Burst and failed lines
Burst pipe repair in Phoenix
A pipe that has already opened up is not a mystery. It is a clock. What matters is the first few minutes, and then an honest read of why it happened at all.
First, stop the water
Everything else can wait a few minutes. This cannot.
The shutoff at the house
Most Valley homes have a main shutoff on the house side of the meter — commonly near the front hose bib, in a garage wall, or in a box just inside the property line. Turn it clockwise until it stops. If it has not been turned in a long time it may be stiff; firm and steady is better than sudden force.
The meter box
If there is no house shutoff you can reach, the valve in the meter box will do it. The lid is heavier than it looks, the box is a good home for things that bite, and the valve needs a meter key rather than a hand. If any of that is beyond what you can safely do, leave it and say so when you call.
Then take the pressure off, and take pictures
Open a tap at the lowest point in the house to drain what is still in the lines. Keep clear of standing water anywhere near electrical outlets, a panel or appliances. Before anything gets cleaned up, photograph it: the water, the damage and the pipe if it is visible. That set of pictures is what a claim file wants, and it cannot be recreated after the mop.
What the repair usually involves
A burst is nearly always a section repair: expose the failure, cut back to sound pipe on both sides, fit new pipe properly, pressure test it and close up. In a wall it means drywall opened and patched. In the ground it means a hole, and backfill that gets compacted rather than pushed back in. Under a slab it becomes the same three-way choice as any other slab leak — see slab leak repair.
A one-off cause
A nail or screw through a stud, a shovel or auger through a buried line, a rock bearing on pipe as the ground moves, a fitting that was wrong from the day it went in, or a hose bib and exposed backflow caught by one of the Valley's occasional hard freezes. Repair the section and the problem genuinely is over.
A system cause
Supply pressure that is too high or no longer regulated, a material at the end of its service life, or a run that has already failed somewhere else. Here the section repair is still the right immediate move, but it is not the end of the conversation — because the same conditions apply to the rest of the pipe. A burst on a system that has already leaked twice is information, not bad luck.
After the water stops
Confirm nothing else is running
With everything in the house off, watch the meter. A dial that still creeps means water is still going somewhere, and it is much easier to chase that now, with the house already opened up, than to find it again later. Reading the meter is a five-minute job.
Drying out is somebody else's trade
We repair the pipe and we document what happened. Drying, tear-out, carpet and mould remediation belong to a restoration company, and we will say so rather than take on work that is not ours. If you need one, we will tell you what to ask them.
Then decide how far to go
Section repair only, or look at the rest of the run while the ground or the wall is open? That is your call, and it turns mostly on age and history. Where the same vintage of pipe has now failed more than once, the honest options are a reroute of the failed run or a supply repipe, and we would rather you hear both than only the one that is in front of us today.
Worth saying plainly: leak detection and leak repair is all we do. We are not a general plumbing company — no sewer work, no gas lines, no water heaters, no drain cleaning, no fixture or appliance installs. A burst supply line, an irrigation main or a pool line is ours. A sewer line, a gas line or a failed water heater is not, and we will point you straight at the right trade.
Questions we get every week
Straight answers
Water is coming out right now. What do I do first?
Shut the water off at the house if you can reach the valve, or at the meter box if you can do that safely, then open a low tap to drain the pressure out of the lines. Stay away from standing water near electrical panels, outlets or appliances. Take photographs before anything is cleaned up, and then call or text us.
Do you repair the burst, or do I need someone else?
If it is a water supply line, a buried line, an irrigation main or pool pipe, it is ours. If it turns out to be a sewer line, a gas line, a water heater or a drain, it is not, and we will tell you so plainly instead of stretching what we do.
Why would a pipe burst in a warm climate?
Most Valley bursts have nothing to do with cold. Ground movement through monsoon season, a rock bearing on a buried line, a strike during digging, high or unregulated supply pressure, or a material that has simply reached the end of its service life do most of the damage. Freezing does account for some of it, and it lands on the exposed things — hose bibs, backflow assemblies and irrigation above ground.
Will insurance cover it?
That is between you and your carrier, and we will never tell you what a policy will do. What we can say is that carriers generally look at the damage the water caused separately from the pipe itself, and that files go better with photographs, a written description of the failure and the repair documented. We provide our part of that as a matter of course.
Does the whole line have to be replaced now?
Usually not today. A section repair restores the water. Whether more of the run should follow depends on its age, its material and whether it has failed before — and that is a decision you can take once the emergency part is over.
Related pages
Start here
Call once the water is off
Tell us where the water came from, what you have already shut off and what is wet. If you can send a photo before anything is cleaned up, send it.
Cannot reach the shutoff?
Say so on the call. It changes what we bring and what we do first when we get there.
Send it in writing