BLOCKED SEWER DRAINS

A blocked sewer line doesn’t just grind the happy workings of your home or business to a halt – it’s also very, very unpleasant and unhealthy stuff indeed. It’s definitely something you need to take care of as soon as humanly possible, so we’d even recommend using your local plumber’s 24/7 emergency service.

But what if it’s not your responsibility? In most cases, it really will be your responsibility – especially if it’s obvious that the blockage or problem has occurred on your side of the community sewer connection point. That includes every pipe, drain or fixture in, around and even under your property. And your community wastewater authority or local council is responsible for everything on the other side of that connection point.

If you’re not sure if it’s your responsibility or not, get in touch with your local plumber rather than your local authorities. Only your plumber will be able to confirm if the blockage is in the main or branch sewer lines outside of your remit – and they’ll even contact the proper authorities on your behalf.

A sewer line blockage is a big deal for both home and business owners, as it can seriously disrupt a property’s daily operations, create a huge stinky mess – and raw sewage is obviously extremely unsafe. With this said, it’s often surprising just how few people give any thought whatsoever to having those sewer lines regularly cleaned and cleared, for a good reason – until something goes wrong, they’re out of sight and out of mind.

The quick answer is that every 12-24 months, you should be considering getting a plumber in to inspect, clean and clear those sewer lines. And if it’s been more than 2 years since you gave it any thought, the time is now! Not only that, if you’re noticing slow-to-drain toilets and sinks, foul drain smells and gurgling pipes, the culprit could be the sewer line – so make that call to your plumber right away.

A blockage in your sewer line is much more common than you might think – but that doesn’t make it any less annoying, disruptive and unhealthy. It’s easy to notice the sewer is blocked for very obvious reasons, but almost always the cause of the blockage is not known until a plumber is called in with their expensive diagnostic tools.

But it’s those highly specialised tools, like high definition CCTV pipe inspection technology, that make the cause of a sewer line blockage very easy to pinpoint these days. You’ll often hear that tree roots are the main cause of most plumbing pipe blockages, but in the case of sewer lines the leading cause is actually a larger object that someone has unwisely decided to flush down the toilet – like baby wipes, sanitary items, cat litter, pots full of oil, cotton balls, and the odd kids’ toy.

That said, tree roots come in at number 2 – and then the sewer line blockage causes get more complex. Remember, anything human-made deteriorates over time, and that’s also the case for your pipes. However, poor pipe installation causes many, many problems, so if you think something is going badly wrong with your sewer line, call your plumber asap.