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Blocked Drains…Minimise the Pain
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
Problems with hot water during the long hot summer?
Welcome to 2010!
Over the Christmas and New Year period we were 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!
Ruptured water heaters or burst water heaters happen all the time and we only think of it as a problem in the winter, but we love a warm shower in the summer just as much.
Try telling a family that we can’t replace their particular type of heater over the holidays, because…………..ahhhhhhhh!
So here are a few simple tips that will assist:
1. Know where your water heater is. You would be surprised how many people don’t know where their water heater is!
2. Know how to turn your water heater off.
3. Try turning your water heater off to check that the cold water valve that turns it off works. One emergency water heater job we went to on Boxing Day, could have saved the owner money if they could have simply turned their heater off at the control valve or tap. The tap would not work, so we had to shut down the entire house, cut out the faulty tap valve and fit a new valve. We then turned the water to the house back on, so our clients at least had cold water to flush the toilet, make a cuppa and have a cold shower until we could track down the appropriate new water heater that was needed.
4. Pull the pressure relief valve on your mains pressure water heater, let it run for 5 or 10 seconds. When you let the valve go the water should slow down and then stop. If it does not stop, try it again. The pressure relief valve should be eased at least every 6 months.
5. Make sure its dry and clean around the base of your water heater storage area. Keep it clear of leaf debris, and long grass if it is outside.
6. Don’t store flammable liquids, petrol or paint anywhere near a gas water heater.
https://www.thelonedrainerandpronto.com.au/hot-water-services.html
Plumbing emergencies during the Christmas season
Today’s post is on behalf of all our team. We wish you Peace, Happiness and Family togetherness during the festive season.
Spend as much time as you can with the ones you love and the ones who love you.
May 2010 be your Best Year Ever.
During the festive season, if you need help with a plumbing emergency, Just call!
I can’t turn my water meter off!
If you have a plumbing emergency, or you have water running all over your house, or a split tap washer, or burst water heater and your water meter won’t turn off, you may be in trouble!
If your meter tap has a tee-head on it, turn it off in a clockwise direction as firmly as you can. Firmly; don’t overdo it.
If your meter tap is missing the tee-head, get a large pair of grips and turn it off in a clockwise direction as firmly as you can. Firmly; don’t overdo it.
Open a garden tap to let out the pressure.
Then call an emergency plumber!
Check out this video below that shows what we do to upgrade your water meter control valve.
Great fun on a hot day!
Before a plumbing emergency arises ensure you know where and how to turn off your cold water supply. It’s incredibly simple if you know where it is.
I want you to have our plumbing Hints and Tips, they are free.
Simply fill in the box on our home page to get our Plumbing Hints and Tips.
I know they will help you in a plumbing emergency!
Even Wizards need a Plumber
To be a plumber is to be a Wizard (ace, adept, champion, genius, hotshot, magician, mavin, sensation, star, superstar, virtuoso, whizz, wiz)
This was taken from the Sydney Morning Herald on 26th August, 2009.
SSSSSire CCCCertainly SSSSSounds like a job for The Lone Drainer and Pronto
Plumber rescues Puppy
In early June this year, a young boy in Britain decided to give his one week old puppy a bath using quite an odd method; putting him in the toilet bowl and giving it a flush. The dog was sent down the pipe, well out of reach from the fire brigade who were first on the scene in an attempt to rescue the pup.
A plumber was called in and using a drain camera he found the dog amazingly still alive hours after being flushed about 20 metres from the house. Neighbours from surrounding houses were told to not use water in order to prevent the dog being washed down into the main sewer where rescue attempts would be impossible. The pup was able to be pushed down the line by the plumber towards a manhole where it was pulled to safety. It has been named “Diana” after the company that rescued it.
https://www.thelonedrainerandpronto.com.au/plumbing_services.php
Plumbing Emergency – Now, that is Pronto!
The fastest dispatch and delivery of service for a plumbing emergency was…yesterday morning!
The previous plumbing emergency that we attended to had a setback because another sustained downpour had flooded the local streets making visibility very poor as well as comfort levels.
We had stopped for some morning tea, a hot coffee and some sustenance along a well known fast food strip and as we were finishing our break the mobile phone rang….
A local Medical Centre called, asking for fast plumbing service to repair their one and only badly leaking toilet. There was water all over the floor and the waiting room was full of patients. The very polite receptionist was screaming for HELP!
Little did she know we were parked 30 metres from her front door and were ready to take action.
3 minutes after the phone call for emergency plumbing was received, our heroes walked through the front door of the Medical Centre, ready for action.
25 minutes later, the leaking toilet was fixed. The faulty water inlet valve was replaced. The leaking waste pipe was sealed.
The receptionist was overwhelmed. “Lone Drainer, you really fixed our plumbing Pronto” she said.
When the Lone Drainer says Pronto, He means it!
That’s great service from an eastern suburbs emergency plumber!
Never Underestimate The Power of Water and its Effects on Drainage
The awesome power of water and the damage it can cause has been widely witnessed in the past month, not only throughout Sydney, but also along the entire eastern coastline of Australia. These problems have been caused by freak weather patterns and the failure of man-made stormwater systems to cope with the sheer volume of stormwater.
Large storms in South East Queensland have caused the largest floods that the area has seen in 20 years. These floods left hundreds of people stranded for days, as well as causing millions of dollars in damage and completely submerging many towns, with levee banks being breached and rivers bursting their banks. Locally, damage from extensive rains was also seen in Coogee and Randwick with flash flooding sweeping parked cars out onto the street, turning low lying areas into lakes and severely damaging some local homes, properties and businesses like Coogee Bowling Club, only 200 metres from our Coogee base. The world famous Coogee Oval was submerged, with only the tops of the picket fence still visible.
Stormwater systems throughout the Coogee and Randwick area were put to the test, and any property with even slightly blocked stormwater drains had water lapping at their doors, and in some cases had water damage inside their homes. Many gardens were ruined by the “walls” of stormwater passing through.
Dolphin Street Coogee turned into a riverbed
On May 28th 2009, a water main running underneath Victoria Road in Bellevue Hill burst, causing such a great deal of erosion that a 25m stretch of road collapsed, washing away two cars with it into Cooper Park below. This landslide caused a major road to be closed indefinitely. The damaged gas pipes meant that the surrounding area had to be temporarily evacuated because of the risk of an explosion.
It has been reported in the press that water was seen leaking from the road in this area in the week leading up to this hole appearing.
Never ignore a leaking water pipe or blocked stormwater pipe.
Cooper Park below burst water main in Bellevue Hill
Symptoms of a Blocked Drain
As Easter approaches we make plans to get together with our family and friends, so there is constant use of kitchen and bathroom facilities. To make the holiday break memorable and keep an eye out for some of those vital symptoms that might indicate you have a slow or blocked drain rather than having to call an emergency plumber to rescue you and your family from a blockage.
Keep an eye out for the following:
- 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.
Because you have extra guests using the facilities, if there is a problems in your pipes it may likely show signs then that you are able to pick up.
So have a look around you home for the symptoms and please do not ignore them.
Have a peaceful Easter.
I hope the Easter Bunny comes!