Drain Cleaning in Montebello

Main Sewer Line Backups

Main Sewer Line Clog Symptoms: How to Tell It Is the Main Line

A clog in the main sewer line shows up in more than one fixture at once, and it starts at the lowest drains in the house. A single slow sink is a clog in that sink's branch line. When the toilet, the tub, and the washer are all involved, it is the line they share.

The signs, from the earliest to the ones that cannot wait:

• A gurgling toilet: air trapped behind the blockage escapes through the nearest trap, often when a sink drains or the washer empties.
• Several drains slow at the same time: the kitchen, a bathroom, and the laundry all draining badly in the same week is the main line, not three separate clogs.
• Water backing up into the lowest fixture: a shower or tub drain, or a floor drain, fills when the toilet is flushed or the washing machine drains. The lowest opening in the house is where a blocked main overflows first.
• The toilet water level changing on its own: a bowl that sits unusually high or low, or bubbles when nothing is running.
• A sewer smell indoors or at the cleanout: waste sitting in a blocked line gives off gas, and standing water or sewage at the cleanout cap outside is the line backed up past it.
• Sewage in a tub, shower, or floor drain: the main is fully blocked. Stop using water and call; this is the one we come out for at any hour.

Two or more of these together is a main line until proven otherwise. What to do until it is cleared is next. A sewer smell with no slow drain at all is a different problem, covered under sewer gas smell in the house.

Toilet Gurgles and the Shower Backs Up When the Washer Drains: Is It the Main Sewer Line?

Usually, yes. When water from one fixture comes up in another, or the toilet gurgles while the washing machine empties, the blockage is in the line those fixtures share, which is most often the main sewer line rather than any single drain.

What to do until it is cleared:

• Stop running water: hold off on the washer, the dishwasher and showers. Everything you drain has to get past the blockage, and what cannot comes up in the tub or shower.
• Skip the chemical cleaners: they rarely reach a main line clog, and the FAQs below explain why they do more harm than good.
• Sewage in the shower or tub is an emergency: call us at any hour, nights and weekends included.

How the line gets cleared depends on what is blocking it.

How a Plumber Clears a Main Sewer Line Clog: Snaking or Hydro Jetting

A cable machine (a snake) opens a main line quickly and is often the right first step for a single blockage. Hydro jetting is what clears a line that keeps backing up, because it scours grease, scale and root hair off the whole pipe wall instead of punching a hole through them. A camera inspection shows which one the line needs.

Clearing a main line comes down to three steps:

• Open the line from the outside cleanout: the cable goes in through the cleanout at the side of the house, so nothing comes through a bathroom. If the house has no cleanout, we go in through a toilet or down the roof vent instead, and once the line is clear we can install a cleanout so the next time is a quicker, cleaner job.
• Camera the line, every time: after every main line clearing we run a camera inspection through the line, complimentary, so you see what was behind the backup, whether grease, roots or a damaged section, and what condition the pipe is in.
• Choose the fix: a sound line with buildup or roots is a job for hydro jetting; a cracked, collapsed or badly corroded section needs a repair instead. Most of the time the answer is that the line is clear and nothing more is needed.

Jetting is not the answer for every line. A pipe that is already broken or worn thin gets repaired rather than jetted, because the pressure that strips buildup off a sound pipe can make a weak one worse. You see what the camera found, and the price, before that decision is made.

Additional Information

Drain Cleaning Services We Provide in Montebello

Don't wait until you have a major plumbing issue – schedule a professional drain cleaning service today. For the most accurate diagnosis of your drain issues, we recommend starting with a sewer camera inspection to identify the exact cause and location of the problem.

Why Does My Kitchen Sink Drain Keep Clogging?

A kitchen drain that clogs again a few weeks after it was cleared usually still has grease coating the pipe. Clearing a path through the clog leaves most of the buildup in place, and food and soap catch on it again. Fixing it for good means cleaning the full width of the line and then dealing with whatever is behind it, such as a sagging section where waste settles.

The common causes:

• Cooking grease and oil: poured down warm, it cools and sets on the pipe wall.
• Food scraps through the disposal: coffee grounds, rice and pasta settle in the line and bind together.
• Soap scum: it combines with grease into a harder, thicker layer.
• A sag or poor slope in the line: waste settles in the low spot instead of draining away.

A cable only pokes a hole through the grease, which is why the clog comes back. Hydro jetting is the usual fix for a kitchen line that keeps clogging: high-pressure water scours the grease off the full width of the pipe instead of punching a path through it. We clear the line first and look inside it with a camera, so jetting is recommended only when the pipe wall is the problem. If the trouble is at the kitchen sink itself rather than in the line behind it, we handle that too.