HyrePlumber
Find a Plumber

HyrePlumber tools

Is this a plumbing emergency, a stop list, not a probably-fine

Sewage in the house and a burst pipe are stops. No water is urgent and sometimes the utility. A tank-body leak is a replace after you shut it down. A drip is not an emergency on this form, and it is still a leak. This tool will never tell you that a sewage backup is probably fine.

Stop on sewage and on a burst pipe Five symptoms. Sewage and burst are hard stops. Gas odour is the gas utility, not this page. HyrePlumber does not send a plumber. Matching is still being built.

Pick what is happening. Sewage: keep people off it, do not run other drains, call a plumber who handles sewage backups, and your insurer if it entered living space. Burst: stop the water at the nearest shutoff or the house main, then call. No water: check the valve and the neighbours before you assume the house. A tank body leaking is a replace, after you shut the water. A drip is not an emergency on these answers; schedule it. None of this is a dispatch line. The longer triage is on the homepage emergency section.

What is happening, then a stop or a schedule

Sewage and bursts are stops. This will not say a backup is probably fine. Nothing is emailed.

— Verdict
— Why
— What this page will not do

What this assumed —

Symptom triage, not a diagnosis. Sewage and bursts are stop conditions. Matching is not dispatch. Gas odour is the gas utility. HyrePlumber does not perform plumbing work.

How this calculator works

There is no score that outputs "safe." Each of five symptoms maps to a verdict. Two of them are hard stops. The engine is tested to start a sewage result with "Stop," and it will not render "probably fine" for a backup or a burst.

sewage  → Stop. Keep people off it. Do not run other drains.
burst   → Stop the water at the shutoff or the main, then call.
nowater → Check the valve and the neighbours. House vs street.
whleak  → Shut the water (and gas if you know it). Tank body is a replace.
drip    → Not an emergency on these answers. Schedule it.

Gas odour is not a row, on purpose. It is the gas utility, from outside. Putting it on this form as a plumbing symptom would be the wrong dispatcher.

The longer list, including water near electrics and a main you cannot find, is the homepage problem section. This tool is the five-way splitter, not a replacement for that page.

What each input means

Inputs on this tool, in the order they appear on the form.
InputWhat it is actually asking
Kind One of: drip, burst, sewage, no water, water-heater leak. Pick the worst true row. A drip plus sewage is sewage. A drip plus a burst is a burst.

Worked examples

Including one where the naive answer misleads, which is the example most calculators leave out.

Sewage on a bathroom floor

Kind sewage. Verdict starts with Stop. Why names contamination, not a clog. Do not keep plunging. Do not run the washing machine. Call a plumber who handles sewage, and the insurer if it entered living space. This is the case the engine is tested to halt on. It will not say you are probably fine.

A supply line that split

Kind burst. Stop the water at the nearest shutoff or the house main, then call. Minutes are finish damage. The fixture can wait. If you cannot find the main, that is already on the homepage checklist as the thing to do on a dry day, and it is the reason this verdict is a stop rather than a form.

The one where "it is only a drip" misleads

Kind drip, because the ceiling is only spotting, or because the backup "cleared" after one flush. The drip row is for a drip you can contain. A stain that is still spreading is not that row. A toilet that backed up once and might again is not a drip. Switching the form to drip to avoid a night-rate call is how sewage and bursts get treated as probably fine, which this page is written not to do. If it is sewage or a burst, pick that. If it is a drip, schedule it, and use the leak-cost tool for the gallons rather than waiting for the cabinet to fail.

What changes the result

Changing kind is the whole decision. There is no severity slider. Two stops do not make a "worse" number. Sewage and burst are both stops for different reasons: contamination versus volume.

Water-heater leak is a replace conversation after the shutoff. It is not "probably a fitting" on this form, because a wet jacket from the tank body is the vessel. Use the repair-vs-replace tool once the water is off.

No water is the row people call at 2am that is sometimes a closed valve. Check that before you buy an after-hours dispatch. If the street is dry, call the utility, not a plumber.

Local considerations

Who you call after hours, what a licensed plumber is in your state, and which number the gas utility publishes are local. The stops are not. Sewage in the house and a burst pipe are the same hazard in any jurisdiction. This page will not publish a 50-state table of emergency numbers. If someone is hurt, call emergency services. For the plumbing stop, call a local licensed plumber from a number you look up.

Matching on this site is still being built. That is not a local exception. It is why this page is not a dispatch line anywhere.

When not to use this

Do not use this as a diagnosis, a reason to keep plunging sewage, or a reason to leave a burst running while you finish the form. Shut the water first.

Do not use it in place of 911. A person in contact with water and electricity, or a gas odour, is emergency services and the gas utility, not a plumbing calculator.

Do not use a "drip" result as a clean bill. Absence of sewage tonight is not an inspection of the line.

HyrePlumber does not perform plumbing work, inspect houses, or dispatch plumbers. Matching is still being built. The enquiry form is not an emergency line. For a stop, call a local plumber now.

Related on this site

Questions this calculator answers

When is a plumbing problem an emergency?
When sewage is in the house, when a pipe has burst and water is still moving, when you cannot stop water entering the property, or when water is near electrical equipment (that last one is on the homepage list, and it is still a stop even if this form is about the plumbing symptom). A drip, a slow drain, and no hot water from a fitting are usually business hours.
What do I do if sewage is backing up?
Stop. Keep people and pets off it. Do not run other drains, dishwashers, or washing machines. Call a plumber who handles sewage backups, from a number you look up. If it entered living space, call your insurer too. This is contamination, not a clog you keep plunging. This page will not say it is probably fine.
A pipe burst. What first?
The water, then the call. Fixture stop if you can see it, house main if that is not enough. Every minute of flow is finish damage. The fixture can wait. If you do not know where the main is, that is a ten-minute job for a dry day, and it is on the homepage on purpose.
I can smell gas near the water heater. Is that this page?
No. Leave. Call the gas utility from outside. Do not treat it as a plumbing booking and do not use this form as a walkthrough. Gas odour is the gas utility, not HyrePlumber and not a water-heater parts conversation.
There is no water in the house. Emergency?
Check the shutoff first, including whether someone closed it. Then ask whether the neighbours have water. If the house is dry and the street is not, call a plumber. If the street is dry, that is the utility. Urgent, rarely destructive, unless something else is also leaking.
The water heater is leaking. Emergency?
If the tank body is leaking, shut the water and, for gas, the gas valve if you know it. It is a replace, not a patch. Do not keep a leaking vessel on a flame. The repair-vs-replace tool is for the money after the leak is stopped. A fitting drip at the heater is not the same as a wet jacket from the tank.
A faucet is dripping. Should I call after hours?
Not on this form. A drip still wastes water and can rot a cabinet. Schedule it. After-hours labour is a real premium; the homepage triage exists so you do not buy that premium for a washer. If you cannot contain it, it is no longer this row.
Will you send a plumber?
No. Matching is still being built, and this is not a dispatch line or an emergency service. For a stop on this form, call a local licensed plumber now, from a number you look up, not from a lead form. If someone is hurt, call emergency services.
Water is near the electrical panel.
Stop, isolate the circuit if it is safe to do so, and treat it as an emergency regardless of the volume of water. That sentence is on the homepage checklist. This form does not have a separate "near electrics" row because the instruction does not change with the plumbing symptom: water plus electricity is not a drip you wait on.
Does "not an emergency" mean I should ignore a drip?
No. It means do not pay night rates for a washer, and do not confuse a drip with a burst. Use the leak-cost tool for the gallons. Schedule the repair. Ignoring a drip until it becomes a burst is how this page gets used backwards.
Does HyrePlumber perform plumbing work?
No. We do not diagnose faults, shut off your main, or warrant anyone. The homepage problem section is the same rule in longer form.

Sources and methodology

Figures dated 26 August 2026. Last reviewed .

  • Sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, retrieved 2026-08-26. Cited because sewage leaving the pipe is a contamination event. This page will not treat a backup into living space as a clog you keep plunging.)
  • Septic systems guidance for homeowners (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, retrieved 2026-08-26. Cited for backups on a septic system as a health issue, not only a plumbing one. This form still treats sewage in the house as a stop either way.)
  • Natural gas safety (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, retrieved 2026-08-26. Gas odour is the gas utility from outside, not a plumbing dispatch and not this form.)
  • International Plumbing Code and adopted state codes (International Code Council, retrieved 2026-08-26. Cited as the model plumbing code. This page does not reprint shutoff locations for your house. Find the main on a dry day.)

Related

Find a local professional Back to the homepage