UrbanTechFlow · Ottawa and Gatineau · Published October 26, 2026 · Updated October 26, 2026 · Checked October 11, 2026

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Both hands on a frozen pipe when the phone rings: a plumber's guide to winter calls

January, 7:40 a.m. The owner of Wexcombe Plumbing, a made-up one-truck shop, lies on a flattened box in the crawl space of an older house. A supply line froze overnight along the outside wall. He is warming it with a heat gun, one hand on the tool and one on the pipe.

His phone buzzes against a joist, three times in ten minutes. A woman whose kitchen tap ran dry overnight. A man watching water drip through his basement ceiling. A landlord with two units and no water in either. Each one is standing in a cold house somewhere across the city, scrolling a list of plumbers.

Frozen pipes have perfect timing: the calls about them come in while both your hands are on another one. Nobody answers a phone with a heat gun running in a crawl space, and this post won't ask you to.

What those missed calls cost a home-service business is covered in our post on missed calls in Ottawa home services. This one is about the season: Ottawa's frozen-service process, Gatineau's rules for homeowners, and what to set up before the first cold snap.

The short version: check the hours on your Google listing and make sure your number is one tap away on your website. Then decide what a caller gets when you can't pick up. The sections below show why each one matters.

How Ottawa's frozen-service season works

Every property on City of Ottawa water has a water service pipe. It runs underground and connects the building's plumbing to a City water main. The City's page on frozen water service pipes says it issues a seasonal run-water advisory to vulnerable properties when frost reaches the appropriate depth.

The page names two signs that a pipe is vulnerable to freezing this winter. Either the owner got a letter from the City telling him to run his water, or his service pipe froze in a past winter. A frozen service pipe is reported by calling 3-1-1.

In January 2025, the City explained how it times those advisories. It models frost depth from average daily temperatures recorded by Environment Canada at the Ottawa airport. Monitoring begins once daily temperatures consistently drop below zero. The City also counted about 2,000 homes and businesses whose water pipes are shallower or less insulated (the City's figure, January 2025).

One limit matters if you serve condos. The City's page says residents on a private street, condominium corporations included, will not have access to inspection or thawing services. And a house on a well is outside this process: it has no City service pipe.

What it gives you: an early warning. When the run-water letters go out, the frost has reached the depth the City watches for. That is your signal to get your phone and your Google listing ready.

Where the City stops and your work starts

When a service pipe freezes, the City's page says crews work to restore water to the property. They may install a temporary service line, an outside hose from a neighbour's yard. In some cases the City lets the pipe thaw as the frost leaves the ground, which the page calls less disruptive and less expensive.

The money follows the property line. The City's page says thawing on municipal property costs the owner nothing. Thawing on private property is billed to the owner, each time the City does it. When records show the service freezes on the owner's property, the owner also covers the cost of running the water.

A frozen section inside the house is the owner's problem, which often makes it your call. The City's page lists ways to warm a pipe and warns: never use an open flame. It also names one reason a service is at risk: it may not be installed to a proper depth.

For at-risk services, the same page advises running cold water in a steady stream at least the width of a drinking straw. The water runs until the frost is out of the ground, at the end of April. The page also asks owners to keep the air above 8°C where pipes run, especially near the meter.

What it gives you: a January emergency can lead to planned work later. Think of a deeper or better-insulated service, a backwater valve or a sump pump. The caller you can't answer today may also be a quote worth following up in spring.

Across the river: what Gatineau asks of homeowners

If your trucks cross the bridges, Gatineau's rules are different. The City of Gatineau's backwater valve page says a municipal rule requires every owner to install backwater valves. It applies whatever the year the house was built. These rules are the City of Gatineau's; neighbouring municipalities have their own by-laws.

Gatineau's construction by-law 534-2025, in force since June 18, 2025, replaced by-law 504-2005. Its article on backwater valves ("Clapet anti-retour ou soupape de sûreté") applies when a building is built, enlarged or altered. It covers the building's drainage system, including water from foundation drains, sumps and floor drains. Each valve must be kept in working order and easy to reach for maintenance. Plugging a floor drain with a threaded plug does not remove the duty to install a valve.

The City's page adds two points that the by-law text does not spell out. Valves go on the secondary branch lines, never on the main line. And they must stay accessible for a check at least twice a year, usually in spring and fall, when the clocks change.

Lead is the second rule. Gatineau's page on lead in drinking water and its by-law 923-2023, adopted June 6, 2023, give the owner one more job. He must replace the private part of a lead service line, from the curb stop (the City's "poteau de service") to the building's main shut-off valve. He tells the City through 311 at least 20 business days before the work starts. He also asks for locates, from 311 for City services and from Info-Excavation for the rest, and allows at least 5 business days to get them.

The City's 2023 replacement guide recommends doing that work between May and October, because the City plans no public-side lead replacements during the frost period. The same guide names the licence for the line from the curb stop to the building's shut-off valve. It asks for a contractor holding RBQ category 1.4, "Entrepreneur en routes et canalisation". Check with the RBQ what your own licence covers.

The City also runs a subsidy program for this replacement, the "Programme de subvention pour le remplacement des entrées de service privées en plomb".

On the Ottawa side, the City helps pay for protection in existing houses. Its Residential Protective Plumbing program offers rebates on a backwater valve or a sump pump with battery backup. The work needs a building permit and its inspection. Gatineau's valve page shows no rebate.

What it gives you: the fall valve check and the spring lead work are honest reasons to get back in touch with past customers. When they call back, you may be on a job, too.

What a caller sees when you can't pick up

Go back to the woman with the dry tap. She searched on her phone, tapped your number, and it rang out. She doesn't leave a message. She goes back to the list.

Before the ring comes the tap. On a phone, your number should be one tap away, with a call or quote button at the top of the page. The free check reads both on your own site. You can check whether your number is one tap away before the first cold snap.

If you advertise with Google's Local Services Ads, a missed call can also weigh on your ads, and Google says so itself. Its help page "About ad rankings" says: "Missed calls may negatively affect your responsiveness."

Its getting-started page for Canada goes further: "If you regularly fail to answer calls or respond to messages, your ad ranking may be affected."

Google's page "How leads work" adds a rule that matters in January. Among valid leads, it lists: "You missed a phone call during your business hours and the customer stays on the line for more than 20 seconds."

The same page says business hours are the hours you set in your Google Business Profile. It also covers ad schedules: "If you've set an ad schedule that differs from your business hours, unanswered calls are only charged when they happen during your active ad schedule and within your business hours."

So the hours on your Google listing do real work. Google's guidelines ask for your regular customer-facing hours, and they let you add special hours for holidays. Special hours cover changes or closures of up to 6 days in a row. Google's help says they only show when your hours are set to "Open with main hours."

What UrbanTechFlow takes off your plate

Once set up, when you can't take the dry-tap call, the caller gets a text from your business with a link to your quote form. What she fills in lands in your one unified app. It is one part of the follow-up systems we build for contractors, general contractors and trades. For the details, see how a missed call becomes a text.

What this does not do

A text doesn't thaw a pipe. Someone with water on the floor may still call the next plumber on the list.

Outside the hours you pick, no text goes out, so the 3 a.m. burst-pipe call is still yours to answer.

For Local Services Ads, count a texted caller as a missed call. Nothing on Google's pages says a text back changes your responsiveness.

We don't promise calls or reviews. We guarantee the work and the date.

Questions plumbers ask

Does a text back count as answering for Google's Local Services Ads?

Not on Google's pages. Its help says missed calls may negatively affect your responsiveness. It also says a missed call during your business hours can count as a lead if the caller holds for more than 20 seconds. Nothing there says a text back changes that.

Who handles a frozen water service in Ottawa?

Report it through 3-1-1. City crews then work to restore water: a thaw, a temporary line from a neighbour's yard, or waiting for the frost to leave the ground. The City's page says thawing on private property is billed to the owner, and that private streets, condominiums included, get no City thawing. A frozen section inside the home is the owner's to deal with.

Is a backwater valve required in an older house in Gatineau?

The City's page says yes, whatever the year the house was built. Construction by-law 534-2025 also requires valves on the drainage system when a building is built, enlarged or altered. The owner can confirm the details for his address with the City.