Blocked Drain in Canberra? We Will Clear It Fast.

Most blocked drains in Canberra come down to five things: tree roots getting into the pipe, grease and fat building up, foreign objects flushed down the toilet, a broken or collapsed pipe, and heavy rain overwhelming the stormwater system. Which one you are dealing with decides how it gets fixed, and whether it stays fixed.

Are Tree Roots Blocking Your Drains?

Tree roots are the number one cause of blocked drains in Canberra. Mature street trees and big back garden plantings are everywhere, particularly through the older suburbs around Belconnen, Woden and Deakin. Roots go looking for water, and a sewer pipe carrying warm waste water is the easiest water they will ever find.

They get in through hairline cracks or the joins between lengths of pipe, then thicken up once they are inside. A crack you could barely see becomes a fully blocked or collapsed pipe within a few years. It is worst in houses built before the 1990s, when earthenware and clay pipes were standard. Clay cracks and lets roots through far more readily than modern PVC.

The giveaway is a blockage that keeps returning in the same spot, a toilet that gurgles, or sinks and showers that drain slowly. A CCTV drain inspection is the only way to know for certain whether roots are in there and how far the damage goes.

Is Grease and Fat Causing Your Blockage?

Tipping cooking oil, fat or pan drippings down the kitchen sink is the fastest way to block a drain. It pours like water while it is hot. A few seconds later it is setting hard on the inside of the pipe. Layer on layer, the pipe narrows until nothing gets through.

The fix is easy enough: keep fats and oils out of the sink. Pour them into an old jar or tin, let them set, and put them in the bin. If the pipe is already coated, a high-pressure water jetter cuts the grease off the pipe walls and gets the flow back properly.

What Foreign Objects Block Drains?

Toilets are built for human waste and toilet paper. Everything else is a blockage waiting to happen. The usual culprits:

• Wet wipes. Even the ones labelled "flushable" do not break down the way toilet paper does. They snag on pipe joints and build up fast.
• Sanitary products. Pads and tampons belong in the bin, never the toilet.
• Cotton buds and dental floss. Floss in particular wraps itself around whatever is already in the pipe and turns a small snag into a solid plug.
• Children's toys. If you have small kids this happens more often than you would think, and a toy can travel a long way down the line before it wedges.
• Too much toilet paper at once. Thick multi-ply brands are the worst for it.

Could Old or Broken Pipes Be the Problem?

Plenty of Canberra houses from the 1970s and 1980s still have their original earthenware sewer line. It was the standard material at the time and it did the job, but 40 or 50 years in the ground takes a toll. Cracked pipe, joints that have pulled apart, sections that have partly collapsed: we see all of it.

A broken pipe causes more than blockages. Waste water leaks out into the soil around it, which is a health problem in itself, and over time it can wash out the ground supporting your footings. If you own an older house, the blockages keep coming back, and clearing the drain only buys you a few months, the pipe itself is what needs the work.

Pipe relining means that repair usually happens without digging up the whole back yard. A CCTV inspection shows the real condition of the pipe and which repair method actually suits it.

Can Heavy Rain Cause Drain Blockages?

Heavy rain can overwhelm Canberra's stormwater system. If your gutters, downpipes and stormwater pits are packed with leaves, the water has nowhere to go. You get flooding around the house, and in bad cases water pushing back up through the floor drains inside.

Clear your gutters, check the downpipes actually run free, and pull the leaves out of any stormwater pits on the property. None of it takes long, and it prevents most rain-related flooding.

What Are the Warning Signs of a Developing Blockage?

Blockages almost always give you warning first. These are the signs worth acting on, before a partial blockage becomes a complete one:

• Water sitting in the sink, shower or bath longer than it used to
• Gurgling from the pipes or the toilet, which is air being forced past a partial blockage
• A sewage smell at the drain, meaning waste is not clearing away properly
• Water appearing in one fixture when you use another. The shower filling a little when you flush the toilet is the classic one
• Reaching for the plunger regularly. If it has become a routine, the blockage is getting worse

When Should You Call a Plumber vs Try DIY?

A plunger will shift most minor toilet blockages, and a cheap drain strainer stops hair getting into the shower waste. Both are worth doing yourself. Past that, there are limits.

Call a plumber if:

• The blockage keeps coming back after you clear it
• Multiple drains are blocked at the same time, which usually points to the main sewer line
• You can smell sewage inside or outside the house
• Water is backing up through floor drains
• You have tried a plunger and a drain cleaner and got nowhere

Go easy on chemical drain cleaners, or skip them entirely. They eat away at older pipes and they are no good for the environment. On a blockage that keeps returning they are wasted money anyway, because they do nothing about the cause.