How fast can you actually get here at 2am?

Most nights we are at the door within 45 to 60 minutes, because the on-call plumber works out of Northcote rather than a depot on the other side of town. If we are already on a job we tell you an honest time when you ring instead of a hopeful one, and you get a text when the van leaves.

Is this an emergency, or can it wait until morning?

Treat it as an emergency if water is running where you cannot stop it, sewage is coming up inside the house, you can smell gas, or you have no water at all. A dripping tap, one slow drain, a running cistern or a hot water unit that still makes lukewarm water can safely wait for a booked weekday visit — and we will say so on the phone.

My insurer wants a report on the damage. Can you provide one?

Yes. On emergency jobs we photograph the failure before we touch it, note what we did to make it safe, and record moisture readings where a wall, cabinet or floor has been wet. That, with the invoice and any pipe we cut out, is normally everything an insurer asks for. We can email it straight to your assessor.

24/7 emergency plumber

What does 24/7 emergency plumber involve?

Call Merri Creek Plumbing & Gas on (03) 5550 8817 at any hour — a licensed plumber answers, not a call centre, and we are usually on site anywhere in Melbourne's inner north within 60 minutes. Burst pipes, sewer overflows, gas leaks and total hot water failures are made safe on the first visit.

From $99 — after-hours callout, first 30 minutes

At a glance

Typical response: Under 60 minutes to Northcote, Thornbury, Brunswick, Preston and Fairfield
Availability: 24 hours, seven days, public holidays included
After-hours callout: $99 fixed, covering travel and the first 30 minutes on site
Workmanship warranty: 6 years on our labour, plus the manufacturer's warranty on any parts supplied
Payment: Card, bank transfer or PayID on completion, with no deposit for emergency work
Licence: VBA plumbing licence 000000, fully insured

What happens when you ring

The phone goes to a plumber on shift, not a message service. We triage before we leave — where the water is coming from, whether you can reach the meter, whether anything electrical is wet — because two minutes of advice often stops most of the damage before we arrive. If it is safe, we will talk you through shutting the water off at the meter on the front boundary, or isolating one fixture at its stop tap so the rest of the house keeps working.

Make safe first, repair second

An after-hours call has two stages. The first is making the property safe: capping a split pipe, isolating a leaking hot water unit, clearing a sewer overflow away from the building, or shutting down and tagging a gas appliance. The second is the permanent repair, which occasionally has to wait for a supplier to open if the fitting is an odd size or an old imperial thread. We tell you which stage you are paying for before we start, and no make-safe work gets thrown away when we come back to finish.

Gas escapes

If you can smell gas, do not touch light switches or anything electrical near the meter. Open the windows, turn the gas off at the meter handle if you can reach it safely, get everyone outside, then ring us. We hold a gas servicing endorsement alongside the plumbing licence, so the leak test, the appliance check and the reconnection are all done by the same person on the same visit.

What the van carries

The vans are stocked for the calls that actually come in overnight: copper and PEX in the common sizes, compression and press fittings, gate and ball valves, flexible connectors, tempering valves, universal thermostats and elements, pan collars and cistern parts, and an electric eel for a drain that cannot wait until morning. That stock is the reason most overnight jobs finish as one visit instead of two.