Plumbing in New Hampshire is wells, septic, ledge, and pipes that freeze in places a city house never would. Camps in the Lakes Region lose lines in crawls and in outside walls the first winter someone stays. Mountain houses need the heat to reach the far bath. Village houses on street water still hide galvanized pipe and old metal services. Say which water you have before you describe the fixture.
A gurgle is often a vent. A well pump or a pressure tank fails on its own day, often during a power cut. Septic smells and soggy patches in the yard belong in the call. Ledge means the pipe route you imagine may not be the route in the ground. Hose bibs and unheated ells split and wait for the thaw to confess. Know the shutoff. A valve that has not turned in years may weep, and you still want its location.
Old metal service lines should be identified, not sanded. Note the color and any change after work on the street. A leak at a radiator is heat piping. A leak under a lavatory is supply or waste. In a camp, the stain may be under the floor in the crawl, not on a ceiling at all. Say where you can actually see the water.
Heat tape and a door left ajar are not a plumbing system, but they tell the story of a room that freezes. Mention a crawl open to the wind. Kitchen stacks in seasonal houses clog when use changes from weekends to every day. A toilet that rocks has already started a leak into the wood. Do not wait for the subfloor to go soft if you can rock it now.
Name the town, well or street, and the symptom. Freeze, leak, clog, no water, or no hot water. Mention septic if you know the yard has a system. Say whether anyone is in the house all winter. Call the number on this page.