No Water in the House? What to Check First in Houston (Before You Call Anyone)

No water at all? First check whether a neighbor has water. If they are out too, it is a city or MUD outage and you call 311 or your district. If they have water and you do not, walk to your main shutoff valve and the meter at the street, because a closed valve is the most common cause and it takes two minutes to rule out.

The Five-Minute Check

1. Every tap, hot and cold. If cold works and hot does not, skip to the last section: it is the water heater, not the supply.
2. A neighbor. Text one or step outside. Both out means a utility problem. Houston Public Works takes water outage reports at 311; outside city limits, your MUD’s number is on your water bill.
3. Your main shutoff. It is usually near where the line enters the house, in the garage, a closet, or by the front hose bibb. The handle should be parallel to the pipe. Our guide to finding and using your main shutoff has photos of the common types.
4. The meter box at the street. Lift the lid. The valve on the house side of the meter should be open. If it is turned off and there is a city tag or lock, the utility shut it off deliberately; call the number on the tag. If a contractor or landscaper was working nearby, they may have closed it.
5. The meter dial. If the low-flow indicator is spinning with everything in the house off, water is leaving the line somewhere between the meter and your fixtures, which means a break, not a shutoff.

If It’s Winter

A hard freeze is the one time Houston loses water house by house. Pipes in attics, exterior walls, and uninsulated garages freeze first. If it is below freezing and one part of the house is dry, you likely have a frozen section. Open the taps so thawing water has somewhere to go, warm the area gently with a space heater or hair dryer, never a torch, and shut off the main if you find a split. Read frozen and burst pipes in Houston before the next cold snap.

Less Obvious Causes

Failed pressure-reducing valve. Many Houston homes have a PRV where the line enters the house. When it fails, it can slam nearly shut, leaving a trickle or nothing. If the meter side has pressure and the house side does not, the PRV is the suspect.

Whole-house filter or softener. A clogged cartridge or a softener stuck in regeneration can cut flow to zero. Check the bypass valve.

Well or booster pump. Homes on a well or in a community with a pressure-boosting pump lose water when the pump or its pressure switch fails. A tripped breaker is the first thing to check.

A break under the slab. Rare as a total loss, but a major slab leak can drop pressure to almost nothing. A warm spot on the floor, a running-water sound with everything off, or a spinning meter points here. See our slab leak guide.

When It’s Only the Hot Water

Cold is fine, hot is out: the supply is not the problem. Check the breaker on an electric heater, the pilot and gas valve on a gas unit, and the valve on the heater’s cold inlet, which sometimes gets closed during other work. Our no hot water troubleshooting guide walks through each step, and if the pilot will not stay lit, that has its own guide.

When to Call

If the utility says the outage is not theirs, the valves are open, and you still have nothing, or you have found a split pipe, spinning meter, or dead PRV, it is time. Hugo Plumbing answers 24/7 at (713) 409-7176, comes out for free, and quotes the fix in writing before starting. See emergency plumbing and leak detection.

If the taps are dry, call Hugo.