24/7 Emergency Plumber in Burlington, NC

Profyce is a free referral service. Your call goes to an independent local provider; Profyce does not do the work itself.

If water is spraying from a pipe in your Burlington home, call the number below before you do anything else. The line connects you to an independent local plumber who takes emergency calls in Alamance County. Profyce does not perform the repair, and the call costs you nothing.

While you wait, find the main shutoff and close it. We could not find City of Burlington guidance on where residential shutoffs sit, so check where the supply line comes into the house: the crawlspace or basement wall, a utility closet, or the meter box at the street. Turn the valve clockwise until it stops.

Next, open the lowest faucet in the house so the lines drain. If the supply is off, switch the water heater off at its breaker or gas valve so the tank does not heat empty. Kill power to a soaked room at the breaker panel only if you can reach the panel on a dry floor. Then get rugs, boxes and electronics up off the wet area.

What makes Burlington different

Burlington sits mostly in Alamance County, with its western edge reaching into Guilford County. That matters for who serves your tap water and which agencies you call when something breaks.

The utility, and who owns the street side

Tap water comes from the City of Burlington Water Resources Department, reachable at (336) 222-5133 during business hours. For nights, weekends and holidays, the department’s own page says to notify the Burlington Police Department at (336) 229-3500. A water main break on a weekday between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. goes to the Pipe Maintenance Division at (336) 222-5140.

Why this matters: if the leak is between the street and your meter, it is the city’s pipe and the city fixes it. Anything on the house side of the meter is yours, and that is what the plumber you reach through this page handles. The city handles turn-on and turn-off through customer service at (336) 222-5100 or the Municipal Annex on West Maple Avenue, which helps if your own valve is stuck.

Where the water comes from

Lake Mackintosh is Burlington’s primary fresh water source and Lake Cammack is the backup, according to the Alamance News. Great Alamance Creek feeds Lake Mackintosh. As of July 7, 2026 the city was under Stage One voluntary water conservation, so a running leak was costing both you and the reservoir.

We could not reach a city water quality report that lists hardness, so this page does not give a hardness number. Do not assume heavy scale in a water heater until a plumber looks at it.

Housing age and what is in the walls

The median Burlington home was built in 1978, and 52.7 percent of the city’s 27,762 housing units went up before 1980, per the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey. About 2,134 units predate 1940.

That age profile shapes the plumbing. Homes from before 1960 often still carry galvanized steel supply lines and cast iron drains, and galvanized typically lasts 40 to 60 years, so much of it is past its useful life. Homes built from 1978 to 1995 may have polybutylene supply piping, which chlorinated city water degrades at fittings and bends and which codes no longer accept.

The old mill villages are the clearest examples. Burlington Mills opened in 1924 and its workers lived in Piedmont Heights beside the plant. Glencoe Mill Village on the Haw River went up in 1880 to 1882 and its mill closed in 1954. Lakeside Mills, East Davis Street, West Davis Street-Fountain Place, South Broad-East Fifth Streets and Beverly Hills are all listed historic districts, and a 2021 survey covered West Burlington around South Church Street and Tarleton Avenue. If you live in one of these, expect older materials unless a prior owner repiped.

Cold snaps and frozen pipes

January’s mean daily low in Burlington is 30.7 degrees, and the record low is minus 6. The December 2022 arctic blast pushed lows to about 9 degrees on two straight nights, the coldest for those dates since 1983 according to NWS Raleigh. Frozen pipes burst at Elon Elementary, Eastern High and South Mebane Elementary that week, per the Alamance News.

The City of Winston-Salem’s frozen pipe guidance, which applies just as well here, says pipes become far more likely to fail at 20 degrees or below. Insulate lines in the crawlspace, garage and attic, disconnect hoses, and let an indoor faucet drip when a forecast dips that low.

Common plumbing emergencies in Burlington

• Burst or split pipe after a freeze. Uninsulated crawlspace and exterior-wall lines are the usual failures when temperatures drop below 20 degrees, as they did in December 2022. The break often shows up as the pipe thaws, not while it is frozen.
• Pinhole leaks in galvanized supply lines. Pre-1960 houses in Piedmont Heights, Glencoe and the Davis Street districts may still have original steel pipe that rusts from the inside. Low pressure at one fixture is often the first sign.
• Polybutylene fitting failures. A home built between 1978 and 1995 may have gray plastic supply lines that crack at the joints without warning. A plumber can tell you in minutes whether you have it.
• Water heater leaking from the tank. A tank heater lasts about 6 to 12 years per InterNACHI. Once the tank itself weeps, it is a replacement, not a repair.
• Sewer backup into a tub or floor drain. Cast iron drains in older homes crack and let roots in. Heavy rain, like the 8.7 to 9.4 inches that fell in about nine hours during Tropical Storm Chantal in July 2025, can also overwhelm a line that was already partly blocked.
• Main line leak between the meter and the house. A wet spot in the yard that never dries, or a bill that jumps with no change in use, points here. The city owns the street side of the meter; you own the rest.
• Toilet that will not stop running or overflows. Usually a cheap fix, but a steady overflow onto a wood subfloor becomes a water damage job within a day.
• Slab leak under a newer home. Houses on concrete slabs can leak under the floor. A warm spot on the floor, or a hissing sound with every fixture off, are the typical clues.

What it might cost

The figures below are national ranges published by Fixr, This Old House and Bob Vila. They are not quotes. Prices in Burlington vary by provider, by hour and by what the plumber finds. The company that answers your call sets and quotes its own price, and Profyce does not set prices or add to them.

• Plumber hourly rate: about $75 to $150 per hour, with emergency and after-hours work often adding a trip fee of $50 to $200 or a flat call-out charge of $200 to $300 (Fixr).
• Burst pipe repair: $200 to $1,000 (Fixr).
• Water heater repair: $150 to $750 (Fixr). Tank replacement: $600 to $2,500 (Fixr). Tankless replacement: $1,333 to $4,500 across Bob Vila and Fixr.
• Kitchen drain cleaning: $150 to $500 (Fixr).
• Main sewer line clog: $350 to $650 (Fixr). Sewer or drain line repair: $400 to $1,500 (Fixr).
• Sewer line replacement: roughly $1,250 to $5,320 across Bob Vila and This Old House.
• Toilet repair: $60 to $200 (Fixr).
• Slab leak: detection $100 to $400, repair $1,000 to $4,000 (Fixr).

Ask for the hourly rate and any after-hours fee before the plumber leaves the shop, and ask for a written number before work starts.

Who answers when you call

The number on this page routes to an independent plumbing company that serves Burlington. It is not Profyce, and Profyce holds no plumbing license. When they pick up, ask for the company name and the plumbing license number. You can check it at the North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors lookup: public.nclicensing.org/Public/Search. Any price, schedule or agreement is between you and that company.

Common questions in Burlington

Nearby and related

• Emergency plumbing across the Triad
• Emergency plumber in Greensboro
• Emergency plumber in High Point
• Water damage cleanup in Burlington