Tips for Homeowners.
How to locate and unclog drain blockages?
Drain cleaning and blockage repair from Toronto Drain Services.
Clogged drains are the most frequent plumbing issues that occur with each plumbing fixture of the house. The pipes from sinks, kitchen basins, washing areas, shower drain, and toilets carry wastewater toward the sewer line. The mainline blockage leads to problems like sewage backup, flooding, and leakages. Drain blockages can further lead to issues like detrimental health and property damage. To avoid sewer blockages, you must know the causes and methods to unclog the drains.
Causes of drain blockage:
Drain blockages are caused by myriad reasons. The most frequent factors that clog the drains are:
Gunk accumulated with soap: Soap itself is not the foundation of clogged drains. But gunk accumulated with soap starts to build up in the drain. Soap scum resolidifies and forms bulky masses accumulated with dirt, paper, soap, and hair. The gunk attaches with soap scum, and the goopy mass starts to clog the drain lines.
Food items: Food items often get stuck in drain pipes. Fibrous and greasy food molecules do not break and are solidified. The grease disposes of in the drain lines trapping the waste food and reducing the water flow.
Debris: Debris or foreign objects are one of the factors that play a role in clogging the drains and causing a headache. Flushing down foreign objects like cotton swabs, flushable wipes, or wet tissues, female hygiene products, and diapers do not dissolve and cause disruptions in water flow. These cotton products cannot break down, instead, they absorb the water and do not move forward.
Main sewer line blockage: Clogged drains also occur when the main sewer line buried deep into the ground is blocked by a tree root or due to damaged pipes. One of the earliest symptoms of sewer line blockage is clogging of the drains.
Hair: Things as minute as thin hair result in clogging the drains. While bathing people shed skin flakes, dandruff, and hair. These invisible particles often accumulate within each other and form a mass. Mass balls containing hair and invisible particles from our bodies are stuck down in the drain and cause clogging.
How to locate Sewer Blockage:
Locating and identifying the origin of drain blockage is a crucial step. Usually, homeowners leave drain clogging unnoticed. You need to eliminate the drain clogging at an early level because if left unnoticed it will cause property damage in the future. Here is how you can locate the points of drain clogging: Tools that will locate the drain clogging are magnets, rolling robots, transmitters, drain snakes, etc. You also observe other symptoms.
Auger or a plumbing snake: A plumbing snake is like a mechanical stethoscope drilled down the drain. Using a plumbing snake is the most convenient method of locating clogged drains. A plumbing snake is available at any hardware store and has two types; one that requires mechanical power and the other that uses automation.
Mechanical ways of finding out the clogged drains are the following:
Use forearms: sometimes the drain is clogged at arm's length. For example, in shower drains you can easily extend your forearm into the drain pipe and locate the drain.
Backup drains: In the clogged drain situation, the water backups up from other drains. Backup from drains is a sign of a blocked sewer line that can clog the drains. For instance, when you flush the toilet, the water might back up in the shower drain. This depicts that the problem is somewhere in the toilet drain. If the toilet drain is functioning normally but the water from the sink or shower drain is flowing slowly then the clog is near the sink or shower drain. Gurgling sounds when the water is flowing down via sink or flushing the sounds should be taken as a warning sign for sewer line blockage or clogging drains.
Ways to unclog your drain:
A clogged drain is the most common problem, especially in urban areas with the complicated drainage system. However, problems of such nature work out by traditional methods or even professional help from a trustable source.
Pour hot water into the drains. Hot boiling water is effective to reduce the layers of fats and grease that have accumulated on the walls of drain pipes. Boiled water is a convenient and widely used method to unclog the drains that are blocked at a minor stage.
Plunging is a common method to unclog the drains. However, plunging does not work if not practiced correctly. People start to pump aggressively. The first plunge should be without any hand pressure. Use plunging at least five times.
A chemical reaction in blocked drains can easily unclog them. Pouring vinegar, salt, and boiling water is a traditional method. There are three mixtures that you can use for unclogging.
The first mixture is baking soda and salt.
The second one is salt mixed with vinegar and lemon.
The third mixture is salt mixed in hot water.
However, use chemicals when you are aware of the nature of pipes.
How to take help from professional drain services?
Seeking professional help costs money though saves from many headaches and is an effective method to reduce discrepancies. Unclogging the drain is a tedious task. It might lead to health hazards and accidents. Instead of doing all the labor by yourself seek professional help. Professional drain services have experienced workers with technological devices. Although blocked drains are not a serious problem initially, they will lead to problems like backup sewage, flooding, leakage, and erosion.
Professional plumbers use methods like drain camera inspection, hydro-jetting, and automatic drain snakes.
Drain camera inspection involves a camera and a light that is clipped in front of the wire. The camera and the light help the plumber locate the clogged drain. This saves them time and pinpoints the location for cleaning.
Hydro-jetting involves sending down hot water with high pressure. The high pressure removes the fats from the walls of drain pipes. The effects of hydro-jetting are long-lasting, and there is a low chance of debris return.
Motorized drain snakes: Drain augers are recommended to be used by professional plumbers only. The drain auger functions like a screw and takes out the drain in one instance.
Causes of drain blockage:
Drain blockages are caused by myriad reasons. The most frequent factors that clog the drains are:
Gunk accumulated with soap: Soap itself is not the foundation of clogged drains. But gunk accumulated with soap starts to build up in the drain. Soap scum resolidifies and forms bulky masses accumulated with dirt, paper, soap, and hair. The gunk attaches with soap scum, and the goopy mass starts to clog the drain lines.
Food items: Food items often get stuck in drain pipes. Fibrous and greasy food molecules do not break and are solidified. The grease disposes of in the drain lines trapping the waste food and reducing the water flow.
Debris: Debris or foreign objects are one of the factors that play a role in clogging the drains and causing a headache. Flushing down foreign objects like cotton swabs, flushable wipes, or wet tissues, female hygiene products, and diapers do not dissolve and cause disruptions in water flow. These cotton products cannot break down, instead, they absorb the water and do not move forward.
Main sewer line blockage: Clogged drains also occur when the main sewer line buried deep into the ground is blocked by a tree root or due to damaged pipes. One of the earliest symptoms of sewer line blockage is clogging of the drains.
Hair: Things as minute as thin hair result in clogging the drains. While bathing people shed skin flakes, dandruff, and hair. These invisible particles often accumulate within each other and form a mass. Mass balls containing hair and invisible particles from our bodies are stuck down in the drain and cause clogging.
How to locate Sewer Blockage:
Locating and identifying the origin of drain blockage is a crucial step. Usually, homeowners leave drain clogging unnoticed. You need to eliminate the drain clogging at an early level because if left unnoticed it will cause property damage in the future. Here is how you can locate the points of drain clogging: Tools that will locate the drain clogging are magnets, rolling robots, transmitters, drain snakes, etc. You also observe other symptoms.
Auger or a plumbing snake: A plumbing snake is like a mechanical stethoscope drilled down the drain. Using a plumbing snake is the most convenient method of locating clogged drains. A plumbing snake is available at any hardware store and has two types; one that requires mechanical power and the other that uses automation.
Mechanical ways of finding out the clogged drains are the following:
Use forearms: sometimes the drain is clogged at arm's length. For example, in shower drains you can easily extend your forearm into the drain pipe and locate the drain.
Backup drains: In the clogged drain situation, the water backups up from other drains. Backup from drains is a sign of a blocked sewer line that can clog the drains. For instance, when you flush the toilet, the water might back up in the shower drain. This depicts that the problem is somewhere in the toilet drain. If the toilet drain is functioning normally but the water from the sink or shower drain is flowing slowly then the clog is near the sink or shower drain. Gurgling sounds when the water is flowing down via sink or flushing the sounds should be taken as a warning sign for sewer line blockage or clogging drains.
Ways to unclog your drain:
A clogged drain is the most common problem, especially in urban areas with the complicated drainage system. However, problems of such nature work out by traditional methods or even professional help from a trustable source.
Pour hot water into the drains. Hot boiling water is effective to reduce the layers of fats and grease that have accumulated on the walls of drain pipes. Boiled water is a convenient and widely used method to unclog the drains that are blocked at a minor stage.
Plunging is a common method to unclog the drains. However, plunging does not work if not practiced correctly. People start to pump aggressively. The first plunge should be without any hand pressure. Use plunging at least five times.
A chemical reaction in blocked drains can easily unclog them. Pouring vinegar, salt, and boiling water is a traditional method. There are three mixtures that you can use for unclogging.
The first mixture is baking soda and salt.
The second one is salt mixed with vinegar and lemon.
The third mixture is salt mixed in hot water.
However, use chemicals when you are aware of the nature of pipes.
How to take help from professional drain services?
Seeking professional help costs money though saves from many headaches and is an effective method to reduce discrepancies. Unclogging the drain is a tedious task. It might lead to health hazards and accidents. Instead of doing all the labor by yourself seek professional help. Professional drain services have experienced workers with technological devices. Although blocked drains are not a serious problem initially, they will lead to problems like backup sewage, flooding, leakage, and erosion.
Professional plumbers use methods like drain camera inspection, hydro-jetting, and automatic drain snakes.
Drain camera inspection involves a camera and a light that is clipped in front of the wire. The camera and the light help the plumber locate the clogged drain. This saves them time and pinpoints the location for cleaning.
Hydro-jetting involves sending down hot water with high pressure. The high pressure removes the fats from the walls of drain pipes. The effects of hydro-jetting are long-lasting, and there is a low chance of debris return.
Motorized drain snakes: Drain augers are recommended to be used by professional plumbers only. The drain auger functions like a screw and takes out the drain in one instance.
5/03/2019