Guide, updated 2026-09-17
Plumbing emergency, what to do in the first two minutes
Where the shut offs are, which one to turn, what to photograph, and what to tell the plumber. Read it now, not while standing in water. Sources linked.
- Sources linked at the foot of the page
- Written for Las Vegas and Clark County
Shut the water off, then call. Most fixtures have their own valve within a few feet, and the house has a main shut off, commonly in the garage near the water heater, on an exterior wall, or in a box near the street. Find yours now, while nothing is wrong.
Find your shut offs today, not during the emergency
This is the point of the whole guide. A main shut off you have never turned is a valve you do not know works, and a seized main discovered during a burst pipe is what turns a repair into a restoration job.
Go and find yours now. In valley homes it is most commonly in the garage near the water heater, on an exterior wall, or in a box at the front of the property near the street. Turn it, confirm it moves, and turn it back. If it will not move, that is worth fixing as a scheduled job.
While you are there, locate the fixture valves too: under each sink, behind each toilet, and on the cold inlet at the top of the water heater. Turning off one fixture beats turning off the house.
The first two minutes, in order
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Stop the water | Close the fixture valve if the leak is at a fixture. If it will not close, or the leak is elsewhere, close the main house shut off. |
| 2. Deal with electricity | If water is near outlets, a panel or an appliance, do not stand in it. Shut power to that area at the breaker only if you can reach it safely, and otherwise stay out of the room. |
| 3. Contain what you can | Towels and buckets, and move valuables and electronics away from the water and from anything above it. |
| 4. Photograph everything | Before cleaning up. Dated photographs are the most useful thing you can give an insurer, and the evidence disappears quickly. |
| 5. Call | With the water off you are stable and the conversation can be useful rather than panicked. |
| 6. Water heater, if the house water is off | Switching a gas unit to its pilot or vacation setting, or turning off the breaker on an electric one, prevents it heating a draining tank. If unsure, leave it and say so on the call. |
What is actually an emergency
Water you cannot stop: a burst line, a failed valve, a split supply hose behind a washing machine.
Sewage backing up into the house from the lowest fixtures.
A water heater leaking from the tank body rather than from a fitting.
No water at all in the house when neighbours still have water.
A ceiling staining or bulging from water above it, which is a collapse risk as well as a leak.
What is urgent but not an emergency
A slow drip, one slow drain, a running toilet, or no hot water in a household that can manage until morning.
These need fixing and they do not need a middle of the night visit. Booked as a normal call, they generally cost less, and nothing about waiting until morning makes them worse.
Gas is a different call, and it is not us first
If you smell gas, do not investigate it, do not operate light switches and do not look for the source.
Get everyone out of the building. Then call the gas utility and 911 from outside.
Plumbing work on gas lines can follow once the immediate hazard is handled by the people whose job that is. This is the one situation on this website where calling a plumber first is the wrong move.
A sewage backup needs a different response
Stop using water anywhere in the house. Everything you run has to exit somewhere, and with a blocked main line that somewhere is the lowest opening indoors. Laundry and dishwashers are the common culprits because they discharge a lot at once.
Keep people and pets away from it and treat it as a health hazard rather than a mess.
Do not try to flush it through. Adding water to a blocked line does not clear it, it just raises the level.
One thing to check on your water heater before you need it
City of Las Vegas installation requirements state that a water heater shut off valve is required and that it has to remain accessible. Accessible is the word that matters in an emergency.
Go and look at yours. If shelving, storage or a later installation has buried the valve you would need to reach at 2am, that is worth correcting as a scheduled job rather than discovering under pressure. The same document requires two seismic straps, one in the upper third and one in the lower third of the tank, so if your heater has one strap or none, the install was never inspected.
Sources for this guide
Every figure above comes from one of these, captured and checked on 17 September 2026. If a claim here has no source beside it, treat it as opinion.
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Ask us about your house
Reach Preferred Plumber Company
- Phone
- (725) 255-9011
- Licence
- Nevada State Contractors Board licence NV #0078989, C-1D Plumbing held by Preferred Plumbing LLC
- Service area
- Clark County, Nevada, including Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Summerlin, Paradise, Spring Valley, Enterprise, Sunrise Manor, Centennial Hills and Boulder City
We are a service area business. We come to you, so there is no counter to visit and no street address on this page. The number above is the fastest way in.
What to have ready
None of it is required. All of it makes the call shorter.
- Where you areThe address, and a cross street if the address is new or hard to find. Which end of the valley you are on decides who is closest.
- What is happening, in your own wordsNo plumbing vocabulary needed. "Water under the sink since this morning" is a better description than a guess at the cause.
- Whether water is running right nowThis is the question that changes everything else. If it is, say so first and we will talk you to the shutoff before anything else.
- What you have already triedPlunged it, reset the disposal, flipped the breaker, ran the softener through a regeneration. It saves repeating the steps that did not work.
- Whether you own or rentA landlord or an HOA sometimes has to authorise the work, and it is better to find that out on the phone than at the door.
Water pouring right now? Do not read the rest of this. Call (725) 255-9011 and shut off the supply while it rings.
Questions about this
Where is my main water shut off valve?
In valley homes, most commonly in the garage near the water heater, on an exterior wall, or in a box at the front of the property near the street. Find it and turn it now while nothing is wrong, because a seized valve is only ever discovered at the worst moment.
Should I turn off my water heater in an emergency?
If the water to the house is off, switching a gas unit to pilot or vacation, or turning off the breaker for an electric one, prevents it heating a tank that is draining. If you are not sure which applies to your unit, leave it and mention it when you call.
What should I do first in a plumbing emergency?
Stop the water. Fixture valve first, main house shut off if that will not work. Everything else, including calling, is more useful once the water has stopped.
I smell gas. Who do I call?
Not a plumber first. Get everyone out of the building, then call the gas utility and 911 from outside. Do not use switches and do not search for the source.
Is a burst washing machine hose common?
It is one of the most common indoor flooding causes there is, because the hose is under constant pressure and has a service life. Braided replacements and closing the valves when away for a long trip are both cheap precautions.
Got a question this did not answer?
Describe what is happening at your property and you will get a straight answer about what it usually means.