I want to walk you through a recent call for a toilet clog that we received here in the JD Precision Plumbing office. A woman called stating that her toilet is continuously backing up which, which can be a big problem.
When we came out we pulled the toilet and put a snake down the drain line. This snake is like a big coil machine and it's pretty strong. It has these devices on the end that can get through whatever it needs to get through in the sewer line.
After the plumber cleared the blockage we wanted to get to the root of the problem for her. Because there is almost always a bigger issue than just a simple toilet clog.
We took the sewer camera, which is very similar in appearance to the snake just not quite as hardcore. When we stuck that down the toilet sewer line we were able to see in this woman's sewer line exactly where there was build up.
You can imagine what was being flushed in the average families toilet, and that is what was there. When our technician saw the image on the screen he saw a crack in her sewer line. Upon further examination hes saw that he could get the camera to actually go through a crack! When he got the camera down there he was able to see the seepage, the toilet paper, and the debris was supposed to be going through to the city sewage system.
In this families case the crack was large enough that the sewage was getting out under the foundation which is a huge problem. If this goes untreated and the family continues to use this toilet for years that's a big problem. So obviously something needs to be done but the question now arises where is the problem occurring?
Here is the crack in the PVC causing the toilet clog!
Here is the photo we took with the camera of under her foundation!
We actually have technology that we call a locator, we leave the camera end at the point of the problem and move the locator over it, sort of the way a metal detector is used, our technician is able
to sweep until they find exactly where that end of the camera is, so when they find it they can say okay this is where the problem is exactly.
For this family that was between one child's bedroom and another child's bedroom. The sewer line that connects one toilet to the other. So we have to explain that she has this is a huge problem right in the middle of her home underneath the ground.
We then presented the problem to the homeowner and showed her all of the research we'd done and how we knew exactly where the problem was and how big of a problem it was.
As our technicians was talking to her she was reminded that a foundation company had come out in months past and leveled the home. When they leveled the home one of the PVC connections didn’t hold and most likely got a hairline fracture that worsened over time.
Luckily for this homeowner it was completely covered under warranty by the foundation company. And they are taking care of it completely!
Had this not been the case our solution would have been to tunnel under her home to gain access to the sewer pipe and make the proper repairs needed.
This is just a sample problem that we get a call about multiple times every day. Now, this is a worst case scenario, sometimes it's just a little too much toilet paper got flushed or a toy is lodged inside the sewer line, but from the smallest problems to the biggest problems we have the tools and the resources to get the job done with Precision!
Check out this link for more information on sewer camera inspections.
