If the water began to stagnate in the sink or bath, this may indicate the formation of a blockage in the sewer. This brings discomfort to all people living in the house. Therefore, the solution to the problem should be immediate. Many decide not to resort to the help of professional masters. However, do-it-yourself cleaning of sewer pipes must be carried out in accordance with certain rules. Failure to comply with the technology may result in communication failure. The blockage may also not be eliminated by improper actions of a home plumber. Therefore, before carrying out such work, you should familiarize yourself with the advice of specialists in the field of sewage and plumbing.
Clogging place
To clean the blockage in the sewer pipes with your own hands, you must first determine its location. Most often they are found in the riser of the bathroom or in the kitchen. A cork may form in the pipe that leads to the washing machine.
There are common blockages, which are not even in the apartment, but in the riser of the supply of communications outside it. If this is a private house, the cause of the general blockage should be sought on the street, where the local sewage is connected to the city.
Do-it-yourself cleaning of sewer pipes begins with determining the type of blockage. Having collected water in the kitchen sink, bathroom, flushing the water in the toilet, you should see where the water will go and where to stagnate. If the sewer clogged in only one place, the cause of the blockage is eliminated by self-cleaning the sewer pipes using one of several possible methods.
If the blockage is common in a multi-storey building, you can put a check valve in front of the sink. It will not allow water to rise from the sewer into the sink.
Types of blockages
There are several types of blockages. In order for the cleaning of sewer pipes with the help of household recipes to be effective, it should be determined what caused this situation.
Operational blockage appears gradually. Water starts to sink worse and worse. The sooner do-it-yourself cleaning of sewer pipes , the better for sewage. These blockages appear due to the gradual entry into the system of small accumulations of fat that adhere to the walls and accumulate there over time. This is how traffic jams form.
Another type is mechanical blockage. If foreign objects get into the system, an obstacle is formed on the way for the water to flow out. Most often this is due to the pranks of young children or the irresponsible attitude of adults to sewer communications.
A siphon can also clog up (a device located under a sink or bathtub that does not allow unpleasant odors to enter the apartment). Therefore, before cleaning the sewer pipe yourself, you should determine the purity of this device.
Man-made blockage
There are blockages resulting from improper communications design. He gets out of the usual sewage problems. Do-it-yourself pipe cleaning in this case is effective for only 2-3 weeks. And then the problem returns.
This phenomenon occurs due to improper system design. If the pipe is improperly rotated, dirt and debris begin to accumulate in the place of its bend angle. This happens much faster than with normal blockages. In such cases, only redevelopment of communication systems will help.
Correct the wrong angle will have not only in one place, but along the entire length of the pipe. She will have to shift, perhaps more than a dozen meters. A properly designed system has a slope of 2 cm for every 2 m of pipe. No more and no less. If this rule is not observed, in the case of a small slope, the water will pass too slowly and subsequently dirt will accumulate on the walls. With a larger slope, the water will flow too quickly, not having time to take solid particles with it.
Cleaning Methods
There are several methods for cleaning your sewer pipe yourself. They can conditionally be divided into three types:
- folk remedies;
- chemical agents;
- mechanical means.
Each of them is an effective way to clean sewer pipes with various types of blockages. The sooner the owners drew attention to the problems with sewage, the easier it will be to fix the problem.
Folk remedies include such methods as cleaning the pipe with soda and boiling water, vinegar or salt.
Chemicals are presented in a wide assortment by manufacturers of household chemicals and are also quite often used for pollution of sewage systems in a house or apartment.
Mechanical means include a plunger, a cable and special machines for cleaning pipes.
Boiling water and soda
Do-it-yourself cleaning of sewer pipes with soda is widely used in folk recipes for eliminating such problems.
Using soda in combination with boiling water, you can clean small to medium blockages of communications. Act in accordance with certain instructions. This will allow you to clean your sewer pipes with your own hands using soda as efficiently as possible.
First, you must manually remove all debris from the drain hole. Then a liter of boiling water is poured into the hole and left for several minutes. You can try to get the blockage soaked with boiling water with the help of a plunger.
Next, 1 cup of soda is poured into the drain hole. It is poured with a small amount of boiling water. You may need to do this repeatedly. Soda will create an alkaline environment, which will help to disinfect and eliminate unpleasant odors.
Soda and Vinegar
Another popular remedy to get rid of medium clogging is soda-vinegar cleaning of sewer pipes. Household recipes use the chemical properties of these two substances and their reactions in the interaction.
To get rid of clogging and cleaning the sewer pipes, half a glass of soda is poured into the drain hole. Then there is poured half a glass of vinegar. Leave the mixture for a couple of hours. It will affect the blockage by a chemical reaction. A foam forms, which eliminates clogging.
So that dirt and debris do not get into the sink from the pipe, it is better to close the drain hole with a stopper after pouring the product into the sewer.
After processing, the pipes are poured with boiling water for washing. Using this method, you can also disinfect pipes and clean the sewer from grease.
Soda and salt
Another easy way is to clean the wastewater with salt and soda. They are found in every home. This is a fairly simple cleaning of sewer pipes. How to get rid of clogging with the help of such means, a special instruction will tell.
Soda and salt are mixed in a ratio of 1: 1 and poured into the drain hole. A small amount of boiling water is poured there. The mixture remains in the pipe for a period of 8 to 10 hours. During this time, boiling water is periodically poured into the hole.
The presented tool creates a strong alkaline environment that can dissolve blockage. Mud and grease will just corrode such a mixture. Boiling water in this case enhances the effect.
There are other ways to get rid of the problem of stagnant water in the sink or bathtub.
Chemicals
Today, the chemical industry offers many tools for cleaning sewage systems at home. There are both very inexpensive domestic products, for example, “Mole”, and expensive imported gels. The principle of action of such substances is identical. If the cause of the problem is a fat plug in the tube, then any tool will be effective, regardless of its price category.
Chemicals make it easy to perform such an action as cleaning the sewer from grease. Methods and tools should be used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. In this case, the process will be effective.
Many manufacturers recommend preventing the appearance of the presented problems by preventing the appearance of pollution.
The use of plunger
The plunger has long been known to mankind as a simple and accessible means of combating blockages. It creates increased pressure inside the pipe and allows you to push through the blockage, breaking it into smaller particles. Sometimes, if the blockage is close to the drain hole, the plunger can get it out.
The correct use of such an instrument involves the following technology. Closes the hole to drain the water during overflow. Then the plunger is pressed firmly against the drain hole. A bath or sink is filled with water above the rubber level of the instrument. Then they make frequent rhythmic movements up and down, without tearing the plunger from the surface.
After some time, the plunger is sharply torn off from the drain and the result is checked. If the water still does not come off, the procedure is repeated again.
Cable
In the case of a more serious blockage, located deep in the pipe, more effective methods of cleaning the sewer pipes should be applied. For this purpose, use a cable. Its end should be pushed into the drain hole. This should be done as deep as possible and try to come across a blockage.
In order to push through the cork, translational movements should be made with a cable in the pipe. This should be done before free water drains. Then the pipes are cleaned with boiling water and running water. In order not to damage the pipes, the cable should be used without applying great effort.
Having become familiar with existing methods that can eliminate the problem of clogging, cleaning the sewer pipes with your own hands will quickly and efficiently solve this problem. Depending on the severity of the pollution, one of the proposed methods is used. However, if all methods have been tried, and the desired result has not been achieved, it is worth asking for help from professionals who, with the help of special equipment, can eliminate the problem of water drainage.