happens — a line lets go in January and runs until somebody notices in March. If you’re away and get the call, we can get in with your permission, stop the flow, assess what happened, and send you photos the same day. Tell us where the shut-off is and who has a key and you don’t have to drive up to make it stop.
Emergency work in the Lakes Region typically runs a diagnostic or call-out charge plus $120–$250 per hour, with after-hours rates higher. Most single burst-pipe repairs land $400–$1,200. A long frozen run, opened walls, or a repair in a house that’s already flooded costs more. You get the number before we start, and if what we find once we’re in is different from what we expected, we stop and tell you rather than running up a bill. Full benchmark ranges are on the cost page.
One honest note about arrival times: we won’t promise you thirty minutes. In a region this spread out, that promise is either a lie or somebody else’s emergency getting abandoned. You’ll get a real window and the truth.
Sometimes, carefully. Open the faucet the line feeds so melting water has somewhere to go, then warm the pipe from the faucet end backward with a hair dryer or a space heater in the room — never a torch, never an open flame. If you can’t find the frozen section, if the pipe is in a wall, or if you see any bulge or split, stop and call. A frozen pipe that has already cracked will only reveal itself when it thaws, and by then you want someone standing there.
Generally the water damage is covered and the pipe itself is not. Most policies also require that the home was kept at a minimum interior temperature — commonly 55°F — or that the water was shut off if the house was vacant. The New Hampshire Insurance Department publishes consumer guidance on exactly this. Photograph everything before cleanup, call your carrier the same day, and keep the invoice.
In winter, yes — a house with no water is a house you may not be able to occupy, and if the cause is a frozen line it can become a burst line the moment it thaws. On a well the usual causes are a failed pump, a stuck pressure switch, a waterlogged pressure tank, or a frozen line where it enters the building. Check your breaker first: a tripped well pump breaker is the most common and cheapest answer.
Stop using water in the house immediately — every flush and every load of laundry makes it worse. Keep people and pets away from it. If multiple fixtures are backing up at once, the problem is the main line or, on most properties here, the septic tank. Find out when the tank was last pumped before paying anyone to clear a drain; a full tank produces exactly these symptoms and augering won’t fix it.
Shut the water off first. Then tell us what’s happening, where the property is, and whether anyone’s 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.
We reply to every request within 2 business hours.
