Many homeowners don’t know what is connected to their sewer pipes.
So here we go
Toilets or WCs are obviously connected to the sewer.
In a bathroom every plumbing fixture including the shower, bath, hand basin and bidets are connected to the sewer.
In other rooms kitchen sink, laundry tub and washing machine are all connected to the sewer.
All properties have a sewer surcharge gully which is connected to the sewer. A surcharge gully is designed to overflow or surcharge outside your home if the local authorities main was ever blocked
The Plumbing industry has been very good to me and my family.
Every year around January we have anywhere between 5 and 20 boys (or their mothers) contact us looking for a plumbing apprenticeship. We have trained 9 apprentices in 20 years (plumbers apprenticeship is 4 years). (more…)
Have you ever been caught short?
I mean, have you ever been “busting” to use the loo and it just wasn’t available, you were cross legged and tears are starting to run as you can only focus on one thing…….
Now most shopping centres have toilet facilities and the local football and netball fields usually have a loo that you can use after you have been sipping multiple latte’s whilst watching junior win “the match of the day”.
Whilst doing plumbing repairs on most homes we are often in the bathroom, so its a matter of closing the door, doing what needs to be done and breathing a sigh of relief.
Well it appears that “wanting to go”, at an inopportune time is quite common as I found when looking through the QandA with Lucy Macken in Sydney Morning Herald Domain section recently. August 20, 2011
Q&A: This question’s a wee bit awkward
Q. Forgive me for being blunt but is it ever OK to use the bathroom at an open inspection?
J.P., Crows Nest
A. Agents responded uniformly to this query with a moment of stunned silence. A few heartbeats later and the consensus tends to be that ”the facilities” (for want of a more abstract euphemism) are not for public use but permission is granted in the case of emergency.
Children seem to be the main beneficiaries of such largesse, although parents in the know have a few tips for regulars on the Saturday inspection circuit: make good use of the coffee shop breaks and if you get time between appointments, let your children visit the local park.
After all, no one wants their thoughtful assessment of a prospective home interrupted by a loud, ”Mum, there’s no toilet paper in here!” Thankfully, agents tend to be an accommodating and non-judgmental lot.
The 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi India have made headlines for several reasons.
Firstly, the Australian athletes have done exceptionally well. I have personally enjoyed the efforts of swimming legend Geoff Huegill on the comeback trail after a long break from the discipline of training.
Huegill, the man they call Skippy, swam the best race of his life in the 100m butterfly final. His time, 51.69sec, was easily the fastest he has ever swum and astonishingly places him, at 31, second in the world this year behind the greatest swimmer of all time, American great Michael Phelps
A problem with blocked drains in the athletes village was blamed on an abundance of used condoms blocking up the sewer pipes.
Indian newspapers reported the blockages, organisers are denying it saying “there was no blockage in the drains in the village and no emergency plumbers were called in.
But one fact remains, the supply of complimentary condoms has been depleted by 4,000. So either there have been a lot of water fights, or groups of young athletes at their physical and hormonal peak have been “getting to know one another”.
I know which one my money is on!
It was during the 1992 Barcelona Olympic games that condoms were first purposefully handed out to athletes, and organisers have continued to do so ever since.
Whether you are in New Delhi, Double Bay, or Mosman, we don’t recommend disposing of condoms by flushing them down the loo into the sewer pipes.
Sydney Water the guardians of our main sewer pipes are constantly waging war against tree roots in our main sewer lines!
Many clients from Double Bay, Rushcutters Bay, Edgecliff, Woollahra, Paddington, Rose Bay, Point Piper and Darling Point, residents with lots of trees and tree roots growing in the sewer pipes around their homes, report Sydney Water are systematically surveying the mains around their neighbourhood.
If you have a tree root problem on the branch to the sewer pipes for your home, they will advise you.
To cut tree roots from your sewer pipes before it becomes a plumbing emergency follow their advice.
To keep the tree roots out of your sewer pipes you should seriously consider Vaporooter.
Blocked drains in Sydney happen everyday and all the plumbers on our team love getting out there to help people clear their blocked drain, clean up any mess from an overflowing sewer and get on with their lives.
Hair, make sure to remove it from hand basins, shower grates and drains
Sand and soil usually gets washed into the sewer from low lying surcharge gullies and stormwater running down footpaths and driveways.
Foreign objects like dental floss, toilet deodorisers , kids toys or even underwear will block up sewer pipes very quickly.
The most common cause of blocked drains in Australia is tree roots, they grow into the pipes for many different reasons, but todays theory has been raised by a colleague who believes the full moon causes trees to do “something different” every month, search for more water or just “flex their muscles”, thus causing more sewer blockages.
It is a very interesting theory and we have been tracking it for about 18 months.
Every month, two or three days either side of the full moon we have a 10-15% spike in requests for help on blocked drains caused by tree roots. This month the full moon fell on July 26th 2010, and it was no exception.
Of course this only a theory, but we will keep tracking it!
If you see or hear of emergency plumbers and blocked drain specialists acting and looking a little weird around the full moon………….let me know!
More S – - T from Venice.
The best part about this blog is sharing with so many people and getting your insights into my topic S – - T.
Our knowledge of the sewers of the world grows.
Basically, we all use our toilets regularly and if you are not, then seek medical advice. Now I’m not going to get into anything unsavoury in this post, but I have a few toilet jokes and stories lined up for you in the future.
So stay regular!
Our regular readers would have read about the world famous Venetian Gondolier my friend Giovanni Giudice in earlier blog posts like Holy S – - T. A Gondoliers impression.
Here in Australia, as we drift into the cooler months it’s spring in Venice and Gio has been keeping me up to date with some interesting facts about the sewer movements and the history of his home town.
Here is an excerpt from a recent communiqué:
Mozart slept here!
Yesterday I took these pics of drain boats in the first one you can see how they get the pipes to the house. This house is just in front of the house where Mozart, Wolfang Amadeus Mozart, stayed when he came to Venice in the Carnival of 1771. This is written on the marble white stuff you see. Probably there is still some Mozart S – -T!!
This pic is of another Drain boat in front of San Marco Square. As you see from the last picture I have taken all these pics from my gondola. You can see I’m under the bridge and you see the back (stern) of my lady, my gondola.
take care my friend
Giovanni
Drain boat at St Marco square
If you are travelling to Venice and need a guide, look for Giovanni, he is the best!
We went to Louisville to see how the best of the best plumbers in the United States, look after their clients. If you have blocked sewer drains, blocked sewer pipes caused by tree roots in your pipes or tree roots in your drains or overflowing toilets the experts we met at Pumper Cleaner 2010 know how to fix your problem.
As the name of the show suggests the focus is on pumping and cleaning up on that other topic very close to my heart, sewerage, thats right S – - T, because in our game S – - T happens.
Our short Youtube video shows some of the equipment on display and how it is used
Enjoy the trip!
Music by Chuck Mangione, “Give it all You’ve Got”
Over the Christmas and New Year period we have been called to rescue people with all sorts of plumbing emergencies!
Burst water pipes, blocked sewer drains, leaking taps and toilets are commonplace, but, here at the height of summer calls for help for running hot water is at an all time high!
