Main House Sewer Problem Overview

If more than one fixture is blocked or slow to drain you possibly have a blockage in your main sewer. One of the first things you should check when you discover that a number of fixtures like basins, showers or toilets are all blocked at once is find your overflow relief gully, (every house or property has one) to check for signs of sewer overflow. If there is overflow of sewer then that suggests the blockage is downstream of the overflow relief gully. Next if you know where your sewer inspection shaft is or it is easy to locate, open up the cap slowly and with a torch look down the pipe. If you see sewer or water in the pipe this means that your entire property sewer is blocked, not just a small section. The blockage could possibly be caused at a 90 degree bend where the pipe goes from vertical to horizontal and can be caused by a number of different substances and objects. With this information you have collected you have narrowed the search for the blockage back to the point where your house sewer connects to the water corporation sewer services.

Unblocking these type of blockages can sometimes be a case of dislodging something near the pipe bend and because the drain is full of water the pressure from the water being backed up forces the material through, creating a loud suction sound as the water flows away quickly.

• Main sewer blockages can be caused by: Tree roots, Breakages, Grease build up, Foreign Objects eg. Construction rubble and bad installation eg. Reduced grade in drain, sagging drains with dips in it and fittings that are installed that shouldn’t be.

• An overflow relief gully is a dome shaped grate that sticks up above paving or ground level, it is a safety device for your sewer as if there’s a blockage in the main sewer then the overflow comes out the dome grate instead of in your shower or other fixtures inside.