When to Call an Emergency Plumber (And When It Can Wait Until Morning)
Call immediately, whatever the hour
Any gas smell. This is the only item on the list where you should leave the building before you call. Do not operate switches, do not use the garage door opener. Get out, then call from outside.
Water you cannot stop. If the main shutoff will not close or the leak continues after it does, every minute counts.
Sewage backing up into the house. This is a health matter. Stop using water entirely and call.
No water at all in the whole house, particularly during a freeze, because that usually means a frozen or broken supply line rather than a nuisance.
Water near electrical panels or fixtures. Cut power to the area if you can do so safely, and call.
A water heater leaking from the tank body, especially a gas unit.
Worth calling tonight, but not a crisis
A single fixture that has failed but can be isolated with its own shutoff — a leaking toilet or a dripping supply line under a sink — can usually be shut off and dealt with in the morning.
No hot water is genuinely unpleasant and genuinely not dangerous. Unless the heater is leaking, this is a first-thing call rather than a middle-of-the-night one.
One slow drain, if the rest of the house is draining normally.
The practical test is simple. Is water actively causing damage right now, and can I stop it myself. If you can isolate it, you have bought yourself until morning and probably saved an after-hours rate.
The ones people wrongly leave until morning
A ceiling stain that is growing. People watch these overnight. Water is entering the structure the entire time, and the difference between calling at ten at night and eight the next morning is often the difference between repairing a pipe and replacing a ceiling.
Multiple drains slow at once. This is the main line, and main line problems progress to a backup.
A rotten-egg smell that does not clear after running the taps. Sewer gas has a source.
A meter that keeps turning with everything off. Something is running continuously, and if it is under a slab or in the yard it is doing damage while you sleep.
What to do while waiting
Shut off water at the fixture if you can, at the main if you cannot. Cut power to any area where water is near electrical. Move what you can out of the way and get towels down. Take photos before you clean anything up — insurers ask.
Then call (833) 435-9778. Dispatch is live around the clock across Arkansas, and if what you have can safely wait until morning, we will tell you that rather than sending someone out at an after-hours rate.