If some of your customers or employees spot a large or deep puddle of water in the grass near your building, call an emergency plumber right away. You may have a broken water main that needs repair. A water main break can cause significant problems for your building, including severe water damage. Learn more about water main breaks and how an emergency commercial plumber can fix them below.
How Can Your Water Main Break?
In order for your building to receive water from the city's public water supply, it must travel through a long pipe called the water main. If the water main breaks in or near the city street, such as beneath the sidewalk, the city generally needs to repair it. But if the water main breaks close to your building or on your property grounds, you must repair it yourself.
The water main on your property can break for a number of reasons, including old age. A water main made of cast iron or another metal can deteriorate and gradually crack as it ages. The cracking pipe can lose internal pressure over time. The pipe can't transport water into your building if it loses most of the pressure inside it.
The water flowing through your water main can also reverse or increase in pressure. The problems can cause a water hammer, or a loud hammering noise, to develop in your pipe. A water hammer can be dangerous if it causes your water main to break open and explode under the ground.
Water hammers and aging pipes can leak and push water above the surface of the ground. You may see large puddles of water form on the surface of your commercial property if your water main breaks. The only way to successfully and safely repair your water main is to call an emergency commercial plumber for assistance.
How Do You Fix Your Water Main?
The first thing a commercial plumber may do is locate and inspect your water main. The access point, or opening, to your water main should be on the side of your building that faces the street. The location allows the water main to have direct and unobstructed access to the city's public water supply.
After a plumber locates the pipe's access point, they'll send a camera down the pipe to inspect it. A camera may be able to pick up the sounds of leaking water beneath the ground. If your pipe contains a break in it, a plumber can repair it immediately.
You can learn more about water main breaks and how to repair them by contacting a 24/7 emergency commercial plumber today.
Share13 October 2022
Think about how different your life would be without plumbing. To get water, you would have to walk outside and pull it up from a well. To use the bathroom, you would have to venture out to an outhouse, which would certainly not be pleasant in the winter. We really have to thank plumbers for the work that they do, since it allows us all to stay comfortable and do our business inside of our homes. Life has been transformed, in so many ways, by the plumbing profession. Join us in honoring plumbers by reading the articles on this website.