Six tips to avoid emergencies in your garden

If during the vacation or a weekend at the cottage the sewage system breaks down, then the whole vacation can be hopelessly spoiled by the lack of basic amenities of civilization. Here are a few tips on how to keep your domestic drainage system in working order in your country house or country house and what to do if you have problems with it.

1. Build by the rules

If you say no to the rustic john over the cesspool, it pays to have a proper sewer system. With a well designed system the effluent from the toilet, toilet and shower in the bathroom and from the kitchen sink goes under gravity into a central riser pipe from which it flows horizontally to a storage tank or a biological treatment tank septic tank .

For this circuit to work smoothly, certain rules must be strictly adhered to:

– For internal distribution of sewerage pipes should be used with a diameter of at least 50-80 mm, with a slope of 2 cm per 1 meter of the length of the pipe

– For the central riser and the external pipeline to the septic tank pipe should be a diameter of at least 100-110 mm, and the slope should be 3 cm per meter

– The external water drain should be laid 10-20 cm below the frost level of the ground in this region

– for ease of maintenance on the riser and near the turns of the pipe must have hatch-revision.

2. Treat your sewers with care

Sewage in urban apartments can “swallow” quite large objects, food debris, newspapers without consequences. But the internal network in private homes is made of pipes of small diameter, and therefore it is much easier to clog with foreign objects.

Therefore, it is necessary to refrain from going down the toilet bowl and sink vegetable and fruit peelings, food debris, household garbage. The only exception – if the sink drain is installed so-called disposer or grinder of food waste, such as a range of InSinkErator. Such devices literally grind up any organic residues, not panicking even before the bones of animals. However, for kitchen sinks, even in shredded form is undesirable drain residues from cutting meat, poultry and fish, liquid grease from the fryer and from the frying pan, dough residues – all this very quickly clogs the pipes and contributes to the emergence of severe clogs.

3. Don’t overuse chemicals for cleaning

Well advertised liquid, gel and granular formulas designed to eliminate clogs and clean pipes, usually have a local effect. That is, they can temporarily clean the pipe in the nearest 1-2 meters from the sink or toilet bowl. But the damage to the entire sewage system, especially if it is used for its lining cast iron or steel pipes. In addition, the use of chemicals with acids and alkalis is directly contraindicated if the effluent is diverted to a septic tank with active sludge. The chemicals kill all life, and the sewage treatment plant can no longer perform its function.

The safest way to use chemicals that when released into the water create foam, loosening clogs and many types of sediment on the pipes, such as granular preparations “Flupe”, “Mr. muscle”, etc.p. And the most budgetary of foaming reagents can be made on their own by an old grandmother’s recipe: pour baking soda into the drain and pour undiluted vinegar.

4. Keep a handy tool for removing blockages

In order not to call plumbers because of each clogged drain and not to swim in the sewage for hours waiting for specialists, it is worth preparing an “emergency suitcase” with several of the most in-demand tools:

– The true tool of any housewife is a plunger. It will help against the most frequent blockages, which occurred no further than 0.5 m from the sink or toilet bowl drain.

– A more “long-range” cleaning tool is the traditional plumbing rope, which is a long steel spring with a handle. It is easy to use, but the procedure itself is very dirty. It’s much more convenient to work with hand-held turntables, where the rope is coiled in a drum.

The Power Spin and Kwik-Spin pistol grip models have a 7.6 meter-long rope with a cleaning head that winds up and unwinds into a compact drum using the automatic feed mechanism. With this tool you can effectively and without dirt to clean all internal sewers, where the most frequent clogs.

If the clog occurred in the external sewer, then to eliminate it requires professional equipment – a drum-type or rod-type sweeper. Buy such a tool for personal use is hardly advisable. It is cheaper to use the services of professionals.

5. See what’s going on

If the clogs are following one after another, and you have learned by heart the phone number of emergency services, then do not waste money simply, it is worth ordering a video diagnosis sewer.

With a tele-inspection camera on a flexible cable pushed into the pipe, you can see the true causes of the problem:

– foreign objects trapped

– Tree roots that have sprouted into the clearance of the pipe

– Improper slope, causing the accumulation of mineral and organic sludge

– Destruction or displacement of pipes due to corrosion, land subsidence, freezing in winter time.

Depending on the results of the video inspection, you can already make an informed decision about whether only a thorough cleaning is needed or if repair work is needed. If the cause of the blockage is a damaged section of pipe, the video diagnosis pinpoints the point of failure: You don’t have to excavate the entire pipeline to replace the damaged part of the pipe.

With the help of video diagnostics it will be also reasonable to control the work of the team that laid or repaired the pipeline. Inspections reveal all installation faults before you start using the sewer no gradient, foreign bodies in the pipe, settling soil , allowing you to correct them and prevent most potential problems.

Some cleaning companies use video diagnostics to generate reports for their customers. A video clip will show better than any words how well the cleaning is done, which will be an extra guarantee for the gardener.

6. Arrange for regular preventive maintenance

Regardless of the presence of clogs at least once a year is worth calling specialists from firms that provide services for cleaning sewers. With the help of professional cleaning equipment for a reasonable price, they will remove mineral and organic impurities in indoor and outdoor sewers. It is better to call a company that specializes in hydrodynamic cleaning. High-pressure water jets like a knife cut deposits of any origin from the inner surface of the pipes, including grease, which are cleaned most difficult.

It’s worth mentioning that if a mechanic comes to you armed with only a domestic pressure washer which usually cleans cars or driveways in the garden, it’s money down the drain. According to experts, such equipment poorly copes with the cleaning of sewage pipes. Only professional hydrodynamic machines can clean the pipe lumen of any impurities qualitatively and safely.

Of course, for many homeowners it is a matter of honor to have the right tool at hand to urgently clean a clogged drain and not spoil the vacation for themselves and their loved ones. But the real owner will do his best to ensure that clogs have no chance to form in the sewer. Proper design and installation, timely maintenance – and then the sweeper will only have to apply to help the careless neighbors.