Drain cleaning & snaking
Kitchen stacks, bathroom groups, laundry lines, and floor drains. We snake from the cleanout, not through your fixture, and we tell you what came back on the cable.
Harlem · Hamilton Heights · Manhattan · 24 Hours
Drains that back up at 2 A.M.
We answer the phone at two in the morning, and we show up. Empire NYC Plumbers runs drain and sewer calls out of 537 W 150th Street, seven days a week, around the clock — brownstones, walk-ups, pre-war co-ops, and the restaurants underneath them.
- 4.5 stars · 25 reviews
- Licensed & insured
- No overtime surcharge
What we do
Nine calls we take every week
Most of our work is drains and sewers, because that is what fails in buildings this old. Everything below is done by our own crew — we don't subcontract the camera work or the jetting.
Sewer camera inspection
A self-leveling camera down the main line, recorded to a file you keep. We mark the distance to the break, the belly, or the root intrusion so you can see it yourself.
High-pressure jetting
For grease, scale, and roots that a cable can't clear. 4,000 PSI through the main, then a second camera pass to prove it's actually open.
Water heaters
Gas and electric, tank and tankless. Repair, replacement, expansion tanks, relief valves, and the sediment flush nobody does until the tank starts knocking.
Leak detection & pipe repair
Hidden leaks behind plaster and under slabs. We isolate the run, open the smallest hole that gets us there, and patch copper, galvanized, or PEX.
Toilets, sinks & fixtures
Running toilets, weak flush, leaking supply lines, faucet cartridges, shower valves, garbage disposals. Small jobs are still jobs — we don't upsell them.
Gas lines & boiler service
Gas piping for ranges, dryers, and boilers. Pressure testing, leak checks, and annual boiler tune-ups before the first cold week of October.
Backflow & sump pumps
Basement flooding after a storm is usually a failed sump or a check valve that never seated. We replace both and test the discharge line.
Building-wide maintenance
Monthly drain contracts for landlords and supers: scheduled jetting, camera logs, and a standing emergency rate for the buildings on the plan.
Recent work
Drag the strip
Nine jobs from the last few months, pulled from our own call log. Grab the strip and pull it sideways — or use the arrow keys once it's focused.
Root intrusion, W 141st St
A 1912 brownstone with a clay lateral. Camera showed roots at 34 feet. Jetted, cut, and re-cammed the same night.
Galvanized replacement, Amsterdam Ave
Third-floor pressure had been dropping for a year. Replaced 60 feet of galvanized with copper in one day.
Full bath rough-in, W 152nd St
Gut renovation. New waste and vent, shower valve, and a relocated toilet stack to gain a linen closet.
Restaurant grease line, Broadway
Kitchen stack backing up every Friday. Jetted the line and set them on a quarterly schedule.
Six-flat stack, St. Nicholas Ave
All six units backing up at once. The main was fine — the building trap was packed solid. Cleared and cased.
Water heater swap, W 145th St
40-gallon gas tank failed on a Sunday. New unit, new expansion tank, new pan and drain line, done by 4 p.m.
Slab leak, Riverside Dr
Water bill doubled with no visible leak. Isolated it to a supply run under the kitchen floor and rerouted overhead.
Kitchen stack, W 149th St
Years of grease and a bad slope. Cabled, jetted, then recommended a proper re-pitch at the next renovation.
Pre-purchase camera, Convent Ave
Buyer's inspection before closing. Found a cracked section at 52 feet and a belly — saved them a $14k surprise.
Who shows up
A shop, not a call center
Empire NYC Plumbers has worked out of the same block on West 150th for years. We're a small crew — a handful of licensed plumbers and two vans — and the person who answers your call is the person who decides who to send. There is no national dispatch desk in the middle, and nobody is reading a script back to you.
Most of our customers are in Hamilton Heights, Sugar Hill, and Washington Heights, plus the commercial strips along Broadway and Amsterdam. That means we know what these buildings actually have in them: original clay laterals, galvanized supply lines that have been limping since the 1950s, shared stacks in six-flats, and basement cleanouts that were walled over during somebody's 1998 renovation.
We quote before we start. If a job turns out to be smaller than we thought, the price goes down, not up. If it turns out to be bigger, we stop and call you before we keep going. And if the honest answer is that you don't need us yet, we'll say that too.
24/7
Live dispatch, every day of the year
4.5★
Across 25 customer reviews
45–90
Minutes typical arrival, Manhattan
"Called at 11 p.m. about a backed-up main. They were here before midnight and had it running by one."
— Verified review, Hamilton Heights
Hours
Open all night, all week
We don't close. Nights, weekends, and holidays are billed at the same rate as a Tuesday afternoon — there is no emergency surcharge on the invoice.
If you're calling after midnight about water actively coming into a space, say so first. Those calls jump the queue, and we'll walk you through shutting the main while a van is on the way.
| Monday | Open 24 hours |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | Open 24 hours |
| Wednesday | Open 24 hours |
| Thursday | Open 24 hours |
| Friday | Open 24 hours |
| Saturday | Open 24 hours |
| Sunday | Open 24 hours |
Get in touch
Call us. That's the fastest way.
We don't run a web form — a form can't ask you a follow-up question, and it can't tell you to shut the water off right now. Phone is how this works.
24-hour line (646) 349-6213Have your address and, if you know it, the location of the cleanout ready. It saves ten minutes on arrival.
Address
537 W 150th StNew York, NY 10031
Between Amsterdam Ave and Broadway, Hamilton Heights Open in Google Maps →
Service area
Hamilton Heights, Sugar Hill, Harlem, Washington Heights, Morningside Heights, and Midtown. Outer-borough calls are taken case by case — ask when you call.
Payment & paperwork
Card, cash, and check. We can invoice a management company or a landlord directly and provide a written scope with photos for insurance claims.