Showing posts with label sink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sink. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Home Sewer Line and Drain Disaster Prevention
Don't Let Obstruction Lead to Destruction!Blocked sewer lines and drains can wreak havoc with any home, causing the bath, sink or toilet to back up and fill with waste water and sewage. That's if you're lucky. A really bad blockage can cause your tub, sink or toilet to overflow, ruining floors, rugs and carpets and creating a highly unsanitary situation for all members of your household.
Major drain and sewer line backups and problems are not for the faint of heart. When they occur, you almost always need to call a professional drain cleaning or sewer line company like Horizon Servcices...especially if the blockage is particularly tenacious and a long time in the making.
Build up of scale and rusting, years of accumulated gunk and waste, even invasive plant roots are the major causes of blocked drains and sewer lines. The good news is that with proper usage and maintenance, most drain and sewer line disasters are unnecessary and avoidable. A few sensible precautions can prevent most drain and sewer line blockages from ever occurring.
Just like your car, your home's plumbing and drainage system needs some level of basic regular maintenance to keep it functioning properly. As well as regular checks by yourself, a professional plumbing or drain cleaning specialist should be called in each year to snake your drain lines and keep them clear.
Do-it-yourselfers can often clear minor blockages to sinks, tubs and toilets with a plunger. But the kind of blockage that leads to a back-up situation usually requires much more aggressive means. Special chemicals like acids and other corrosive products can effectively clean drains and clear sewer lines...but they can be very dangerous and destructive to your body, your clothing, your floors and surfaces, even your pipes. Be extremely careful when pouring these corrosive chemicals down drains. Before you try the chemical route, call a drain cleaning or sewer line specialist. Most have tools and techniques ranging from snaking devices to high-powered hydro-jetting that can safely clear almost any obstruction. Companies like Horizon Services even employ state-of-the-art cameras that can identify the cause and pinpoint the exact location of the blockage. Chemicals are used only as a last resort.
Major toilet and tub back-ups will often give you warning signs. Like a volcano or a geyser, toilets and tubs will often make gurgling, bubbling and belching noises several days before they erupt. If your toilets and tubs start doing this, call a drain cleaning or sewer line specialist immediately...they'll clear the obstruction BEFORE you have a messier situation on your hands.
If sewage does start backing up into toilets, sinks and showers, call a drain cleaning or sewer line professional immediately. After making the call, use bleach and water to sanitize any areas that have been affected.
Of course, an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. Here are some simple things you should do to prevent any of these drain and sewer line disasters from occurring in the first place:
- Make sure that a strainer is in place in your kitchen sink to stop large, cloggable waste products from getting into pipes, drains and lines.
- Never pour cooking oil or grease down the drain.
- Don’t use too much toilet paper (the main cause of toilets blocking up).
- Don't flush ANYTHING down the toilet besides toilet paper and human waste. This includes tissues, paper towels, baby wipes, sanitary products, cotton balls and hair. Even seemingly harmless products like soap, shampoot and hair gel. All these things can coagulate and block drains and sewer lines.
- Pour boiling water, or a mixture of baking soda and vinegar, down drains regularly to help to keep them clear.
Related Drain and Sewer Line Information from Horizon Services...
Monday, October 4, 2010
Common Drain, Sewer and Water Line Problems
We Separate the Minor Inconveniences from the Major Headaches!Got a backed up or slow moving drain? A toilet that won't flush? Waste water that comes back up your sink, shower or tub drains? A foul smell in your yard or basement? JOIN THE CLUB! As the weather gets cooler, we at Horizon Services usually begin to see an increase in drain, sewer and water line service calls. For many homeowners, the recent intense rainfall and flood conditions in the Mid-Atlantic states -- particularly our service area of Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland -- have brought latent drain, sewer and water line problems that have been lurking invisibly in the shadows out into the open in a very dramatic fashion.
Face it...there are many things that can go wrong with your home's drain, sewer and water line system. For example, years of accumulated waste can cause major obstructions in pipes and lines. Old pipes and seals can crack, corrode or collapse. Tree roots can even infiltrate sewer and water lines These are the kinds of drain, sewer and water line problems that can require significant repair and expense.
The good news is that the majority of drain, sewer and water line issues are not that severe. Most are easily and inexpensively repaired. And most are preventable.
The vast majority of drain, sewer and water line problems are usually caused by minor incidents such as something falling down the pipe, clogging due to inappropriate matter being sent down the sink or toilet, and frozen pipes in colder weather.
Identifying the problem is the first step. Visually inspecting your sinks, tubs, showers, toilets and pipes will usually reveal the source of the problem. If the problem isn't deep down in your drains or lines, there's a good chance that you can resolve it yourself...or at least save time and money by pointing your drain or sewer/water line repairman in the right direction when they arrive at your home.
In the case of clogged sinks or toilets that won't flush, if the problem isn’t solved by using a plunger to unblock it, then the cause is probably due to an obstruction further down the line. You can use a plumber's snake or coiled wire (available at most hardware stores) to probe into the drain and get to where a basic plunger cannot to remove the obstruction. If this doesn’t work, your next step may be to remove the toilet bowl or sink to get access to the main pipe. This can be a delicate job, so it is best to call in a professional plumber or drain professional at this point.
In cold weather, frozen pipes is one of the most common causes of backed-up or slow moving drains. This is especially common when homeowners have been away for some time and turned the thermostat right down. Water moving slowly and at a low temperature causes ice to form and expand, causing blockages that exert increasing pressure on the pipes. Wrap the pipes in special wrap heat tape and leave it in place for at least 24 hours or until the blockage is cleared. Also consider leaving the thermostat at a higher setting to keep warm water circulating whilst you’re away for a while.
If you find that your boiler starts making a noise, this is probably because of hot spots forming due to a build up of steam, caused in turn by air building up in the system. The hot spots sometimes make banging noises when they get too hot, which is where the noise in the boiler comes from. The root cause of the build up of air is a lack of water in the system, but it can also be caused by a build up of scale on the inner surface of the boiler, in which case feed a boiler cleanser into the expansion.
Drainage pipes helpfully tend to run in straight lines, which facilitate the sorting out of problems. Inspection chambers covered by manhole covers are placed at each joint, and these covers can be lifted with a crowbar to check for blockages and to clean the manhole of accumulated debris where necessary. If you find the inspection chamber empty, the blockage must be closer to the house, so move on to the next one in that direction, and if it is full move in the opposite direction to look for the blockage. Once the blockage area has been isolated, you can insert the plumber' snake down the pipe in the direction of the blockage to clear it.
The drain cleaning and sewer/water line repair professionals at Horizon Services encourage all homeowners especially cognizant, vigilant and proactive in the maintenance of their home's drains, pipes and lines. Be aware of what you are putting down sinks, garbage disposals and toilets -- particularly large solid objects, grease and hair. Keep your eyes and ears open for the signs of drain, sewer and water line damage or obstruction. Insulate your pipes in cold weather. If you suspect a problem, don't delay -- call a drain cleaning or sewer & water line contractor immediately to fix the problem before it becomes large and expensive.
Related Information from Horizon Services...
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