If a pipe has burst and you are reading this on your phone while standing in water, skip to the list.
Everything else can wait.
Do these, in this order
- Shut off the water at the main. Garage wall, exterior wall on the street side, utility
closet, or the meter box near the street. Clockwise for a wheel, quarter turn for a lever.
- Open the lowest tap in the house and an outside hose bib to drain the system. This
reduces what is still in the pipes above you.
- Kill power to any circuit near the water. Do not stand in water to reach a panel. If
in doubt, leave it and say so when you call.
- Call emergency plumbing. Say a pipe has burst and whether the water is off. That
determines how the call is prioritised.
- Photograph everything before you clean up. Wide shots and close shots. This is your
insurance evidence and it cannot be recreated afterwards.
- Move what you can. Electronics, documents, anything on the floor. Lift furniture legs
onto blocks or foil to stop staining.
- Start removing standing water once the power situation is safe. Wet vac, mop, towels.
Speed matters more than thoroughness at this stage.
If water is above a ceiling and the ceiling is bulging, put a
bucket underneath and pierce the lowest point of the bulge with a screwdriver. Controlled release beats a
ceiling collapsing across a whole room.
Why pipes burst here
Arizona has two distinct burst pipe seasons and they have different causes.
Winter, in the high country
Flagstaff, Prescott, Payson, Show Low, Pinetop, the White Mountains and the rest of the high country get
genuine freezes. Water expands as it freezes, pressure builds between the ice plug and a closed tap, and
the pipe splits - usually at its weakest point, often in an unheated garage, crawl space or exterior wall.
The damage typically appears on the thaw, not during the freeze, which is why an unoccupied cabin can
be flooding for days before anyone knows. burst & frozen pipe repair covers thawing, repair and prevention.
Year round, everywhere
- Corrosion. Old galvanised or thin-walled copper reaching end of life.
- Excessive pressure. A failed regulator putting the whole system under strain.
- Water hammer. Repeated shock loading from fast-closing valves.
- Failed supply hoses. Braided washing machine and dishwasher hoses have a service life.
Replace them at five years; they are the single most common indoor flood we attend.
- Heat and UV. Exposed plastic fittings on roofs and exterior walls degrade fast in
Arizona sun.
What we do when we arrive
Confirm the water is isolated, locate the failure, and get you back to having water as quickly as
safely possible. If the permanent repair needs a part we do not carry or daylight we do not have, we make
a sound temporary repair and book the finish.
Then we look at the rest of the run. One burst on a corroded line is rarely the last one, and it is
worth knowing whether you are looking at a repair or the start of repiping & water line repair.
Preventing the next one
- Insulate exposed pipe in garages, crawl spaces and exterior walls - the cheapest insurance available in
the high country
- Disconnect hoses from exterior bibs before winter and fit covers
- Check your static pressure; above 80 psi, fit or replace a regulator
- Replace braided appliance hoses on a schedule rather than on failure
- If a property will be empty in winter, shut the main off and winterise it properly
- Fit water hammer arrestors if pipes bang when appliances shut off
Insurance, briefly
Most policies cover sudden and accidental water damage but exclude damage from long-term seepage or
lack of maintenance. That distinction is why the photographs and the timeline matter. Report it promptly,
keep receipts, and keep our written findings.