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The ONLY good thing about this common plumbing issue? How simple it is to spot the signs your sewer drain is clogged. Your home’s plumbing all connect to one main sewer drain leaving your property. A clog in the main drain will leave your waste and water with nowhere to go! Below are the 4 signs that you can hear, see and smell to check the health of your drain and avoid a nasty situation.
Sign 1 – Slow Draining
If you find yourself thinking ‘does the water always take this long to drain out of the sink?’, the answer is probably no. Trust your instincts if you see something is wrong.
Slow draining water could mean you have a blockage in the pipe underneath, such as the U-bend. This type of blockage can be fixed fairly easily, so if you feel like getting your hands dirty check out our articles 6 ways to unblock a drain and How to clear a blocked drain. But, before you roll your sleeves up, check if you have the next three signs to a sewer drain blockage.
Sign 2 – Gurgling
Gurgling is a noise you want to hear in the bathroom if someone is using mouth wash. Gurgling in the pipes is not something you want to hear! When a sewer drain is clogged you may hear gurgling at unexpected times and in unexpected places such as:
- in the kitchen when someone flushes the toilet
- in the laundry sink when someone has a shower
- at a time where no water is being used.
It means the water isn’t able to go down the main sewer drain and is moving through the pipes looking for a different escape route.
Sign 3 – Odour
Bad smells emanating from your bathroom? Pretty normal if someone has just used the loo. Not so normal when emanating from sinks and plugholes. Stagnant water and debris such as food scraps, hair and soaps can get stuck behind the sewer blockage, causing bad odours to come back up through the pipes. Your nose knows this clogged sign!
Sign 4 – Back filling
Like overfilling your drink bottle and having it slosh back out, if the water and waste in your home can’t go down the pipe it has to go somewhere else. The bath and shower are common exit points as the plugholes are usually the lowest to the ground.
So when a tap is running or dishwasher is emptying you may find water coming up from the plughole in to your bath! We think there’s two options:
- add your favourite bath bomb and get in.
- turn off the water source and call a plumber*.
* Not Just Any Plumber…
When experiencing one or two, or more likely ALL FOUR signs – hear gurgling, smell an odour, see slow draining or back filling water, you know your sewer drain is clogged. What next? You need a plumber. A local plumber with the expertise and tools.
A local plumber:
- who specialises in fixing clogged sewers.
- with the right equipment – such as a pipeline video inspection system
- who can provide a no obligation quote
We know finding the right plumber isn’t always easy. For further tips read How To Find and Hire a Local Plumber. Ask your plumber if they do non-invasive full inspections and repairs to sewer pipes without digging up your front yard.
