Top Reasons Why You May Be Experiencing Sewer Backflow Issues At Home
Your home is your castle, your sanctuary after a long day. There is no better feeling than arriving home and knowing you can unwind, especially when you’ve had a stressful day. But, this can be quickly ruined when you discover an issue at home! One of the worst issues is backflow. Your first instinct will probably be to call a Sydney emergency plumbing firm. This is a good instinct. However, it does help to understand the issue to ensure it doesn’t happen again in the future.
What Is Backflow?
The plumbing in your home is all connected. The smaller pipes leave appliances and connect to larger pipes, these go out of your home and to the main drains, where the waste is swept away and processed by the water treatment center.
In practice, the process works smoothly. However, there are several reasons why blockages can occur. When this happens the wastewater and other products have nowhere to go, they can only sit in the pipe, gradually backing up to your home.
You may notice your drains are slower than usual, then the sewer water will start backing up into your home, potentially into the shower tray or by overflowing the toilet when you flush it.
That’s backflow when the wastewater is going the wrong way. It needs to be treated promptly as sewer water poses a health risk.
Cause of Backflow
There are several reasons why backflow may occur but the most common one is a blockage in the pipes. This can happen anywhere but you should be aware that the pipes up to the edge of your property are your responsibility.
You can identify roughly where the blockage is by seeing which drains are affected. If only one is back flowing then the blockage is between the appliance and the main sewer pipe. If they are all backed up then the blockage is likely to be in the main pipe.
Drain rods are usually the most effective way to remove a blockage.
More importantly, you need to ensure it doesn’t happen again. A blockage is usually formed when the wrong items are flushed down your drains. This includes wet wipes and kids’ toys. These partially block the pipes and allow other items to clog against them. This effectively blocks the pipes.
However, you should note that a blockage can also be caused by a damaged pipe. This can happen if the pipe is old and the earth has moved in extreme weather. It can also be the result of tree roots hitting the pipes.
Breaking the pipes causes snagging points where waste can collect and eventually block the pipes. In this instance you won’t just need to clear the pipes, you’ll want to fix the damaged section. That involves digging up the yard!
