Plumbing in Utah is mineral scale plus a freeze, except in the south where the freeze fades and the scale remains. Water heaters fill with mineral and fail noisy, leaky, or lukewarm. Softeners are common and sometimes they are the leak. On the Wasatch, pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces, and poorly heated basements freeze on ordinary winter nights. Spring melt pushes water at foundation drains, sumps, and sewer lines, and a backup in a basement bath is a different emergency from a dripping faucet. St. George plumbing looks more like a hot desert: attic or garage heat, slab leaks, and heaters that scale in a long cooling season.
Know the main shutoff. Say whether you have used it. Separate supply leaks from drain backups, and separate both from irrigation or secondary water that is not the drinking system. A cable clears a clog and does not repair a broken sewer or a root. Ask whether a camera is included. If the basement takes water only when snow melts, say that, because the fix may be a drain, a sump, or a line, and guessing wrong wastes the visit. A burst pipe on a clear night is the freeze. Say where the pipe lives.
On a heater, say gas or electric and tank or tankless. Ask for a shutoff, a pan, a discharge line, and haul-away. Ask whether scale finished the old tank and whether the softener setting is part of the cause. Wells and septic fields exist outside the cities. Mention them. A hose bib that has frozen before will do it again until the location changes or the line is protected.
Secondary water and culinary water are different pipes. A winter leak in the yard may be the irrigation line, not the house main. Say which valve you closed so the visit does not chase the wrong system through a freeze.
Do not leave a burst line or a basement backup for the next thaw. Call the number on this page.