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
A doctor calls a plumber in the middle of the night. ‘Why are you ringing me at this hour?’ says the plumber. ‘Look, it’s an emergency,’ says the doctor. ‘If it was the other way round you’d expect me to come out, wouldn’t you?’ ‘Okay,’ says the plumber. ‘What’s the problem?’ ‘The toilet’s broken,’ says the doctor. The plumber says, ‘Give it two aspirin and call me again if it’s not better in the morning.’
Should the toilet seat be left up or down?
This controversial topic will be discussed over the next few weeks
It’s a question that constantly arises when men and women share the same toilet. For some reason, this seemingly trivial question creates passion normally unseen from all sorts of people. It has been a topic of great debate throughout this country for many years, in fact since the toilet seat was invented.
It’s pretty clear that this old debate and your “position” is divided by gender.
Women complain that it should be the man’s responsibility to lower the toilet seat after use.
Whilst men seem to question why women should be heard all the time. Or in fact why it’s an issue at all
Now my wife, living in a houshold with 4 boys is incredibly patient about this subject. In fact her biggest complaint is about our aim, So, to get the ball rolling on this, I have to share this great image sent to me by Marc Dussault.
Let me know what happens in your house, how the boys and girls deal with this topic of ups and downs!
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…)
As Christmas approaches, the days grow longer and we get together with our family and friends, keep an eye out for some of those vital symptoms that indicate you have a slow or blocked drain.
Make it a holiday break to remember for the right reasons, rather than needing to call an emergency plumber to rescue you and your family from a sewer blockage.
Keep an eye out for;
The excessive rise or fall of the water level in your toilet. We call it syphoning, and it comes with a Glug Glug Glug
Slow draining water or ankle deep water in the shower or bath.
Swarms of small flies or sewer flies around smelly drains
Your kitchen sink, waste disposal unit or dishwasher are slow to drain.
Toilet paper or dirty water around your sewer surcharge gully in the garden or yard.
Dirty water leaking from a retaining wall or garden bed that conceals sewer pipes.
These are signs of a blockage, and your pipes have been trying to tell you, that all isn’t well.
When the extra guests arrive you will know.
So have a look around you home for the symptoms and please do not ignore them.
In this internet age when we want it, we want it NOW!
If you have a plumbing emergency and you need it fixed fast, we need great suppliers to support us deliver to our clients.
This image sent to me by Marc Dussault shows the great lengths that our industry brothers in Thailand are going to so they can deliver to their clients in an emergency.
Defective toilet paper causes a $40,000 plumbing problem.
This blocked drain sounds like a job for The Lone Drainer And Pronto
According to the Denver Post, The University of Colorado is suing over ‘defective’ toilet paper that caused $US40,000 in plumbing fees over the past few years.
The incidents included toilets bubbling over, overflowing toilets, and toilets that simply wouldn’t flush and would cause some flooding and backed up drains. In one instance, the university had to saw-cut concrete and excavate sewer pipes in order to remove an auger from a sewer line that was so bound up and clogged with toilet paper that it became stuck. There were flooding issues in 27 buildings in the spring of 2009 alone. The lawsuit claims that ‘the toilet paper… failed to disperse properly and caused the toilets and sewer lines at the university to become clogged’.
Now the problem has been addressed, and the lawyers have begun clogging the pipelines of the legal system with their own paperwork. For plumbers, cleaning out blocked sewers comes with the territory. Dealing with lawyers, however, is something else.
I cannot understate the importance of keeping stormwater drains and stormwater pipes and pits around your home or business clear of dirt and debris and now that most of our deciduous trees have lost their leaves for the autumn its a good time to clear them from your gutters, downpipes and stormwater pits and drains.
This image shows a small stormwater pit that collects water from around a well known harbourside cafe in Sydney.
The last week in May 2011 brought record breaking rainfall in Sydney.
These cafe owners were flooded and sustained lots of water damage, simply because this little drain was not kept clear and the drains flowing.
Simple maintenance can prevent these kind of floods.
If you have stormwater drains like this and need help to keep them clear and clean, then it sounds like a job for The Lone Drainer And Pronto.
It was just like flushing money down the toilet……
We’ve all used this expression more than once, and in our life as plumbing professionals we see people flush all sorts of items down the toilet, in effect flushing money down the toilet by not thinking before they flush.
We have retrieved all types of unusual things from sewer pipes, including underwear, gloves, a 2 litre Coca Cola bottle, dental floss, sanitary napkins and tampons, even a piece of construction scaffolding???????
Well, this one was unusual, this client actually did flush his money down the toilet.
Yes, he flushed his wallet!
I have a few of these unusual things to show you and will over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
