Fastest route
Call. Do not write.
For anything actively causing damage — water coming in, a smell of burning, sewage backing up — pick up the phone. A written request is read by a person, but a person has to be awake to read it.
Do this first, before anyone arrives
Ten minutes of the right action can be the difference between a repair and a replacement. None of this requires a tool you do not have.
- Water coming in
- Find the stopcock and close it. On most Santorini properties it is at the tank or where the supply enters, not under the sink. If the water is coming from a roof or terrace rather than a pipe, move what you can and get a photo of where it is entering — that photo decides which trade comes.
- No power, or a breaker that will not reset
- Unplug everything on that circuit, then try once more. If it holds, add appliances back one at a time. If it trips with nothing connected, stop and leave it off — that is a fault to be traced, not reset.
- Smell of burning, or a warm socket
- Kill the supply at the board and do not turn it back on. This is the one thing on this page that is worth waking someone up for.
- Drain backing up
- Stop using every water outlet in the property, including the washing machine. On a septic system a backing-up shower often means the tank is full rather than the pipe blocked, and the answer is a pump-out lorry rather than a plumber.
- Air conditioning dead with guests in
- Check the breaker and the outdoor unit. In August the outdoor condenser is frequently just choked with dust and salt, which is a clean rather than a repair — and knowing that before you call gets you a faster answer.
Send it in writing
If it is urgent but not actively getting worse, this reaches the same-day list.
What counts as urgent here, and what does not
Not a judgement — it decides who gets called and at what hour. Calling a genuine emergency number for a dripping tap is how the number stops being answered.
| Situation | How fast | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Water entering the property | Now | Plumber |
| Burning smell, warm socket, sparking | Now | Electrician |
| Sewage backing up indoors | Now | Drainage |
| No power at all | Same day | Electrician |
| AC failed, guests in the property | Same day | Air conditioning |
| Locked out | Same day | Locksmith |
| No hot water | 1–2 days | Solar & heaters |
| Slow drain, dripping tap | Normal request | Describe the job |
| Crack you have noticed for months | Normal request | Structural |
Anything involving gas, or a structure you believe is unsafe, is not a job for this site. Call 199 for fire and 166 for medical, and leave the building.