Phones answered 24/7 in Colorado Springs, CO
Colorado Springs plumbers for burst pipes, drains and water heaters
Water where it should not be? We answer day and night, shut it off with you over the phone, and send a plumber who fixes the cause: frozen lines, sewer backups, a dead water heater or a leak you cannot find.
- 24/7Phones answered, nights and weekends
- 50Plumbing jobs, drains to gas lines
- 6,035 ftGas heaters set up for this altitude
- 3Counties: El Paso, Pueblo, Teller
Quick answer
The short answer when water is on the floor
Quick answer
A Colorado Springs plumber can usually stop an active leak in minutes once the main shut-off is closed, and our phones are answered 24 hours a day. Shut the water off first, then call us; we handle burst pipes, backed-up drains and sewer lines, water heater swaps and gas line work across the Pikes Peak region.
Most calls we take start the same way: something is dripping, backing up or running cold, and nobody planned for it. American Plumbing Service is set up for exactly that. We repair and replace water heaters, clear and camera sewer lines, thaw and fix frozen pipes, track down hidden leaks and run gas lines for ranges, dryers and grills.
The rest of this page shows how to shut your water off, what we fix, why plumbing behaves differently at this altitude, and what to expect once you call.
Before you call
Water spraying? Find your main shut-off first
Every minute a burst line runs puts more water into drywall and subfloor. Pick your type of home and follow the steps, then call us with the valve closed.
Can not find it or can not turn it? Call (719) 618-9710 and stay on the line; we will talk you through it. If the leak is outdoors between the street and your house, see our water line repair page, because city code gives owners 24 hours to report a service line leak.
- Go to the basement wall that faces the street. That is where the water service line usually comes through the foundation.
- Look for the water meter or a pipe rising out of the floor or wall, with one valve before the meter and often one after it.
- Turn a lever handle a quarter turn so it sits across the pipe. Turn a round wheel handle clockwise until it stops.
- Open the lowest faucet in the house to drain the pressure, then call us.
Older gate valves with round handles seize up. If it will not turn by hand, stop before it snaps and tell us on the phone; we bring a replacement ball valve.
- Check the garage wall nearest the street first, low down, often behind a water heater or a storage shelf.
- No luck? Open the crawlspace hatch and follow the pipe that enters from the street side.
- Close the valve: a quarter turn on a lever, clockwise on a wheel.
- If water is spraying in the crawlspace, kill power to any electric water heater before you go back in.
Crawlspace lines on outside walls are the ones a hard freeze splits first, so it pays to know where this valve is before January.
- Slab homes often put the main valve in the garage, a utility closet, or next to the water heater.
- Outside, look for a valve near the foundation where the line enters, sometimes under a small cover.
- Close it, then open a tub faucet to bleed the pressure off the lines.
- Hissing under the floor or a warm spot on tile with the water off points to a slab leak. Tell us that when you call.
Never try to open the curb stop box at the street yourself. In Colorado Springs only the utility may operate or repair the curb stop.
- Look under the kitchen sink and behind the toilet first; close those fixture valves if the leak is at one of them.
- Your unit's main valve is often in the water heater closet, a utility closet, or behind an access panel near the tub.
- If the leak is coming from above, call your HOA or building manager as well as us; the valve may be in another unit.
- Move valuables, put towels down, and keep the shut-off closed until a plumber is there.
Shared buildings often have one main for several units. We can locate and tag yours on the first visit so the next leak is a ten-second fix.
What we fix
50 plumbing jobs, grouped by what went wrong
Start with the problem in front of you. Each page explains the symptoms, what the repair involves, what drives the cost and how long it takes, so you know what you are calling about.
Emergency & leak repair
Water where it should not be, tonight or this week.
Drains, sewer & inspections
Slow drains, backups, sewer scopes and the line to the street.
Water heaters & boilers
Tank, tankless, heat pump and hydronic heat, set up for altitude.
Fixtures & remodels
Faucets, toilets, showers, disposals and remodel rough-ins.
Water lines, gas & backflow
Repipes, yard lines, pressure, gas piping and backflow.
Water treatment, pumps & wells
Softeners, filtration, RO, sump and ejector pumps, wells.
Local conditions
Why plumbing in the Pikes Peak region fails the way it does
Half the homes in Colorado Springs were built after 1990, younger than the national median, yet we still see plenty of galvanized and polybutylene in older pockets. Three local conditions explain most of the calls we get.
Altitude changes gas appliances
A water heater service bulletin puts the start of altitude effects at about 2,000 feet and calls for a four percent smaller burner orifice per 1,000 feet. At roughly 6,035 feet, a heater set up for sea level runs rich, sooty and short-lived. Water also boils near 200 F here instead of 212 F, which matters for relief valves and boiler settings.
Freezes come early and leave late
NWS Pueblo puts the average last spring freeze in Colorado Springs on May 8 and the first fall freeze on October 2, and the city averages about five nights a year below zero. Hose bibs, sprinkler backflow assemblies and pipes on outside walls are where those nights show up.
Clay soil moves pipe
The Colorado Geological Survey says bentonite clays under much of the Front Range can swell up to 20 percent when wet, and lists broken sewer and water lines among the damage. It has mapped heave-prone ground in Colorado Springs, so a belly or offset joint in a sewer line is a common camera finding.
How a visit runs
What happens after you call
The same five steps whether it is a dripping faucet or a sewer backup at midnight.
You call, we answer
Day or night. Tell us what you see and hear; we walk you through shutting the water off if it is still running.
We set a time
We give you a realistic arrival window for your part of town and call ahead when the plumber is on the way.
Find the real cause
Camera, pressure test or meter test first, so we fix the failure and not just the symptom.
Price, then repair
You approve the price and the scope. Most repairs are finished on the same visit.
Test and clean up
We run the fixture, check for drips, pressure test where needed and haul the old parts away.
Brands
Water heater and fixture brands we service
We repair and replace tank heaters from Rheem, A. O. Smith and Bradford White, and install and descale tankless units from Navien, Rinnai and Noritz. On the fixture side we work on Moen, Delta and Kohler faucets and valves, plus InSinkErator disposals, and we install Watts and Zurn valves for pressure regulators and backflow assemblies.
- Rheem
- A. O. Smith
- Bradford White
- Navien
- Rinnai
- Noritz
- Moen
- Delta
- Kohler
- American Standard
- InSinkErator
- Uponor
- Watts
- Zurn
Working with us
What you can count on when we show up
Someone picks up at 3 a.m.
Phones are answered around the clock, every day of the year, so a burst line in a cold snap gets a person, not a voicemail.
Set up for 6,035 feet
Gas appliances here run thin air. We check burner setup and venting on every water heater and boiler we install or repair.
Repairs priced before we start
You hear what the fix involves and what it costs before a wrench turns, and you choose repair or replacement.
Tested, then cleaned up
Every repair gets pressure or flow tested before we leave, and the work area is left the way we found it.
Service area
Where our plumbers work
Colorado Springs is home base for the work, and we cover El Paso, Pueblo and Teller counties around it.
Each area page explains what plumbing looks like there, from housing age to water source. See the full service area.
Inside the city
From the older homes of the Old North End and Knob Hill to the newer streets of Briargate, Stetson Hills and Flying Horse, we work every part of Colorado Springs. See the citywide coverage page and the neighborhood pages under it.
North along I-25
Calls from Monument, Woodmoor and Palmer Lake are often frozen lines and well systems up on the Palmer Divide, and we cover Black Forest and Falcon to the east.
South and into Pueblo
Fountain and Security-Widefield sit close to the city line, and we run south to Pueblo and Pueblo West, where harder water changes how water heaters wear.
Up the pass
Manitou Springs and Woodland Park in Teller County bring older pipe, steep lots and colder nights, which means more freeze calls.
On the job
The work, up close
Resources
Read before you call, or while you wait
Plain guides written by Ulysses Elkins, our plumbing guides editor, on costs, freezes and the questions buyers ask about sewer lines.
FAQ
Questions Colorado Springs homeowners ask us
Yes. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. Call and a person will talk you through shutting the water off and get a plumber headed your way.
Under city code 12.4.409 the utility handles the part of the service line in the public right-of-way, and the property owner is responsible for the line from the right-of-way or easement line to the building. The curb stop is jointly owned, but only the utility may operate it. Our main water line repair page covers the private side.
City code asks owners to report a service line leak within 24 hours of finding it. Lines larger than 1 inch must be repaired within 72 hours, and lines 1 inch or smaller within 45 days, or water service can be suspended.
A manufacturer service bulletin puts the start of altitude effects at about 2,000 feet and calls for the burner orifice to shrink about four percent per 1,000 feet. Colorado Springs sits around 6,035 feet, so burner setup and venting get checked on every install. Our altitude guide explains why.
Utility-reported data puts city tap water at about 2.1 grains per gallon, which is classed as soft. Softeners make more sense on private wells and in towns with harder water, such as Pueblo. In the city, filtration is the more common ask.
NWS Pueblo lists October 2 as the average first fall freeze in Colorado Springs, with the earliest on record on September 1. Disconnect hoses and drain irrigation lines in late September and you are ahead of most years.
Leak, clog or cold shower right now?
Call any hour. We answer, help you stop the water, and get a plumber moving.
American Plumbing Service service area, Colorado Springs, CO
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