Sump Pump Installation & Battery Backup
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Artisan Water Group
Emergency Plumber in Lake in the Hills, IL
Water does not wait for business hours. A supply line lets go behind a laundry wall at 11 p.m., a sewer backs up into a finished basement on a Sunday, a sump pump quits in the middle of an April downpour. Every minute the water runs, the repair bill climbs.
- 5.0★ · 11 Google reviews
- Licensed & insured
- Free written estimates
- 24/7
Need this handled today? Call and a real person answers — nights, weekends and holidays included. You get the price before we start.
We answer the phone ourselves. You will not get an out-of-state call center reading from a script — you get someone who can tell you which valve to close before we are even on the road. Then a licensed plumber comes to your door, diagnoses the problem in front of you, and gives you a number before touching a wrench.
Most of our emergency calls in Lake in the Hills come down to four things: frozen or burst pipes in January, sump pump failures from March through May, water heater tanks that finally split after a decade of hard water, and main line backups in older neighborhoods where scale and roots have narrowed the pipe. We carry parts for all four.
When to stop reading and call us right now
Some plumbing problems can wait until Tuesday. These cannot. If you are seeing any of the following, shut off the water and call.
Water you cannot stop
A burst supply line, a split water heater tank, or a fitting that failed inside a wall. Close the main shutoff, then call. If you cannot find or turn the main, tell us on the phone and we will walk you through the meter pit or curb stop.
Sewage coming up a floor drain
Water rising in a basement floor drain or a laundry tub while you run an upstairs fixture means the main line is blocked, not a single branch. Stop using water in the house immediately — every flush adds to what comes up.
The smell of rotten eggs
That is the odorant added to natural gas. Do not flip switches, do not use your phone indoors. Get everyone out, call 911 and the utility from outside, then call us to make the repair once the line is made safe.
No water at any fixture
A frozen main, a failed pressure regulator, or a break between the curb stop and the house. In January this is almost always ice, and how fast it gets thawed determines whether you get a repair or a replacement.
A sump pit filling during a storm
If the pit is rising and the pump is silent or humming without moving water, you have minutes, not hours. Finished basements in Boulder Ridge and Meadowbrook flood this way every spring.
Water anywhere near electrical
Water spreading toward a panel, a furnace, or a basement outlet is a shock and fire hazard. Kill power to the affected circuits at the panel if you can do it from a dry spot, and call.
What happens after you call
Emergency work is stressful enough. Here is exactly how the call goes so there are no surprises.
1. We answer and triage
First question is always the same: is water still running? We stay on the line while you close the main or the fixture stop. Stopping the flow is worth more than anything else we do that night.
2. You get an ETA, not a window
We tell you where the truck is coming from and roughly how long. Lake in the Hills calls are close to home. If we are already on another emergency, we say so instead of leaving you waiting.
3. Diagnosis in front of you
We find the actual failure point — not a guess. That may mean opening a small section of drywall, running a camera down the main, or pressure-testing a line. We show you what we find.
4. Price before work
You get the number, including any after-hours premium, before we start. If there is a cheaper stabilize-tonight, repair-properly-tomorrow option, we tell you about it.
5. Repair and pressure test
We make the repair, restore pressure slowly, and check every fixture in the house. Slow refills catch the second weak joint that a fast refill would blow out an hour after we leave.
6. Cleanup and the honest debrief
We haul the old parts, wipe down the work area, and tell you plainly whether this was a one-off failure or a symptom of a system that is going to keep failing.
Do this before we arrive
The five minutes between your call and our truck are the most valuable of the whole job. Here is how to use them.
- Close the main shutoff. In most Lake in the Hills homes it is on the front foundation wall, near where the service line enters, often within a few feet of the water meter.
- If the leak is one fixture, use the small stop valve under the sink or behind the toilet instead of shutting the whole house down.
- Open the lowest faucet in the house — usually a laundry or utility sink — to drain pressure out of the pipes above it.
- For a suspected frozen pipe, open the faucet that stopped running so melting ice has somewhere to go, and never use an open flame to thaw.
- Move anything that matters off the basement floor. Cardboard wicks water faster than you would believe.
- Take photos before you mop. Your insurer will want them and you will not want to reconstruct the scene later.
Why so many Lake in the Hills emergencies trace back to the water
At 26 to 28 grains per gallon, our municipal water is roughly six times harder than the national average. That mineral load is not just a nuisance at the shower head — it is a slow structural problem.
Scale narrows the inside of supply lines, which raises velocity and pressure at every elbow. It cakes the bottom of water heater tanks until the steel above it overheats and fatigues. It seizes the tiny rubber and brass parts inside fixture stops, so the emergency shutoff you were counting on will not turn when you need it most. Most of the 2 a.m. failures we respond to were years in the making.
That is why our emergency debrief always ends with a straight answer about the rest of the system. If your water heater just split at eleven years old, the softener conversation is worth having. If a fixture stop crumbled in our hand, the other fifteen in the house are the same age.
What drives the cost of an emergency call
We will not publish a fake flat rate. What we will do is tell you exactly which variables move the number, so you can judge any estimate — ours or anyone else's.
- Time of day and day of week
- After-hours, weekend and holiday calls carry a premium because a plumber is being pulled from home. We quote that premium up front rather than burying it in the labor line.
- How accessible the failure is
- A supply line under an open basement joist bay is a fast repair. The same failure behind finished drywall, above a soffit, or under a slab costs more because access is most of the labor.
- Whether one repair fixes it
- A single pinhole in copper is a coupling. Three pinholes in the same run usually means the whole run is thinning and a section replacement is the honest fix.
- Parts on the truck versus parts on order
- We stock the common Lake in the Hills failure points — water heater parts, sump pumps, check valves, PEX and copper fittings, standard fixture stops. A less common part may mean a temporary cap tonight and the real repair the next day.
- Diagnostic equipment needed
- A main line backup that needs a camera and a jetter is a different job than a kitchen branch that clears with a cable. We tell you which one you have before we bill for either.
- Permit requirements
- Water heater replacements and sewer work require a Village of Lake in the Hills permit. We pull it and itemize the cost separately — always ask any plumber to do the same.
Every price is confirmed with you before work begins. For non-emergency work, estimates are free and there is no obligation.
24/7 Emergency Plumbing FAQs
Do you really answer the phone at 2 a.m., or is it an answering service?
You reach us directly. The person who picks up can help you shut the water off and tell you where the truck is coming from — that is not something a call center can do.
How much more does after-hours emergency service cost?
Nights, weekends and holidays carry a premium over standard rates because a licensed plumber is coming out off-hours. We tell you the exact number before we roll, so you can decide whether the repair can safely wait until morning.
My basement is flooding. Should I call you or a water damage company first?
Call us first. Stopping the source is the priority, and until the water stops a restoration crew cannot dry anything. Once the leak is contained we will tell you honestly whether you need professional drying or a couple of fans and a dehumidifier.
Can you thaw a frozen pipe without cutting the wall open?
Often, yes. We use controlled heat on accessible runs and can usually thaw a line in an exterior wall through a small access hole rather than a full tear-out. What we will not do is use a torch — that is how frozen pipe calls turn into house fire calls.
Will my homeowner's insurance cover this?
Sudden and accidental water damage is usually covered; slow leaks and neglected maintenance usually are not. We document the failure with photos and a written cause-of-loss description you can hand straight to your adjuster.
Often needed together
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Worth reading first
More on this from our blog
Emergency5 min readHow to Shut Off Your Water in a Plumbing Emergency (Step by Step)
The five minutes between a pipe failing and the water stopping determine whether you have a repair or a remediation. Here is how to win those five minutes.
Seasonal6 min readHow to Prevent Frozen Pipes During a McHenry County Winter
Frozen pipe calls cluster in January and the damage usually appears on the first warm day. Here is how to make sure you are not one of them.
24/7 Emergency Plumbing
Ready to get your 24/7 emergency plumbing handled?
Call and talk to the person who will do the work. Free written estimates on non-emergency 24/7 emergency plumbing, and a price before we start on anything urgent.
- 5.0 from 11 Google reviews
- Licensed & insured
- 24/7 emergency service
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5.0 from 11 Google reviewsLicensed & insuredFree written estimates
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Please call (207) 419-2600 instead — a real person answers, nights and weekends included, and we can usually sort it faster on the phone anyway.
Why homeowners choose us for this
We are a licensed, insured, owner-operated shop based on Pine Street in Lake in the Hills. That means the person quoting the job is the person doing it, and nobody here is measured on how much they sold you.
Every recommendation starts with the water. At 26–28 grains per gallon, our supply is roughly six times harder than the national average, and it is the single biggest factor in how long anything in your plumbing lasts. Fixing the symptom without addressing that is how you end up calling someone again in two years.
And when a permit is required — water heaters, sewer work, gas piping — we pull it and show the fee on its own line. Ask every plumber you talk to for the same. Read more in our guide to plumbing permits in McHenry County.