If you have a history of blocked drains at your home, you should read the following to learn more about your drains.
Get a drainage diagram from Sydney Water and keep it handy; it’s part of your contract of sale.
- Tree roots will grow into your sewer, year in year out, through the joints in earthenware pipelines or where they meet PVC pipes. They will come back!
- Don’t ignore gurgling drains or siphoning pan outlets. They are a sure sign of a blockage.
- Investigate smells, they usually mean trouble.
- All plumbing fixtures, WC, basin, sink, bath, laundry tubs, kitchen sink etc. have an S or P trap, or water seal underneath. This trap is not to catch your diamonds (which we have successfully retrieved in the past), it is there to prevent the smell of the sewer coming into your home. If you have a bad smell in the bathroom or laundry it may be because the water seal in the floorwaste has dried out. This means the floorwaste is acting as a direct vent off the sewer and that’s why it smells. So an easy fix is to get a torch and see if the floorwaste is dry; if it is, get a bucket or jug of water, add disinfectant or bleach and tip it in. If the smell persists, it’s a job for the Lone Drainer and Pronto!
- Remove hair from your shower or bath drains. Bin it, burn it or flush it.
- Keep a simple sink plunger in your home tool kit.
- Don’t put sanitary products (tampons, napkins etc) or dental floss down the loo. Dental floss is like fishing line, very tough, it wont break down, it will cause a blockage!
- Only use toilet paper. Not tissues or newspaper. (Try the tissue-toilet paper test. Put them in a bucket and run water over them. See what happens).
- Toilet deodorisers that hang over the edge of your loo are not recommended! They fall in and no one wants to put gloves on and retrieve them, so they flush them down and guess what? They will help put a plumbers kid through uni!
- If you do hire an electric eel and try to clear a blockage yourself, exercise caution, they are a dangerous weapon in the hands of a novice and may cost you more money than you save!
If you need any help with this go to https://www.thelonedrainerandpronto.com.au/blocked-drains.html
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