You’re in the kitchen, and suddenly, a pipe bursts. Or you’re showering, and water starts gushing out of the wall. Or maybe it’s just your toilet that won’t stop running—and any second now, it’s going to overflow into your bathroom floor. In any of these cases, you need to fix the leak quickly before more damage is done. Here’s how to temporarily patch a pipe until your best Plumber South Melbourne wide arrives:
Tips to Fix How to Fix a Leaky Pipe
Use a wet/dry vacuum.
You can use a wet/dry vacuum to fix a leak or even to stop one before it starts.
If you have a wet/dry vacuum, first use the pipe cleaner attachment (the yellow attachment) to clean out whatever debris is blocking your drain. Then use the crevice tool (the black one) to get into tight spaces and suck up any debris that remains. Finally, remove any standing water with the hose attachment (green).
Now turn on your faucet again and see if there’s still water coming out of it! If there isn’t, congratulations—you’ve successfully fixed your leak!
Use rubber
If you don’t have any rubber bands on hand, try using a strip of rubber from an old tire. This can be cut to size and held in place with duct tape or other adhesive. Rubber is a good temporary fix for leaks until the Plumber South Melbourne arrives.
Use household clamps
- Clamps are the most common way to stop leaks temporarily. They can be purchased at any hardware store, and they’re designed to clamp down on a leaking pipe to prevent water from escaping.
- While clamps work well for temporarily stopping water from flowing out of a pipe, they’re not meant to be used as permanent fixes. If you want something more permanent, consider calling your local plumber or calling someone else in the industry who is licensed and experienced with fixing leaks.
- When using clamps on pipes that aren’t under pressure (which is most likely what you’ll use them for), make sure the pressure inside of your house isn’t too high before tightening them down; otherwise, you risk blowing apart one or both ends of the leaky pipe and making things even worse than they already were!
Shut off the water supply
To get the water off, you’ll need to shut off the water supply. First, find and turn on the valve that supplies water to your house. If you’re not sure where this is, ask someone who lives there or call a plumber for help.
Next, turn the valve clockwise until it’s fully closed—you should feel it click into place when you’re done. If there is any remaining water in the pipes, you’ll be able to hear or see it draining out of them after this step has been completed successfully.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you’ll never have to fix a leaky pipe. But if you do, we hope that these tips will help you out. And if all else fails? Call a Plumber South Melbourne!
