Emergency Plumbing → Diagnosis
Every guide lists the same symptoms. None of them gives you a test. This one starts with a thirty-minute meter procedure that answers the question definitively, then narrows the location.
How to tell if a pipe burst comes down to one measurement: with every fixture closed, a water meter that keeps turning means water is escaping. Everything else on this page narrows down where.
Knowing how to tell if a pipe burst matters because hidden leaks are the expensive ones. The EPA puts the window before mold can begin in wet building materials at 24 to 48 hours, and a cavity leak can run for weeks before anything shows on a wall.
The definitive test
Every tap, the dishwasher, the washing machine, the ice maker and any irrigation timer. Nothing may draw water for the next half hour.
Photograph the meter face, including the small low-flow triangle or star. That dial moves on flows too small to register on the main digits.
Leave the house alone. A short wait produces ambiguous results because thermal expansion can nudge the dial on its own.
Any movement means water is escaping on your side of the meter. No movement effectively rules out a burst supply line.
What are the signs of a burst pipe?
A water meter that turns with everything closed, pressure that has dropped at some fixtures but not others, running or hissing sounds with nothing switched on, and staining, bubbling paint or a musty smell downstream of the break.
Take them in that order. The meter is objective; the other three are corroborating evidence that helps locate it.
This distinction decides who you call and what it costs, and no ranking page makes it. A supply line is pressurised all the time, so a supply leak runs constantly whether you are using water or not.
A drain leak only wets when something is draining. If the damp patch appears after a shower and dries between uses, you are looking at waste pipework, not a burst.
The meter test only catches supply leaks, which is exactly why a negative meter test plus an intermittent damp patch points at the drain side.
Start at the fixture nearest the meter and work outward, noting flow at each. Full pressure at the front of the house and weak flow at the back places the break between them.
Check hot and cold separately at each fixture. A pressure loss on the hot side only puts the break on the run out of the water heater, which on a slab-built home is the classic slab-leak signature.
Stop mapping if water is near electrics
A ceiling that is holding water above light fittings, or any staining tracking toward the electrical panel, changes the priority. Cut that circuit from a dry position, or call the power company if you cannot reach the panel without standing in water. Diagnosis can wait; a live circuit in a wet ceiling cannot.
How to tell if a pipe burst is only half the job. Where it burst is four different jobs at four different prices, and the search results treat them as one.
Underground and kerbside cases raise the ownership question. Anything on the street side of the meter is the utility's asset, so report it rather than dig it up. If water is already inside the house, our guide to the first ten minutes after a pipe bursts covers the shut-off sequence.
Building materials are good at hiding water. Fibreglass insulation, subfloor and plaster absorb a large volume before any of it appears as a stain, and cavities have no airflow to carry moisture away.
The consequence is not just a bigger repair. The EPA's 24 to 48 hour drying window has usually passed several times over by the time a hidden leak becomes visible, which is why concealed leaks so often end as a mold remediation job rather than a pipe repair.
The water bill is often the first honest signal. A jump with no change in household use is worth a meter test the same day.
Know the line
24/7 dispatch network
If the meter is moving and you cannot find the water, that is a leak-detection job. Send the symptoms and your ZIP code and licensed, insured plumbers covering your area will contact you directly. No obligation.
Fire, a gas smell, or an injury? Leave the building and call 911 first, then your gas utility or power company. Use this form once you are safe.
At what temperature do pipes burst?
Water freezes below 32F, but the burst comes later and is caused by pressure, not by ice touching the pipe. An ice plug grows until the water trapped between it and a closed tap has nowhere to go, and the pipe splits at its weakest point.
This is why the split usually appears between the ice and the tap rather than at the frozen section itself, and why leaving a faucet open through a cold snap is such an effective preventative.
Exposure matters more than the outside temperature. An exterior-wall run, an uninsulated crawlspace or an unheated garage will freeze in conditions that leave the rest of the house untouched.
Indicative US ranges. Always get a written quote.
| Job | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency trip fee | $75–$500 | Charged to attend and diagnose |
| Labor, standard hours | $100–$200 / hr | Includes locating the leak |
| Labor, after hours | up to $350 / hr | 1.5×–2× the base rate |
| Burst repair, accessible run | $150–$2,000 | Reported average near $500 |
| Burst repair, under slab | $500–$4,000+ | Locating and breaking concrete dominates |
| Main water line repair | from ~$225 | Reported where the homeowner digs the trench |
Detection is worth paying for when the meter says there is a leak and nothing on the surface says where. Acoustic and thermal detection costs a fraction of exploratory demolition, and it is considerably cheaper than opening three walls to find the fourth one was right.
Access, not the fitting, sets the repair price. The same joint failure is an hour in an open basement and a day under a slab. Full rate detail sits in our breakdown of what emergency plumbing repair costs.
Emergency Services 24H is a referral service. We do not employ plumbers and we do not carry out detection or repair work.
Your request routes by ZIP code to licensed, insured contractors covering your area, and they contact you directly. The rate tables here exist so you can judge the quote rather than take it on trust.
Straight answers
The questions homeowners actually search for on this problem, answered in plain language.
Browse all guidesClose every tap and appliance, then watch the water meter. If the low-flow indicator is still turning after thirty minutes with nothing running, water is escaping on your side of the meter. Add uneven pressure between fixtures, a hiss behind drywall, or a spreading stain, and you have a burst supply line.
Easily, when it is inside a wall, above a ceiling or under a slab. Cavity insulation and subfloor absorb a surprising volume before anything shows, and the first visible signal is often the water bill. The EPA puts the window before mold can begin in wet materials at 24 to 48 hours.
Pipes freeze below 32F, but the burst happens later and is caused by pressure rather than ice contact. As an ice plug grows, water trapped between it and a closed tap has nowhere to go and the pipe splits at its weakest point. Exposed runs in unheated crawlspaces, garages and exterior walls fail first.
Banging when a tap closes, a persistent hiss with nothing running, or a gurgle followed by a trickle at a fixture that used to run full. A tap that slows to a dribble in cold weather is the classic pre-burst signal, because it usually means an ice plug has already formed upstream.
Accessible repairs commonly run $150 to $2,000 with a reported average near $500. Under a slab the range moves to $500 to $4,000 or more, because locating the leak and breaking through dominates the labor. Add a $75 to $500 trip fee plus after-hours labor for an emergency call-out.
Slab leaks usually show as a warm patch of floor over a hot-water line, an unexplained rise in the bill, and the sound of running water underfoot with everything closed. Wall leaks show as staining that travels along framing and often surfaces well below and to one side of the break.
Checked . If a figure here no longer matches its source, that is a bug, so tell us and we will correct it.
24/7 dispatch network
Tell us what has failed and where you are. We route your request to licensed, insured contractors covering your ZIP code, and they contact you directly.
Fire, a gas smell, or an injury? Leave the building and call 911 first, then your gas utility or power company. Use this form once you are safe.