Picture this scenario. It’s 3 am in the morning, and you get out of bed to get a drink because you are thirsty. You get to your kitchen sink, grab a glass and then turn the valve to the cold water on. A surprised look comes over your face as no water comes out of the spout. You turn the valve to the off and then back to the on position again but still no water.
The next thought that comes to your mind is you have a plumbing emergency, and you need to call a local plumber right away to come to help you.
Although that may be exactly what you need to do eventually, there are a few other steps you should take first when you find there is no water in the house. Here is what you should do when you first realize that there is no water coming out of the kitchen sink.
No water in house what to do?
Here are the additional steps you need to take when you find you have no water coming out of your taps. Do them in this exact order.
Step 1: Check another sink
OK, so there was no water coming out of the kitchen sink. The very next step to take when there is no running water in the house is to see if it’s an isolated incident or a widespread problem throughout the house. That means you need to check other water taps in your house to see if they are working.
So check your bathrooms or other sinks to see if they are working. Check more than one to determine if it’s a section of household plumbing that’s not working or there is no running water in the entire house.
Step 2: Look for visible signs of a big leak
If you found no water coming out of your taps, the worst-case scenario is that you have a major leak somewhere. Don’t panic but use haste in checking all of the other rooms in your house for signs of leaking. This has to be done in a hurry because water can cause extensive damage to your home in the event of a major leak. It can do things such as ruin flooring, ruin carpet, collapse ceilings, and more.
What should you do if you find a major leak somewhere? It’s very important that you shut down the plumbing that feeds it right away. This can be done by closing valves near the leak or if all else fails, shut down the main water feed coming into your home.
Step 3: Check the main water valve outside/check your electric water pump
If you found no visible signs of a major leak, the next step to take is checking the valve that controls the water supply coming into your home. While you were doing lawn maintenance, you have probably seen some plastic casings with covers buried in your yard. One of these will contain a valve that controls the public water supply coming into your home. Check to see if the valve is in the on position. If it is then the valve is most likely not the problem.
If you have a well instead of public water supply, you need to check to make sure the electric pump that draws the water out of the ground is operating.
Step 4: Consider the time of the year
Is it winter where you live? Then you may simply have a frozen water pipe. These will normally unfreeze themselves during the day as the temperatures warm up. If you have an exposed area of pump, you can try heating it up with a hairdryer.
Step 5: Call your local water company or go to their website
If a main municipal water pipe breaks, your water company will shut down that whole water line. This will effectively cut off your water until that water main break is repaired. You can call your water company to check and see if this is the case or go to their website and see if they have posted any known water outages on the site.
Now it’s time to call the plumber
It’s no secret that most houses contain several hundred feet of plumbing that goes through them. In your household plumbing, you also have other things such as hot and cold water lines, a number of valves, and other types of inline plumbing devices too.
That’s a lot of things to consider when it comes to finding out why you have no water coming out of your taps. If you do not have a lot of plumbing knowledge, now would be the time to call a plumbing professional to come to help you out.
Why call a plumbing professional. It’s because they have the knowledge and equipment to determine why you have no water coming into the house. Once they determine the reason why you have no running water, they also have the know-how and right equipment to resolve any plumbing problems that they encounter.
- Is a Hot Water Heater In the Attic a Good or Bad Idea? - July 18, 2021
- Lawn Mower Starts Then Dies – Here’s the Fix! - June 21, 2021
- Can You Mix Pine-Sol and Bleach? - September 9, 2020