When to Conduct a Sewer Line Cleanout

Every home and property owner eventually needs to take care of their plumbing. When you use something every day, there’s maintenance that you need to partake in to make it run optimally. Plumbing is a necessary part of any active establishment that people inhabit, and sewer line cleanouts are part of the regular maintenance required.

Please continue reading to learn when it’s time to conduct a sewer line clean now and how to do it. Our guide will help you through the process.

Get Rid of Bad Smells from Your Sink

If you notice odors from your kitchen sink or bathtub that can’t be washed away,  it might be time for a sewer line cleanout. Clogged dirt, hard water, and anything else that goes down your drain can cause these odors. Water is constantly going through drains, and when there’s something else trapped in that drain, bad smells will arise.

Cleaning out your sewer lines will release bad odor for good. When you clean a clogged sink without removing the blockage, you only cover up the odor instead of removing it.

Reduce the Amount of Water Backups You Experience

Have you noticed your sink or bathtub floods with water once every couple of months or more? Even when you use a drain snake, there could be a blockage deep down in your pipes that you can’t access without opening your main sewer line. After you clean out your main sewer line, you can expect a massive decrease in water backups for the next year until it’s time to clean it.

Cleaning out your main sewer line at least once a year is a great way to prevent your water from backing up. Water backups can bring out nasty stuff from your pipes that you don’t want to deal with after a long day. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that there is a main sewer line they can access to minimize their plumbing issues. 

Use Tools to Get Debris Out of Your Pipes

Some of the most common tools people use to clean out their main sewer lines are drain snakes and wrenches. When you use a drain snake, you can get right into your main sewer line and pull out any of the large debris trapped in your upper pipes. Your wrench will allow you to access more areas of your sewer line to clean out any blockages thoroughly.

Depending on your sewer line’s components and pipes, you might need to invest in more tools. However, once you determine all the tools you need to get the job done you can remove your drainpipe cap and insert your snake until you thoroughly clean your pipes. 

Find Your Main Sewer Line

You might have trouble finding it if you’ve never accessed the main sewer line to your current home. So the first thing you need to do is know what to look for. Your main sewer line is a 4-inch wide pipe with a screw cap. Typically, your main sewer line pipe will be white; however, this color can change depending on your house’s pipes.

You can usually find your main sewer line in your basement, crawl space, or backyard. Some houses might have the main sewer line in the front yard, although this is uncommon because they can seem unsightly. If you have a large house, you might be searching for a while before you find your sewer pipeline, and you might benefit from hiring a professional instead. 

After you locate your main sewer line, you can get to work cleaning it out to prevent water backups and eradicate bad odors in your home from your plumbing. However, sometimes taking care of the direct drain to these facilities isn’t enough, and it’s time to find the main sewer line instead.

Hire a Professional When Standard Methods Don’t Work

Tons of situations can cause all sorts of plumbing issues throughout your home, and sometimes cleaning out your main sewer line isn’t enough to rectify those problems. If you’ve cleaned out your main sewer line and you’re still experiencing water backups or bad odors from your plumbing, then consider hiring a professional to handle the job to prevent damaging your plumbing system.

Contact us at (520) 214-2149 to resolve your plumbing issues or clean your main sewer line. If you don’t feel comfortable cleaning out the main sewer line yourself, we’ll be happy to do the dirty work for you.  

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