The sewer line that runs from your house to the municipal system in the street, or to a septic tank if your house is unconnected to the municipal line, is buried out of sight—and that’s the way we’re sure you want it. But this means it’s difficult to access or to observe when the sewer line starts leaking or suffers from tree root infestation.
Pipeline inspection services are necessary to properly diagnose what’s affecting a problematic sewer line. Our plumbers use the finest in pipeline inspection technology to do this job. Miniaturized digital cameras mounted on long fiber-optic cables capable of snaking the length of a residential sewer line give us a close view of the interior of the pipe. Using the images sent back from the camera, we can locate leaks with precision, know when a sewer line requires cleaning, or discover any other problem affecting this important part of the plumbing system—and how to fix it.
This does bring up an obvious question: If you can’t see the sewer line, how can you know to call our plumbers in time to inspect the line before a major trouble occurs, such as sewage backing up into your home or a pipe rupture that sends harmful waste into the yard?
Let’s look at some of the warning signs of sewer lines troubles
We can start with early indications of leakage from the pipe. If you know the general location of where your pipeline lies buried under your property, you can check to see if there are damp, foul-smelling patches on the ground. The presence of grass much greener than the grass around it is also a warning (nutrient-filled material from the leak is increasing grass growth—good for the grass, bad for your property!).
Inside the home are other warning signs which you might notice:
- Repeatedly clogging drains: A single drain clog is usually not a disaster. If you can’t plunge it away, it’s a simple job for a professional plumber to clear it out. But when drain clogs are a routine problem, and they’re happening in more than one drain at a time, it points toward an issue deeper in the sewer line. Pay special attention to this when the first drains to start clogging are the lowest ones in the house, such as in the basement.
- Gurgling drains: When you pour water down a drain and hear a gurgling sound, this often means sewer gas rising the wrong direction in the pipe. The sound is the bubbling of gas through the water in the drain’s p-trap.
- Sewer smells from the drains: Often an unused drain will emit sewer odors because the p-trap has dried up. You can fix this by pouring water down it for a minute or so. But if these sewer odors are a continual issue from multiple drains, the problem is likely more serious: either a damaged/clogged sewer line or clogged drain vents. Either requires a professional plumber to fix.
When you suspect you need sewer line services in Cleves, OH, we’re the plumbing contractor with the skill and advanced equipment to take care of the job. You can reach us any time of the day or night.
Ken Neyer Plumbing, Inc. has provided Greater Cincinnati and the Surrounding Tri-State Areas with superb plumbing solutions since 1972.