Gavin from Turbo Plumbing Solutions here, coming to you on a weekend with a bit of an emergency job. Peter and his wife have a blocked sewer, and with both toilets out of action, they can’t wait until Monday. There might be some medical concerns at play, so when Mrs P gave me the green light, I knew I had to help out.
When I arrived, I found it odd that the downstairs toilet was blocked, but no water had come out of the overflow relief gully. This suggested the blockage was further down the line. Time to investigate!
I popped open the sewer at the back and sent the jetter down. About 20 meters in, I felt the hose go into what seemed like a square junction – not what you want in a sewer line. Pushing past, I kept going until I estimated I was within 5 meters of the problem.
Pulling the hose back, I swapped out the nozzle for a camera to get eyes on the situation. Lo and behold, there was the culprit – a thick bunch of roots right around that 20-meter mark. But that wasn’t the only surprise in store.
As I looked closer, I realized the pipe transitioned from PVC to clay right where it connected to the main sewer. It looked like someone had just cut out the side of the PVC, butted it up against the clay, and slapped some concrete over it. That’s just asking for trouble, especially with a big tree nearby.
I swapped back to the jetter nozzle and went to work on those roots. The hose did a real nice job, clearing out a good chunk of the obstruction. I gave it another pass to tidy things up before calling it a day.
With the sewer flowing again, Peter and his wife can breathe a sigh of relief. Their toilets are back in action, and they don’t have to stress about any unpleasant accidents.
As for that dodgy PVC-to-clay connection, that’s definitely not on us. But it’s something they might want to look into fixing properly down the line.
All in all, a successful weekend rescue mission. Until next time, this is Gavin wishing you happy flushing!
