Do you have a drain that is blocked
and overflowing
Hey before you call a plumber out
with all the gear
to come and sort that out for you
you might want to try this first
Stay tune and I'll let you in a little secret
G'day, I'm Ben from Beautiful Plumbing
Now do you have water overflowing
out of one of these
Well, first of all you should be very thankful
because if it wasn't coming out of there
I'll tell you, it'll be coming out inside your house
Now there are many reasons
why your drain will block up sometimes
and overflow
First of all there are some serious reasons like
roots in the pipe
But then there are not-so-serious ones
like you know it's a fat build-up
or one of the little members of your family
have chucked some sand or
gravel in the drain
So it's these not-so-serious blockages
that this little technique I'll show you now
will most of the time get that drain flowing again
When using this technique
always keep in the back of your mind
that water cannot be compressed
First of all I'll explain
what that drain actually is
that's overflowing in your backyard
and what it's there for
Every house or unit should have one of these
It's very important
because I'll tell you this is the only thing
that will stop raw sewage flooding
into your house
So this is what's buried
under the ground outside your house or unit
Now this here this represents
water that sits in the trap
It's called the water trap okay
So it stops the sewer gases
coming up here and then flowing out of this grate
and then plumbers can put fittings like this on
which you can connect kitchen sinks or
troughs or even showers into
and the water flows into this and drops in
and goes off to the sewer
It's very important that this grate is set below
your finished floor level of your house
Now the reason for that is
if the sewer blocks up and that it starts rising up
it pours out of here outside your house
because if it didn't, then it would be pouring out
the next, you know, lower fixture inside your house
which is usually your floor waste gully
in the middle of the bathroom
or your shower
Another thing to make sure of
is that that grate is easily removable
and made of plastic
not cast iron
Now the reason for that is
when that sewer blocks up
wet paper can get caught underneath that grate
or when the pressure builds
the grate just floats up and away
and releases all that raw sewage
into your backyard
So a lot of the time
these cast iron grates are rusted in there so badly
you'll need tools and a bit of heat
to get them out
Now you can imagine
the paper getting caught underneath
will block it off
so that pressure from the sewer
won't flood out in your garden
it'll be flooding to the next,
you know, higher fixture
which will be your shower
or your floor waste
So if you've got the cast iron grate
installed at your place
and you're a bit worried about it
Next time me or one of my guys
are out at your place
just ask us to swap them out
because we carry these on board
in our vans all the time
Now if you'd rather to
swap these out yourself
then you can just buy it from Reece
They call it a DT Mound with legs
And if you want the part number
So if the drain is just blocked with
say with a bit of fat from
say the kitchen sink or some sand
or foreign matter that's in here
then I'll show you now how to unblock it
All you need now is one of these hairy mops
Now if you don't have one of these
just nip down to Bunnings
and grab one of the cheapest ones they've got
Now this is very important, okay
so listen up
you're going to make sure
that the mop is attached
to the handle really well, okay
and the best way to do that
chuck it on the ground
stand on it and give it a pull, alright
to make sure it doesn't come off
Now if it does come out
then you need to put a screw like this
into the handle like we have
so you know that it's not gonna come out
Now once you've got that sorted
just place the mop inside the DG
and just plunge it down and up
nice and slowly
and all the time keep in the back of your mind
that the water can't be compressed
and once the drain starts flowing
that's a good idea to chuck a bucket of water
down the drain to flush all that blockage
down and away
So if the old mop technique doesn't work
well then you really only have two options
Option 1, go out and buy yourself a 30 grand jetter,
camera, and you also need a locator probably
and you'll be able to sort it out easy
Option 2, you've got engaged your local plumber
who's got all that gear
and he'll be able to come
and unblock that drain for you
Hey mate, I think we've got all that gear
Get out of the shot, mate
I'm just saying, come on
So if you've got a drain
that you can't unblock
and you live in or near the Shire of Kalamunda
or within 15 minutes
give us a call
we'll be happy to help
Hey, and thanks for watching