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Sinks unblocked

Below every single plumbing fixture that drains into the house system is a trap containing a water seal, intended to prevent the return of foul gases from the sewer into the living areas of house or garden. The trap takes the form of a small U-shaped loop of pipe so formed that it is always filled with water. As new water drains from the fixture it displaces the water in the trap; part of the outgoing water then remains in the loop to replace the seal and maintain the barrier against air that would otherwise drift back up from the drainage pipes.

The primary purpose of a trap is to prevent contamination from the drains, but it also provides a convenient means of access to the pipes below the fixture. If you have to unblock a pipe you have an alternative to working through the plughole of the fixture. A trap is also a safety measure against the loss of small valuable objects that get accidentally washed down the plughole: a ring or a contact lens can often be found lying safely at the bottom of the U-bend, and can simply be tipped out once you have removed the trap. Traps in which the horizontal pipe leading from the U-bend gives a resemblance to the letter P are called P-traps. You will also often find S-traps, with a vertical pipe after the bend, and self-contained bottle traps (opposite page, below) whose neat appearance makes them particularly popular for use under wash basins or anywhere else where they are openly visible. Traps may be made in any of the normal plumbing materials, such as copper, steel, chrome or plastic. It is usually desirable that the material of the trap and the following waste pipe should match, but a new plastic trap can be satisfactorily fixed to an existing pipe of any material. The same technique is used for attaching traps of both matching and dissimilar materials.

When the water draining from one appliance wells up through the waste of another, the trouble probably lies in the main drain or its branches, which channel waste into the sewer. Since waste flows downwards, any blockage in the main drain or soil stack will stop up all the appliances above that point. In addition, anything that blocks the vent, which keeps air flowing through the system, will cause waste to drain away sluggishly, and there may be an unpleasant odour in the house. Before starting work, plot the course of the pipes in your waste system to help you pinpoint the blockage. You may find it helpful to sketch the layout on paper. Once you have decided where the obstruction might be, try a rubber plunger of the appliance closest to the trouble spot this can be effective even if the blockage is in the main soil and waste stack. If that fails, try cleaning out the stack with a cleaning rod or drain auger. Work from the appliance closest to the blockage.

To make the job easier, hire an electric auger up to 30 metres long from a tool-hire firm. Even an electric auger, however, will not work effectively if it has to go round too many bends. Always take the straightest possible route to the problem area. In the main stack that usually means working through the nearest inspection chamber or, more commonly, through a cleaning eye. A blockage below ground level, in the drain to the sewer, will have to be reached through a gully or inspection chamber.
In most plumbing repairs speed is essential, but unclogging the main drains calls instead for patience. Avoid precipitate action. The column of water trapped by the blockage may extend above the point where your cleaning eye is located, and it will gush out as soon as you open the eye. Wait for at least two or three hours after you have spotted the trouble before starting work, to allow as much as possible of the waste to seep past the blockage. Even then, you will need mops, buckets, rags and old newspapers to soak up any overflow. When you have finished clearing up, dispose of the rags and newspapers in sealed plastic bags and disinfect the site.

Locating the blockage
The first step in finding blockages is to check which fittings are draining normally; clogs in a soil and waste stack will always be below the level of the lowest blocked fitting and above the highest working fitting. In the plumbing system above, a blockage near the cleaning eye would block both the basin and the W.C., but not the bath. Should all the first-floor fittings be blocked, the problem must lie below the point where the bath waste feeds into the stack. In either case, the blockage should be cleared through the cleaning eye. If the sink on the ground floor is blocked, the fault must lie in the gully or the pipes leading to or from it. Try pouring water through the gully. If it passes freely through, the blockage is in the sink waste, which should be cleared through the sink trap; if not, clear the gully with a hose or auger. When all the appliances are blocked, the blockage must be in the drain to the public sewer, and should be tackled through the inspection chamber. Often the first sign of such an obstruction will be flooding from the gully, the lowest drain outlet in the system.

Working through the cleaning eye
If the trap under the clogged fixture has a cleaning eye, place a bucket under the trap and remove the threaded eye. After water has emptied from the trap and sin-k, straighten a wire coat hanger, form a small hook in one end, and probe through the trap. If the obstruction is near the opening, you should be able to dislodge it or hook it and draw it out. If not, feed a drain auger first up to the sink opening, then through the back half of the trap. If the blockage is not in the trap, try cleaning beyond the trap .

Removing a trap for cleaning
If the trap has no cleaning eye, shut off the water, unscrew the nut that attaches the trap to the threaded sink waste and detach the trap. Clean it with detergent and a bottle brush. To clear a modern bottle trap, unscrew the bottom half of the trap and probe the fixture . Reassemble the trap and turn on the water.

Augering branch drains
With the trap removed, wind a drain auger into the exposed end of the pipe. The blockage may be in the vertical pipe behind the fixture or in the near-horizontal pipe that connects with the main stack serving the entire house. If the auger goes freely through the waste pipe until it enters the stack, the blockage is probably in a section of the main drainage system, in which case you should clear it. If your waste pipe is made of push-fit plastic sections and is readily accessible, you may be able to dismantle it section by section until you reach the blockage, emptying out any water the pipes contain into a bucket as you go.

Unblocking Bath Wastes
The techniques for unblocking bath wastes are the same as for sinks and basins, except that the trap on a bath-hidden away at floor level behind the side panels of the bath-is usually more difficult to reach than that of a sink or basin. As with sinks and basins, a rubber plunger is the first tool to try. Block up the bath’s overflow opening with a damp rag so that the force from the plunger is not dissipated upwards. Use the plunger as a plug and make sure that there is enough water in the bath to cover the cup completely, then pump the plunger vigorously up and down. If the blockage does not disperse immediately, persevere: the force transmitted from the rubber cup through the water in the pipe may be pushing the obstruction along the waste pipe by degrees, until it breaks down or is freed by being ejected into a main pipe of larger diameter.

If the plunger does not succeed, try a drain auger. The blockage is most likely to be in the trap and it should be possible to remove it by working with the auger through the plughole. If, however, the blockage lies in a branch drain beyond the trap, it may be necessary to remove the trap. To gain access to the trap, you will have to remove a side or end panel from the bath. Bath panels come in many variations, but they generally conform to one of two basic types. The panel may be made of hardboard or plywood, and held in place near the edges, usually with domed mirror screws, In that case, unscrew and remove the domed tops of the screws by twisting them anticlockwise; underneath you will find the slotted heads of the screws that fix the panel to the bath. These are simply removed with a screwdriver. Other baths have moulded plastic panels which are flexible enough to be slotted into place under the lip of the bath. Remove such panels by bending them until you can slip the top edge out from its mooring. Then unscrew or dismantle the trap.

Unblocking W.C.s – toilets

Using o plunger
If a blocked W.C. pan is full to the rim, empty out half its contents. If the pan is empty, add water up to the normal level. Fit a large rubber plunger over the wide opening near the bottom of the pan. Pump 10 times with short, rapid strokes, then lift the plunger quickly. If the blockage has been cleared, you will hear a gurgling sound and the water in the pan will return to its normal level. If the water level sinks slightly but not down to the normal level, the blockage has been only partially removed, in which case you will need to pump again. When you think you have completely cleared the obstruction, test by flushing the W.C.

Using a W.C. auger
Add or remove water as necessary. The W.C. auger-designed specially for clearing W.C.s-has a cranking handle attached to a long sleeve, shaped to guide the auger directly into the trap. Hold the sleeve firmly near the top and wind the hook slowly clockwise into the trap until you reach the obstruction.

From time to time , we get jobs like these. We are the last on the plumbing and pest control list and the most effective solution. Most people will try the cheapest solutions before they actually deal with real problem. You have rats in your home. In London , most plumbers can run a pipe for you, unblock a drain, etc – but not many actually understand how the drains work.
There is no easy way to say it, a rat and a mouse is attracted by human feces. If the soil under the building or around the building has been contaminated, the pests will consider your toilet, WC and building itself – an attractive place.

Human feces also known as stool, is the waste product of the human digestive system including bacteria.A very unpleasant job and also dangerous from a health point of view. Most people go for the cheapest option, installing rat traps, poison, etc. The cost of getting rid of bad smell and rats, can be reduced if we are the first on the job. Customers are spending thousands of pounds sometimes, before they call us.
Our plumbers and builders are not delicate people, we keep it simple. We make sure that we get rid of the smell and not even an insect can crawl up from the ground up.

Removing feces contaminated soil

Using CCTV camera , rat traps,etc- the drain is still there, the problem will not go away, sealing the smell will be just a temporary solution.

When you have a drain problem, don’t just cover it up and look for easy solutions, it won’t go away.