A Few Things to Understand about Your Home’s Drain System

Nobody enjoys having a sink, tub or shower stop up or even a toilet that is not flushing, but there are a few things to understand about your drain pipes that might help you know when to call for a plumber. The following are among the most important.

How your drain pipes connect
With rare exception, all of your drain pipes travel to the main line connected to your toilet. From here, you home has a main sewer line that leads to the street and connects with the city or county sewer pipe. Once you understand this, there are a few things you can observe when there is a stoppage.

Your toilet is stopped up
The first thing you need to do is observe the other drains and look for a stoppage. The reason for this is that it may be your main line that is the source of the problem. This is usually due to roots from trees finding their way into your main line leading to the street. If this is true, then your other drains will stop up as well, starting with the sink and shower in your bathroom. These are closest to the main line after the toilet. Turn on the water to see if the sink and shower are clogged. If not, then it is just your toilet. You can attempt to use a plunger because this will usually solve the problem. If you are able to clear the toilet stoppage but it quickly returns again, there may be something lodged inside the toilet, and you need to call a plumber to remove it.

Your kitchen sink is clogged
If the stoppage is in the trap underneath the sink, you can take the trap off and clean it yourself. However, you need to verify that this is where the stoppage is located. If your home has a cleanout for the kitchen sink, it will be located outside of your house, a foot or two above the ground, take the cap off. If water flows out, then you have a stoppage past the cleanout but before your toilet. You need to call a plumber. However, if no water comes out, the stoppage is before the cleanout. Usually this will be in the trap.

In most situations, you will need to call naperville plumbers. They have rotary coils that not only clear the drain but clean it as well.