Clearing a blockage is easy. Clearing the same blockage three times is a sign nobody looked at why. The useful version of this job finds the defect as well as restoring flow.
Clog and blockage clearing: three places, one symptom
A slow or backed-up fixture can mean a blockage in the house line, a tank that is full and backing up into it, or laterals in the bed that will not take flow. All three feel the same at the sink, and clearing the wrong one achieves nothing.
So the tank gets checked first, because it is the quickest to rule in or out and because rodding a line into a full tank is pointless. If the tank is at normal level and the line still will not clear, the blockage is in the run, and where it blocks repeatedly a camera inspection shows whether it is roots, a belly or a break.
If the tank is at normal level, the line is clear, and flow still will not leave, the problem is the outlet side: a collapsed tee, a blinded filter, or the bed.
Line cleared
How it works
How a blockage call runs
Symptoms first
Which fixtures, how long, whether it clears and comes back, and when the tank was last pumped.
Rule the tank in or out
The lid comes off and the level is read, because a full tank makes everything upstream behave like a blocked line.
Clear the line
Rodded or jetted from the nearest access, working toward the obstruction rather than pushing it further along.
Find out why
On a repeat blockage the line is scoped afterwards, so the next conversation is about a repair rather than another clear.
What causes repeat blockages
Wipes, roots and grease, in that order
Wipes labelled flushable do not break down and they catch on anything. Roots enter at joints and grow into a mat that strains solids out of the flow. Grease cools, lines the pipe and narrows it until anything at all will lodge. All three produce a line that clears and then blocks again within months.
None of them is fixed by clearing. Roots need the joint repaired or the section replaced; grease needs the source addressed, which on a commercial site means the trap; wipes need the habit changed, and that is the only one that is free.
On a septic system there is a further consequence: whatever passes the line reaches the tank, and whatever passes the tank reaches the bed. Keeping the maintenance side working is what stops a nuisance becoming a bed replacement.
Ruled out firstTank
Scoped after clearingRepeat blockage
Located by distanceFault
Repair services
Other repair work
The components that fail, in the order we check them.
The lid comes off and the level is read, which settles it in minutes. A tank at or above its outlet backs up everything upstream and looks exactly like a blocked line from the house.
Not with a solid obstruction, and on a septic system heavy chemical use is worth avoiding anyway. It does not remove a rag or a root mat.
Because there is a defect rather than bad luck: roots at a joint, a belly holding water, or grease narrowing the bore. A camera run identifies which. See camera inspection.
Sometimes, by jetting from the distribution box outward, and it depends on whether the soil is still accepting flow. See drain field rejuvenation.
They are one of the biggest. They do not disintegrate, they catch on anything rough, and on a septic system they do not break down in the tank either.
Only if it is due or if it turned out to be the cause. Clearing a line does not require it, and we will not add it to the job unless the reading says so.
