Published on September 15th, 2018
The reasons for clogged drains have remained the same, but the methods of drain cleaning have improved a lot. The plumbing methods used for drain cleaning today address the traditional causes of clogging much more efficiently. Drains do not clog overnight unless something unusual like your child sending a toy down the drain happens.
It takes a long time for pipelines to get clogged and it often makes us forget the possibilities of drain clogging. Most people take the drainage system for granted and this is a big mistake because although clogging will not happen quickly, it is also not possible to predict when it will happen.
Neglecting the maintenance can suddenly expose the dangers of clogged drains that can leave homes stinking and flooded.
Usually, older houses about 25 years or more are prone to drain clogging and blockages in the pipeline. Clogging mostly happens due to the various waste materials that go down the drain. Limiting the passage of waste materials into the drain can delay the time of clogging considerably.
Another reason for clogging is the quality of water which it contains too much of insoluble particulate matter like iron and other metals will mix with other wastes and form sludge that remains stationary at one place and obstructs the flow of water thereby slowing down the drainage system. If the problem persists for long, one day the water flow would be blocked entirely resulting in flooding the home.
Old school methods do not work anymore
Using snakes, a long piece of flexible wire is the traditional way of cleaning drains. As plumbers keep pushing the cable, which is quite thick, it progresses through the pipeline and keeps pushing the clog down the drain up to a point from where it is either flushed out or removed.
However, the stress of pushing large gauge snakes through old pipelines can sometimes puncture the pipes and cause more problems as extensive repairs would become necessary. While such methods might work well sometimes to remove blockages, it does not address the cause by controlling the conditions that lead to clog formation.
This creates possibilities of recurrence of clogging, and it becomes a headache for you. Ultimately, it might lead to major repairs and dismantling or excavation of the drainage system.
What causes blockages?
It will be a mistake to think that clogs happen only when you send some solid object through the pipe that blocks the flow of water. Indeed, this is one of the reasons for blocked drains, but such instances are few and far between. The wastewater contains some sludge that settles down inside the pipes and over a period grows in size and solidifies thereby narrowing the passage through which water flows.
The constriction of the inside of pipes happen over some years and a time comes when the restricted water flow becomes evident at the drain point that starts accumulating water, and it takes more time to drain out.
As a layer of sludge forms inside the pipe, more sludge that settles on it and rapidly keeps building in that segment of the pipe. Ultimately, only a very narrow passage remains for the wastewater to flow through and the result is a clogged drain Toronto. At this point, any solid particles finding its way through the conduit will only increase the blockage and make things worse.
Partial cleaning is of no use
When you encounter a clogged drain, most likely you would seek some immediate relief and start using some tools like a snake, mostly homemade, to clear the blockage. It can work partially by creating a hole in the stubborn clog or pushing it further down thereby improving the flow of wastewater to some extent.
However, the issue of sludge formation, which is a bigger threat, remains unaddressed. With the passage of time, a clog will again develop at that place again.
The partial relief might give an apparent feeling to homeowners of having solved the problem who would later realize that the action could not prevent recurrence of blockage that shows up after some time due to clogging build up.
To avoid experimenting with clogged drains, call for professional plumbers to do a thorough cleaning so that recurrence does not happen. They would either use the method of Power- Rodding or Hydro- Jetting to clean the pipe by eradicating the conditions that lead to clog formation.
Power-Rodding
The humble plumbing snake becomes more active, agile and effective by infusing technology into it and the result is the development of a precision device of Power-Rodding that cleans the pipe beside removing the blockage.
The equipment consists of a thin metal cable that the plumber drives into the pipe to reach the point where the clog is. Razor sharp cutting blades of the size that fits into the pipe diameter are placed at the leading end of the cable.
A high-speed electric motor rotates the cable, and the sharp blades scrape the inside surface of the pipe while at the same time breaking down the blockage into small pieces. By introducing high-pressure water into the pipe, the plumber then drives away the materials collected inside.
Being machine driven the equipment is not only more efficient in cleaning but also less stressful to handle than traditional snakes that need sizeable manual force to remove blockages.
Hydro-Jetting
The method uses only water to clean the inside of pipes as well as remove clogging. Here, a high-pressure water line connects to the drain pipe, and the cleaning head consists of precision nozzles capable of discharging water at high pressure (3500 psi).
The pressurized water stream acts like a sharp knife that scours the pipe walls and cut through the blockage. The sludge and clog convert into a semi-solid mass that flushes away to the sewer.
De-clogging drain pipes are not as simple as it used to be but most effective now because of using technology that gives complete peace of mind to homeowners.
