Fullerton Emergency Plumber, Day or Night

What to know about plumbing in Fullerton

Fullerton started on July 5, 1887, when Edward Amerige drove a stake at the spot where Harbor Boulevard now crosses Commonwealth Avenue. He and his brother George had bought 430 acres, and the town took the name of George H. Fullerton, who ran a land company tied to the Santa Fe Railway. The city incorporated on February 15, 1904, and on August 25, 1906 it formed its own water system for what was still a town of orange and walnut groves. Much of that early town is still here: the 1930 Santa Fe Depot, the Fox Fullerton Theatre, Plummer Auditorium on Chapman Avenue and the Muckenthaler Cultural Center are all on the National Register. Fullerton College, the oldest community college in continuous operation in California, held its first class in 1913, Cal State Fullerton held its first classes in 1959, and Fullerton Municipal Airport, the only general aviation airport in Orange County, saw its first landing in 1927. La Habra and Brea lie to the north, Placentia to the east, Anaheim to the south and Buena Park to the west, and the northwest edge of the city meets the county line.

Census figures (ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates) count about 50,300 housing units in Fullerton. The median one was built in 1969, 71 percent date from before 1980 and 52 percent are detached single-family houses. Roughly 62 percent went up in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and about 9 percent are older than 1950. The oldest stock sits in the preservation zones near downtown, mostly California bungalows from 1920 to 1940 with some Spanish Colonial Revival, in districts such as Townsite East, College Park, Hillcrest Drive and Upper and Lower Golden Hill. The postwar years account for most of the rest, from the 286 California Modern homes of Fullerton Groves (1953 to 1957) to the Ranch houses Sunny Hills is known for. Amerige Heights, built from 2001 to 2004 on the former Hughes Aircraft campus, is the young exception. City plumbing permit records reach back to 1930, so the permit history of an older house can sometimes show what was replaced and when.

Water comes from the City of Fullerton Water Utility, which covers the whole 22.3-square-mile city with about 424 miles of pipe, 15 reservoirs, 12 booster stations, 8 active wells and about 32,000 connections. The City puts the mix at about 77 percent groundwater and 23 percent water bought directly from the Metropolitan Water District, and the wells stand in south Fullerton and north Anaheim. In 2025 the supply averaged about 14 grains per gallon of hardness, with the groundwater running from 11 to 22. The City calls that very hard and says it leaves deposits in water heaters and scale on fixtures. Parts of the public system are old: the City reports about 100 water main breaks a year, some pipe more than 80 years old, and most wells, reservoirs and booster stations built before 1960. Its 2024 service line inventory, by contrast, found no lead or galvanized service lines needing replacement, the customer side included. Under the permanent conservation rules, a leak or a broken sprinkler has to be repaired within three days of being found.

The sewer has its own rules. The City Sewer Division keeps up more than 320 miles of public sewer pipe, and the Orange County Sanitation District treats what flows through it. Municipal Code 12.08.031 makes the owner responsible for the entire lateral, from the house to the wye at the City main, whether that main runs under the street or along a rear easement; a lateral is typically 4 inches across and the main at least 8. The one narrow exception is the Sewer Lateral Maintenance Program: after an inspection, the City cleans a qualifying lateral about once a year, from the front of the house to the main, when roots from a City tree are the cause and a 4-inch directional cleanout sits at the front of the house. Rebuilding or connecting a lateral in the street or an easement takes a public works permit, and the City asks owners to add a backflow preventer and a cleanout to the lateral and to keep roof drains out of the sewer. Plumbing permits come from the Building and Safety Division at City Hall, 303 W. Commonwealth Ave., or online through EasyDev, under the 2025 California codes in force since January 1, 2026. A permitted job of ours is closed out only when its inspection passes, and every repair we finish in Fullerton is backed by a written workmanship warranty.

Fullerton borders La Habra, Brea, Placentia, Anaheim and Buena Park. We take calls from each of those as well, and the plumber for any of them comes from our location nearest that address. Someone picks up the phone around the clock, the plumber hunts down the true starting point of a leak or clog before a wall or floor gets cut, and the work waits for your signature on the written estimate.