Burst Pipe: The First Five Minutes Matter Most

A burst supply line under household pressure can move several gallons a minute. The difference between a bad day and a ruined floor is usually how long it takes to find the shutoff valve.

Find your main shutoff now, not later

Go and find it today, while nothing is wrong. In most Oklahoma homes it is where the supply enters — a garage wall, a utility closet, a crawl space — or at the meter box near the street, which may need a meter key. Turn it once so you know it moves. Valves that have not been touched in fifteen years seize.

Tell everyone in the house where it is.

When it happens

1. Shut the main. Clockwise until it stops.
2. Open the lowest tap in the house to drain remaining pressure and reduce what escapes.
3. Cut power at the breaker to any circuit near water.
4. Move what you can and start soaking up standing water.
5. Call. Photograph everything first — you will want it for your claim.

Why pipes burst here

Freezing is the headline cause. Water expands as it turns to ice, pressure builds between the ice plug and the closed tap, and the pipe splits — often in an attic, crawl space, exterior wall or an uninsulated garage run. See frozen pipe repair for prevention.

The other causes are corrosion in older galvanised or thin copper, excessive system pressure from a failed regulator, and repeated water hammer working a joint loose.

What a proper repair looks like

Cutting out the failed section entirely and replacing it, not clamping over it. Pressure testing before the wall closes. Checking the rest of the run, because whatever caused this section to fail is usually present along its whole length. That is what burst pipe repair should include.

If you are on your third burst in two years, the conversation should be about repiping rather than another patch.

Burst pipe right now? Call (833) 435-9778. The dispatcher will walk you through the shutoff while the van is moving.