Water Running Now, South Metro
Burst Pipe Repair: Emergency Service Any Hour
Close the main before the leak does more damage.
Licensed and insured plumbers. Open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Based in the South Metro.
A burst pipe empties the supply line into the house until the main shutoff is closed, usually near the water meter on the street-facing wall. Charli’s Emergency Plumbing takes burst pipe calls any hour, across the South Metro. Close the main, then call 952-521-0880.
Stop the water first
Stop the water before you do anything else. A burst pipe does not slow down while you look for a towel.
Close the shutoff valve behind the fixture, if one exists and you can reach it.
If there is no fixture valve, or you cannot reach it, close the main shutoff.
In most Minnesota basements it sits near the water meter, on the wall facing the street. Turn a lever handle until it sits across the pipe, or a round handle clockwise until it stops.
If water is reaching an outlet, a cord, or the panel area, cut power to that part of the house at the breaker, but only if you can reach it without standing in water.
Move what you can off the floor.
Photograph the damage from a few angles now, while you still have the time.
Close the main, then call 952-521-0880.
Older gate valves, the kind with a round handle that turns several times, seize up if nobody has moved them in years. If yours will not close, or the packing nut starts weeping as you turn it, stop turning and call. A main you cannot close is its own emergency.
Then call 952-521-0880.
Open
Closed
Why pipes burst in Minnesota
Pipes do not usually burst where the ice forms. Research from the Building Research Council at the University of Illinois found that pressure builds in the water trapped between an ice blockage and a closed faucet, and that trapped pressure, not the ice itself, is what ruptures the pipe. The finding is documented in Gordon’s 1996 study of freezing and bursting water pipes, sponsored by the Insurance Institute for Property Loss Reduction.
That is why a break often shows up in a straight run of pipe with no ice anywhere near it, usually along a rim joist, inside an exterior wall, or in an unheated garage. Those are the spots where a pipe sits closest to outside air and farthest from the house’s own heat, which is exactly where a downstream faucet gets closed for the night without anyone thinking about the pipe behind the wall.
PEX flexes a little before it fails. Galvanized and old copper do not, which is part of why a galvanized break is rarely a clean, single split.
Where a frozen pipe splits
Signs you have a burst pipe
Some are obvious. Water actively running from a wall, a ceiling, or a fixture supply line means the pipe has already let go.
Others are easy to miss for an hour or two, which is exactly the hour or two that costs the most:
- A hissing or rushing sound inside a wall or ceiling with no fixture running.
- Water pressure dropping suddenly at every fixture in the house at once, not just one.
- A wet or discolored patch spreading on a ceiling or wall below a run of pipe.
- The small leak indicator on your water meter turning steadily with every fixture in the house shut off. It takes thirty seconds to check and it will not lie to you.
What burst pipe repair involves
Finding the break is usually the real work, not fixing it. Water travels along framing before it ever reaches drywall, so a wet ceiling over the kitchen can trace back to a break in a bathroom wall one floor up. A plumber opens the wall at the point the water is actually coming from, not the point it is showing up.
Once the break is exposed, the damaged section gets cut out and replaced, usually with PEX, and the repair gets pressure tested before anything is closed back up. A closed-up repair that was never tested is how a fixed pipe becomes a second flood two weeks later.
Honest answer on timing: it depends on distance, weather, and how many emergencies are running at once. The person you speak with will give you a straight picture for your address.
A spraying pipe and a weeping fitting are not the same emergency
Call now
A pipe that is actively spraying, running, or filling a room does not wait, no matter what time it is. Close the main and call.
Less urgent
A fitting that only seeps when one specific fixture runs, and that you have already isolated by closing that fixture’s own shutoff, is a different problem. It is still worth a call, but it is not the same clock. If you are not sure, call 952-521-0880. If it can safely wait until morning, we will say so.
When it is a full replacement, not just a repair
One clean break in an accessible run of PEX is usually a straightforward repair. A galvanized system that has already burst once is a different conversation, because galvanized pipe corrodes from the inside, and a break in one visible spot is rarely the only weak point along that run.
That does not mean every galvanized break means repiping the whole house. It means the plumber on your call tells you honestly what they are seeing behind the wall, not just what they patched, so the decision about the rest of the system is yours to make with real information.
Burst pipe repair across the South Metro
Burst pipe repair, any hour:
- Burst pipe repair in Eagan
- Burst pipe repair in Lakeville
- Burst pipe repair in Shakopee
- Burst pipe repair in Apple Valley
- Burst pipe repair in Savage
- Burst pipe repair in Prior Lake
- Burst pipe repair in Rosemount
- Burst pipe repair in Farmington
- Burst pipe repair in Inver Grove Heights
Related problems that show up alongside a burst pipe: frozen pipe repair, water line repair if closing the main does not stop what you are seeing because the break is actually in the buried line between the curb and the house, sump pump repair for the basement that is still taking on water after the valve is closed, and the full FAQ for questions this page does not cover.
Close the main, then call 952-521-0880.
Questions about burst pipe repair
Why did my pipe burst if it never got below freezing where it broke?
A burst pipe rarely happens where the ice actually formed. Pressure builds in the water trapped between an ice blockage and a closed faucet, and that pressure ruptures the pipe at its weakest point, often several feet away, in a rim joist or an exterior wall. The Building Research Council at the University of Illinois documented the mechanism in 1996.
The practical result: the break can be nowhere near the coldest part of the house, which is why "it never freezes in there" is not proof a pipe is safe.
Is a burst pipe ever something that can wait until morning?
An actively running or spraying pipe never waits. A pipe you have already isolated at its own fixture valve, with no active flow anywhere, is a call worth making, but it is a different situation. If you are not sure which one you have, call and describe what you are seeing.
Will the repair mean cutting into a wall?
Often, yes, if the break is not exposed in a basement or crawlspace. The plumber opens the wall at the point the water is actually leaking from, repairs or replaces that section, and pressure tests it before anything gets closed back up. Patching drywall afterward is a separate, later step.
The break does not fix itself
Open 24 hours a day. Close the main, then call 952-521-0880.