Blocked Drain Clearing Process

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Clearing Blocked Sewer Lines in Sydney

Sewer lines in Sydney can block up for many different reasons however we can put 90% of sewer pipe blockages into two groups.

Waste blockages account for about 20% of all blocked sewer lines we clear.
Tree root blockages account for about 70% of all blocked sewer lines we clear.

The remaining 10% of sewer blockages are caused by either large foreign objects flushed down the sewer line becoming lodged, stuck or jammed inside the drain or a complete structural sewer pipe collapse.

Sewer blockages are also known as a "Wastewater Blockage" or "Sewer Choke".

Read more about maintaining your services.

Interesting fact: Clearing a blocked drain is not a plumbing repair, it is a high-pressure cleaning process.

What Are the Symptoms of a Blocked Sewer in Sydney?

A blocked sewer line can lead to various plumbing issues and potentially cause significant structural damage to your sewer pipes and other areas of your home if not addressed promptly. Here are several above ground signs or symptoms of a blocked sewer line underground.

Slow Draining Fixtures

If you notice a single plumbing fixture in your home, such as a sink, toilet, bath, laundry tub or shower draining slowly or seems to be backing up and other plumbing fixtures around your home appear clear, it can be a sign of a blockage in that plumbing fixtures fixture pipe. The fixture pipe is the small diameter waste pipe that connects the plumbing fixture to the branch drain under the floor. If you look under your kitchen sink, laundry tub or hand basin you will see the fixture waste pipe and either a 'P' Trap or an 'S' Trap. All fixture pipe blockages are caused by backed-up waste material and can be cleared with a manual hand tool such as a plunger if that is the only location of the blockage. If plunging the fixture is unsuccessful then the blockage will most likely be in the plumbing fixtures branch drain and will require high-pressure water jetting. Branch drain blockages can be either a waste blockage or a tree root blockage.

Gurgling Noises

Water may also gurgle as it drains due to air being trapped or compressed inside your sewer pipes behind a blockage. Sewer drains with proper venting that are working correctly do not gurgle. Gurgling noises can be a sign of a partially blocked drain which is usually a precursor to a bigger drainage problem, not attending to a gurgling drain can lead to other drainage issues. If your drains are only gurgling and not actually blocked a CCTV drain camera inspection is recommended.

Unpleasant Odours

Sewer odours can simply be caused by a dry fixture trap, floor waste or gully trap in which case you can fix this yourself by filling the dry trap with water, once the trap has been filled with water the bad sewer smell will stop. On rare occasions floor and shower 'P' Traps can become damaged below the water seal in the trap. If this happens the water seal in the trap will also drain out through the defect into the ground under the floor which also results in a dry trap however this type of issue will require a drainage repair such as pipe relining or excavation and renewal. Sewer gasses can also escape into the environment or inside your home via cracked or perished rubber seals on plumbing fixtures or cement seals around fixture waste pipes where they connect into earthenware pipes under your house although this is only relevant for houses you can crawl under, not homes built on concrete slabs. Sewer odours can also be caused by a blocked sewer line which leads to foul odours emanating from your drains. These unpleasant odours can be caused by the trapped sewage and wastewater in your sewer pipes. Bad sewer smells can also be associated with gurgling noises coming from your drains.

Toilet Issues

Frequent toilet clogs or difficulty flushing can be indicative of a sewer line blockage. You might notice the water level in the toilet bowl either filling the bowel and not draining at all, rising higher than usual then slowly draining over time, sucking the water seal out of the toilet bowl at the end of the flushing process or flushing inadequately leaving waste behind in the toilet bowel. This could be a localised waste blockage in the toilets trap or branch drain that may be cleared with a hand plunger or could also be a more substantial waste blockage or tree root intrusion in the fixtures branch drain or further down the sewer in the main drain. Toilet blockages are treated the same as fixture blockages, if the fixture cannot be cleared with a hand tool such as a plunger, then high-pressure water jetting will be required.

Multiple Drain Problems

If you experience issues or symptoms in multiple areas of your home, including both upper and lower levels, it suggests a problem in your main drain that runs between your house and the Sydney Water Sewer Main Line. This is especially concerning if you have tried to clear individual fixture pipes or branch drains without success. Main drain waste or root intrusion blockages require high-pressure water jetting.

Backups and Overflows

Sewer line blockages can lead to sewage backups and overflows both inside and outside your home. This can result in dirty sewer water, solid waste, facies, or toilet paper coming back up through fixtures inside your home, like floor waste drains, bathtubs, showers, and toilet drains and outside through boundary shafts, vents, inspection openings, cleanouts, sewer shafts, and overflow relief gullies. If your sewer is backing up or overflowing anywhere on your property you have a full-blown sewer blockage which could be simply caused by backed-up waste material or something more concerning like tree root intrusions, foreign objects, or a damaged or collapsed sewer line.

Lush or Sunken Yard Areas

If there is a section of your yard where the grass is suddenly much greener and healthier than the surrounding area, or if you notice sunken patches, it could indicate a blocked sewer line associated with a damaged sewer pipe and sewer line leak. A damaged sewer pipe may not leak when there is no blockage however if a blockage occurs the backed-up wastewater inside the sewer line has nowhere to go so it finds its way out through sewer pipe defects, breaks, cracks and faulty pipe joints into the environment outside the sewer pipe underground and in most cases will overtime attract tree root intrusions into the sewer line. Sewage leaks from damaged pipes can fertilize the soil, causing lush growth, or it may erode the ground, creating sunken spots. The best course of action in this case is to clear the drain if it is blocked and if successful perform a CCTV drain camera inspection to visually identify the problem and carry out an electronic drain location of the affected area to determine the best course of action.

If you suspect a blocked sewer line based on any of these signs, it is essential to address the issue promptly. Many homeowners ignore blocked drain symptoms in the hope the issue may correct itself however sewer line blockages normally do not go away on their own and if ignored can escalate leading to much bigger drain issues, significant sewer pipe and property damage, health hazards, increased drain clearing costs or drains becoming unclearable if left untreated.

Sewer lines do not have any moving parts which means regular servicing is generally not required for sewer systems that meet Australian Drainage Standards, so provided your sewer pipes are not damaged or faulty in any way and you do not flush anything down there you shouldn't, it is very unlikely you will ever experience a blocked drain or have to call us.

Blocked Sewer Symptoms

What Is a Sewer Waste Blockage?

Provided your drains are in good working condition with no structural damage, defects, broken or cracked pipes you will not have any tree roots growing into your sewer pipes underground. This means the blockage will only consist of backed-up waste material inside your sewer line such as sewage, faeces, toilet paper, kitchen grease or food waste, sanitary or personal items, paper towels, solid laundry waste, wet wipes, or other small objects flushed down into your sewer system. Generally, this solid waste matter blocking the drain has simply accumulated inside the sewer line in one location, is not attached to anything, is easy to clear and only requires one or two passes with a water jet using high-pressure penetrating and flushing nozzles to break up and liquify the blockage which clears the drain by flushing the waste downstream to the Sydney Water Sewer Main Line. A single CCTV drain camera inspection is only required to confirm a clear drain.

Waste blockages are a 3-step high-pressure water jet drain cleaning process.

Waste Blockage

Tree Root Blockage

What Is a Sewer Tree Root Blockage?

If your drains are damaged or defective in one way or another with cracked pipes, broken or damaged sections, misaligned pipes, displacements, or failed pipe joints you will more than likely have tree roots growing into your sewer pipes. This is true for both PVC pipes and earthenware pipes however damaged tree root affected earthenware pipes outnumber damaged tree root affected PVC pipes by 1,000 to 1 which means we spend the majority of our time clearing tree root blockages in earthenware drains as indicated in the many drain cleaning videos on our YouTube channel.

95% of the damage inflicted upon earthenware drainage pipes is caused by deterioration due to old age as pipes made from clay have a finite life. PVC pipes were fully approved for sewer and SWV applications during the 1970's which means any earthenware drainage pipes still in service today are 50 to over 100 years old and still account for at least 80% of all private sewer and stormwater systems owned by homeowners and the main reason why tree root blockages in Sydney are so prolific. 95% of the damage to PVC pipes is caused by either physical or stress related damage during or sometime after installation by such things as incorrect installation, natural ground movement or unrelated nearby building, landscaping or other trade related excavation works.

It is possible to have damaged pipes without tree root intrusions causing sewer blockages which is treated as a waste blockage, however, if you do have tree roots growing into your drains you will also have damaged or defective pipes as in this instance you cannot have one without the other. This means the blockage inside your drain will consist of both backed-up waste material and tree root intrusions causing the drain to stop flowing. Tree root blockages are different to waste blockages because the tree root intrusions growing inside the sewer pipes causing the blockage are part of and attached to a much larger root system on the outside of the pipe and so the tree roots on the inside of the drain need to be inspected with a drain camera before, during, and after being removed using high-pressure root cutting nozzles.

No one can see inside a blocked drain underground full of dirty, murky, cloudy wastewater so the backed-up wastewater and solid waste will need to be cleared away first allowing for a visual inspection of the drain with a CCTV drain camera to assess the degree of tree root impact. Although the initial use of penetrating and flushing nozzles will clear the backed-up wastewater and other solid waste material these nozzles won't remove the bulk of the tree root intrusions, they will however separate the matted tree roots creating a pathway for drain camera equipment and high-pressure root cutting nozzles to pass through. Unlike waste blockages that are always simple and quick to clear and only block in one location, tree root blockages can range from also being small and quick to clear only affecting a single location to being multifaceted impacting a drainage line over many metres and numerous locations requiring multiple passes with penetrating, flushing, and high-pressure root cutting nozzles and CCTV drain camera equipment to cut away and remove the tree root intrusions. Leaving tree roots to grow and fester inside your drains can only lead to higher drain clearing costs.

Tree root blockages are a 4-step high-pressure water jet drain cleaning and tree root cutting process.

Tree root intrusion into drains is the number one cause of drain blockages in Australia.

See us clearing tree root blockages on YouTube.

Interesting fact: You cannot clear a drain blocked by tree roots in one process. Water jetting (drain clearing) and tree root removal (root cutting) are separate processes requiring different high-pressure jetting nozzles.

Clearing A Stormwater Drain Blockage

Clearing A Blocked Stormwater Drain

Drain cleaning processes for clearing blocked stormwater drains are similar to that of clearing blocked sewer lines with the difference being that stormwater waste material is dirt, mud, sand, pebbles, rocks, leaves, sticks and other crazy foreign objects like hose nozzles and sprinkler heads, tennis balls, golf balls and small children's toys to name a few. Stormwater waste is hard, solid, heavy and extremely abrasive when used with high-pressure water jet equipment and more difficult and time consuming to remove from stormwater drains than sewer waste and tree root intrusions are from sewer lines. This causes much greater wear and tear and subsequently much higher operating costs for water jetting and drain camera equipment than sewer waste which is only soft and gooey material. Stormwater drains can also be damaged or defective and impacted by tree root intrusions requiring high-pressure root cutting in exactly the same way sewer lines are.

Stormwater drains are different to sewer lines in this way. Provided your sewer line is in proper working condition with no defects or tree root intrusions, everything you flush down the drain will easily make its way downstream to the Sydney Water main sewer line because sewer waste is soft, gooey and light and that is what a sewer line is designed to do. This means regular servicing of your sewer line is not required however it is important to keep your stormwater drains clean by carrying out regular servicing as stormwater drains are designed to only carry "stormwater" not heavy waste material. Heavy waste material such as dirt, sand, pebbles, rocks, sticks and other foreign objects that makes its way into your stormwater drains will not get flushed and flow through the drain to the end discharge point instead it will be deposited along the bottom of the pipe over many metres. Over time this build-up of heavy waste material inside the drain reduces the inside diameter of the pipe and its capacity to drain stormwater leading to choked drains causing flooding during heavy or torrential rain events which can cause property damage. Stormwater drains that are full of heavy waste material over long distances can take many hours to clear or in some cases become completely unclearable. Sticking your head in the sand and not regularly checking and cleaning your stormwater drains on a regular basis whether they are in good condition or not with or without tree root intrusions can be an expensive mistake!

You can see how difficult and time consuming it can be water jetting a small amount of heavy beach sand in Narrabeen from about 20 metres of a 4-year-old PVC stormwater drain here and another good example of removing heavy wiry tree root growth and build-up of sand in Mosman from an 18-metre section of earthenware stormwater drain here.

Regular Drain Servicing

Why Is Regular Drain Servicing Important?

Homeowners with tree root affected drains carrying out regular preventive drain maintenance to avoid blockages to keep their drains flowing only require a 2-step process (CCTV drain camera inspection and high-pressure tree root cutting) because getting their drains serviced before they become blocked means they do not need initial water jetting to clear the blocked drain of backed-up waste material and as the Plumber will have been there on previous service calls very little assessment is required as he will already know everything about the homeowners drains and getting access to their drains underground should be easy. Regular drain servicing also means smaller and shorter tree root regrowth making the root cutting process much easier which means a much quicker service at a lower cost. Regular drain servicing for tree root affected drains you do not want to permanently fix is a no brainer! You can see an example on our YouTube channel of a regular sewer line tree root cutting service to remove tree root regrowth for one of our existing customers. This sewer line requires servicing every 12 to 18 months to avoid blockages and we have been servicing this sewer line for many years.

Assessing The Blocked Drain

Blocked Drain Clearing Process in Detail

Assessment Of the Blocked Drain

On arrival we will carry out an assessment of the blocked drain.

Discuss the blocked drain symptoms and any history of drain blockages.
Visually inspect the blocked drain symptoms you are experiencing.
Determine the location of your sewer system on your property.
Locate where your sewer connects to the Sydney Water Sewer Main Line.
Estimate the location of the blockage within your sewer system.
Look for suitable cleanout access to your underground sewer line.

Clearing The Blocked Drain - Water Jetting

Once we have gained access to the underground sewer line, we will setup our high-pressure water jet drain clearing equipment at the point of entry into the sewer line and proceed to clear the blocked drain using high-pressure penetrating and flushing nozzles to break up, flush away and clear all backed-up waste material and sewer wastewater to create a clear drain to allow for a CCTV drain camera inspection.

It is important to understand that drain cameras are not designed to work inside blocked drains full of dirty, mirky, cloudy wastewater full of suspended and floating faeces, pulverised toilet paper, kitchen grease, food waste, sanitary or personal items, paper towels, solid laundry waste, wet wipes and other small objects meaning inserting a drain camera down inside a blocked drain is a pointless exercise that can only be compared to driving a car through thick fog or putting goggles on and sticking your head in a bucket of muddy water! This is what it looks like when a Plumber inserts a drain camera inside a blocked drain.

How long it will take to initially clear the blocked drain will depend on whether we are clearing one line or multiple lines, how many metres of drain we are servicing the design of the sewer system and whether we are dealing with a simple waste blockage, or a more complex tree root blockage.

Clearing The Blocked Drain

CCTV Drain Camera Inspection

After the drain has been cleared of all backed-up waste material and sewer wastewater, we will carry out a CCTV drain camera inspection of the sewer line to confirm the following.

Confirm the drain is clear and if further drain cleaning is needed.
Determine whether the blockage was caused by tree root intrusions or something else.
Inspect the drain for any faults or damaged or defective pipes.

If our CCTV drain inspection shows a clear drain with no tree root intrusions our work is finished.

Clearing a blockage caused by waste material is a 3-step process.

Inspecting The Cleared Drain

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Before Root Cutting

Root cutting blocked sewer line Sydney NSW

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After Root Cutting

Removing Tree Roots from Drains - Root Cutting

If you have tree roots growing into your sewer line, once the blocked drain has been cleared of all backed-up waste material to allow for a visual inspection inside the drain and tree root intrusions are detected, root cutting is performed by visually positioning a tree root cutting nozzle at the point of root entry inside the sewer pipe with the aid of our CCTV drain camera then cutting and clearing the tree roots from the drain. We will then conduct a final drain camera inspection of the sewer line to confirm with you a clear drain. How long it will take to complete the root cutting process will be determined by the individual circumstances of each job and influenced by the following.

What is the drains length?

Are we clearing only 5 metres of your drains or are we clearing 50 metres of drain or more? Some homes only have small, short drainage systems and other homes have large or long drainage systems.

How many root entry points?

Are we clearing tree roots from only 1 or 2 tree root entry points in your drains or are we dealing with 20 or 30 tree root entry points?

How many drain lines?

Are we clearing just your main drain, or just one branch drain from one access point or are we clearing your main drain and multiple branch drains from multiple access points? All homes have one "main drain" however some homes only have one or two "branch drains" and other homes have many "branch drains". Tree root intrusions may only be affecting one location within your drainage system, or they can be spread over many locations within multiple drains.

What is the pipe diameter?

Are we clearing only 100mm or 150mm diameter sewer pipes or clearing both 100mm and 150mm diameter sewer pipes? Older sewer lines installed up until the 1980's were mostly a combination of 100mm and 150mm diameter earthenware pipes and sewer lines installed from the end of the 1970's were mostly installed in 100mm PVC pipes.

What are the drains made of?

Tree root intrusions in PVC pipes are usually isolated to one or two locations while tree root intrusions in earthenware pipes can impact an entire sewer system from one end to the other.

What is the drains structural condition?

Are your drains in reasonably good condition with only 1 or 2 defects or are your drains extensively damaged and failing with many defects? It is rare to come across damaged PVC pipes however any damage to PVC pipes will mostly be in only 1 or 2 locations and caused by some type of physical damage as PVC pipes do not age whereas damage to earthenware pipes is mainly caused by old age which means it can affect an entire sewer system. The words used to describe older sewer lines such as "clay pipes", "terracotta pipes" and "earthenware pipes" all mean the same thing.

What is the design of the drainage system?

Is your drainage system complex with multiple bends and vertical shafts or are we working only inside straight pipes? Drainage systems can be short in length and others can be very long. Some homes have simple drainage systems and other homes have very complex drainage systems.

What is the degree of root impact?

Are we removing a few small light tree roots from 1 or 2 locations as in the video above or removing extremely heavy multiple root intrusions from 20 or 30 locations?

What species or type of tree?

Are we cutting and removing small diameter or soft tree roots as shown in the root cutting video above that are easy to remove or cutting and removing larger diameter or wiry tree roots that are difficult to remove? If tree root affected drains are maintained on a regular basis by carrying out preventive drain maintenance, tree root removal is easier, faster and more cost effective than leaving tree roots to regrow extensively and fester into a diabolical blocked drain disaster!!

Clearing a blockage caused by tree roots is a 4-step process.

Removing Tree Root Intrusions