There are a lot of plumbers which advertise themselves as emergency 24 hour plumbers. And for good reason. They know that they can charge a lot more to customers who have a serious situation. If you look through your local business directory you are going to find a list of plumbers. A lot of them are going to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As such, an emergency plumber is really easy to find. It's in your best interest to call as many plumbers as possible so that you have some bargaining power if you suspect that one is giving you a particularly high quote.
That Sunday, after giving up on Mr. Godot, I called a few other Trustworthy plumber and eventually called the Sears Service Center. They had a local sub-contractor call me back that very afternoon. He assured me that my house was not going to float away, helped me determine the severity of the problem and pick out a replacement heater. He was here the next day, friendly, courteous, competent, and about $300 less expensive than the other plumbers I talked to. For the record, his name is Len Lamothe and he operates his plumbing business, Spearpoint Plumbing and Heating, out of Canterbury, New Hampshire. I am happy to recommend him.
The first thing to know is that these folks can be very hard to find. A good service person is like a needle in the haystack, or so it sometimes seem. Average plumbers, those who install fixtures, are much more common. But the ones who come to fix up the horrifying messes that can be caused by faulty plumbing are almost heroic.
For this reason it is highly important to make sure you are prepared in a plumbing emergency. The first thing to do then is to make sure that you already have the number of a plumber in your phone book that you can find immediately. The sooner the emergency plumber gets there, the less damage you'll do and the less water you'll waste. Meanwhile you will be more likely to be successful in having your plumbing repaired. Don't make yourself rummage around to try and find the number of a plumber at the last minute - keep it somewhere where you can retrieve it easily when necessary.
You should make sure to do preventative maintenance on all of your outside faucets to prevent a very cold, wet, and costly problem down the road. Paying to have a plumber replace a faulty valve will cost you significantly less than having to pay for water line repair work when you have a pipe freeze and break in the middle of the night.
Should you call your Local plumber or should you fix the problem on your own? It's strongly recommended to look into the pros and cons of the two options.
The first step is to find out the cause of the dripping tap. This is generally caused by a worn out washer. As per various water authorities, only licensed plumbers can work on water infrastructure legally which includes all fixtures and fittings within the home including the dripping tap.
Start searching immediately with these factors in mind and before you know it, the best plumber will be found and your plumbing problem will be fixed right the first time.