All Pro Plumbing Clearing Out a Clogged Main Drain

Dealing with plumbing issues is rarely fun and often dirty, but it's important to keep your drains flowing smoothly, especially the main drain. Blockages in the main drain pipe from your home can lead to numerous problems so you should deal with a clogged pipe as quickly as possible. To save yourself from having to call in a professional, try using this guide to solve the problem.

This is what we do:

• Step 1 – Find the Blockage

The first thing we need to do is check whether it's a single drain that is causing the backed up plumbing or the main drain. If your bathroom sink is clogged, we try checking whether the bath is draining correctly. If it is not, we need to investigate the plumbing fixtures in other areas like the kitchen or laundry room. A blockage in the main drain will cause problems in all of the fixtures. If you isolate the blockage to a single appliance or room, our state of the art snaking machine is an excellent tool to clear the blockage. If we find that the drain system is compleatly clogged up we move to step 2.

• Step 2 – Access The Main Drain

If the blockage is in the main drain pipe, we will need to find the access point. This is a “Y” shaped pipe normally found close to ground level outside the house or garage. The access cap has a square fitting on top. Before using a wrench to remove the cap, we need to position a bucket to catch any overflowing waste-water that has accumulated in the pipes and make sure that no-one in the house will use any of the plumbing facilities. We then remove the cap slowly to minimize spillage of the waste.

• Step 3 – Remove the Blockage

With our state of the art plumbing snake, we will clear the drain line by pushing the snake down the line. We hook the snake onto the blockage by twisting the handle then move the equipment back and forth to break up the obstruction and clear the drain. We run the snake through the pipes the other way just in case there are any other blockages that have formed.

• Step 4 – Access the House Trap

If you don't find a blockage in the pipe, you can also check the house trap. This “U” shaped pipe is buried underground but will have two clean out plug caps (similar to the one on the main drain pipe) situated next to each other. Use the wrench to remove the cap closest to the outside sewer. If water seeps out as you unscrew the cap, you should check very quickly to see if you can remove the blockage yourself with the snake. If you can't, you should close the cap and call a professional to deal with the problem and prevent any potential water damage to your home.