Signs of a Sewer Clog

By Bill Aldridge

If your home is more than 30 years old then chances are that it has a cast iron sewer line.  While these old warhorses of the plumbing industry had their time and place, the problem is that iron rusts.  This means that over the years these lines begin to degrade and will inevitably clog, necessitating the kind of intervention that takes a backhoe and can leave your yard looking like the trenches systems of WWI.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that the entire repair should take no more than a few days by a licensed plumbing company and you don’t need to start tearing up the yard until you see obvious signs of a backup.

The bad news is that once the line does begin to clog you definitely don’t want to stick your head in the sand and assume that the problem will go away.  If anything it will quickly get worse and worse until it is all but impossible to empty a sink or flush a toilet without the water backing up.  In fact, the toilet is one of the first signs you will usually see of an impending problem, since it has a direct path to the sewer and is connected to one of the biggest lines in the house.

Other systems in the bathroom such as the bathtub and shower will also quickly become unusable in the event of a sewer stoppage and no amount of plunging will fix the problem.   However, it doesn’t hurt to check to see whether the tub drain is clogged, especially if there are no other obvious signs of a backup elsewhere.  See the video below to learn how to fix this problem.

Other symptoms of a blockage can include one or more of the following:

1.      When you flush the toilet water comes up in the bathtub.

2.      When you are using the sink next to the toilet, air bubbles start emanating from the toilet.

3.      When you run the dishwasher or the washing machine, the toilet overflows.

4.      A persistent gurgling sound that occurs after you use the washing machine or dishwasher.

5.      Foul odors emanating from more than one sink.

While these symptoms could be signs of other problems, such as air being trapped in the system or a blockage somewhere in the system, if the toilets are not functioning properly then you should definitely call in a plumber.  If you have a main line clean out, you can check for a clog by opening the clean out and visually inspecting for any water or waste that could be collecting there.  If water is either standing in the pipe or water comes out of the pipe the moment you remove the cap, then you definitely have a main line blockage.

Having a blockage does not necessarily mean that the sewer has collapsed or is irretrievably blocked.  Just like your household plumbing, sewer lines that have become blocked can sometimes be cleared with a sewer drain snake.  All manners of things that shouldn’t be flushed down the toilet but are, including diapers, toys and the occasional towel can form a clog that needs to be cleared out by a professional.  Tree roots can also find egress into lines that can eventually slow and even stop the flow of water. 

Even if the sewer itself does become compromised, requiring replacement, this is still cheaper than letting the system back up to the point where water and/or raw sewage backs up into the home which will entail even more costly remediation after the sewer line is replaced.  The best way to avoid any worst case scenario is to call in a licensed plumber as soon as you detect any potential backup.  The earlier you catch a backup, the easier it is to isolate, identify and remedy.  Waiting will only run the risk of creating a problem that can only be solved with heavy machinery and a crew.

Bill Aldridge is the Doctor of Plumbology at Aldridge and Sons Plumbing in Jacksonville. Florida.  For more helpful plumbing tips and how-to videos, go to http://aldridgesonsplumbing.com

Down the Drain DIY

By Billy Aldridge

Being a plumber means getting to thrill vicariously at all the DIY shows on TV.  Sure, watching guys like Norm Abram go through the paces of rebuilding this or that old home is always an inspiration.  While the DIY show genre was almost single-handedly inspired by Norm’s predecessor and mentor, Bob Villa, every single DIY spinoff is hosted by a dyed-in-the-wool professional with years of on the job experience.  So if I was going to throw my hat into the ring to create a DIY plumbing show that showed it like it is, I wouldn’t spin it as a “Fix this Plumbing” concept at all. No, I think a more informative and vastly more entertaining angle would be to create a series that showcases the unfortunate results of people who thought they could save some money by doing it themselves.  I call the concept “Down the Drain DIY.” Here is an episode that I have cobbled together from doing a little research online.

Episode 1: The Hosed Housewife (Or, how to turn a $10 DIY into a $360 emergency plumbing repair.) 

Our upstairs hall toilet sprung a leak recently, emitting a steady hiss punctuated by frequent whooshes of the pump refilling the tank -- a bit like having Darth Vader lurking in the hall. We don't use it much, so I just turned off the water to the toilet and silenced the evil Jedi. But with visitors arriving shortly from the UK, it occurred to me that access to a loo that didn't involve traipsing through our bedroom might be preferred by all parties.

I was ready to call a plumber, but my dad scoffed on the phone. "An easy fix. Just needs a new fill valve," he assured me. So off I went to Home Depot where yes indeed, Mr. Orange Apron fixed me up with a replacement fill valve for about $10. (something my dad continues to call a 'ball cock' even though they no longer have balls and don't cock. It's been replaced by something that's more like a 'shank donut' but honestly, that doesn't sound any less dirty.) The Force was strong in me. I imagined my light saber emerging from the end of the fill valve and beheading a plumber. Take that!

Once back from her trip to the big box store, our heroine realized that the instructions that came with the parts were less than adequate.  Undaunted, she pressed on and completed the repair to the best of her ability.  Then she opened the shutoff valve.

I turned on the water... and a steady stream cascaded onto the floor.  I turned off the water. I could still hear a little hiss, like it wasn't all the way off, but it looked like it was off. I turned the handle a little harder. No change. Harder. The water started coming out of the hose faster. I turned it the other way. No change. Turned it back. The stream became a torrent.

Suddenly, a fill valve was the least of my problems. I had no idea where the main water cutoff for the house was. I emptied the linen closet onto the floor, ran to the phone and called the first plumber in the yellow pages that said 24×7 emergency service, grabbed a couple of bowls and raced back upstairs. Where I sat for over an hour, bailing water into the tub at the rate of one bowl every 30 seconds or so. I believe that counts as a workout.

The moral of the story is you need to know how and where to shut off the water to your home if you don’t want to wind up getting hosed. (Below is a video that shows you step-by-step how to locate and turn off the water main.)

While do-it-yourself is all the rage, the bottom line for many homeowners is that unless you know your limits, you need to have a fallback plan in place and you absolutely need to have your friendly neighborhood plumber’s phone number on speed dial the next time you get the urge to DIY.

Billy Aldridge is one of the Doctors of Plumbology at Aldridge and sons Plumbing in Jacksonville, Florida.  For more helpful plumbing tips and step-by-step DIY videos, go to http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com

Pardon Me, But There's a Drone In My Drain

By Billy Aldridge

During the past few months I have told all of you about the hi-tech revolution coming soon to a kitchen and/or bathroom near you.  I have regaled you with everything from the latest in singing shower heads and computerized commodes, to refrigerators and washing machines that are wifi equipped.  So I guess it should come as no surprise that technological wizardry is on the horizon that could well change the way in which plumbers perform repairs.

English: Man using a ground penetrating radar. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hi-tech plumbing tools are nothing new.  Plumbers, including yours truly, have been using everything from flexible fiberoptic viewing systems and electromagnetic line locators, to bionic ears and ground penetrating 

radar for a number of years.  While most of these devices are useful in locating hidden pipes and leaks, they still need a human being to work the controls.  The next generation of tech tools will not only be able to go where no plumber has gone before, but there is a high probability that they will not only be autonomously controlled, but they will be able to perform the repair without any assistance from the operator.

What I am referring to are roboplumbers, or more precisely robots that can worm their way down the drain in order to locate and repair plumbing.  Any of you who watch the evening news has seen Unmanned Aerial Vehicles such as the Air Force’s Predator Drone.  Tasked with surveillance in far off places as Afghanistan, UAV’s such as the Predator fly the unfriendly skies of the middle east while their operators are located in places such as Las Vegas.  What many people do not know is the fact that the military has a number of other UAV’s that are autonomously piloted, meaning that they are programmed to fulfill their mission without human input of any kind. 

Rethink Robotics — Brooks and Baxter (Photo credit: jurvetson)

Another item that most of the populace is unaware is the fact that there are hundreds of drone manufacturers  out there, some of whom are busy creating autonomous robots for the masses that clean, assemble and perform specialized tasks.  Also, these robots are not limited to flying.  Some roll, others walk and several swim or slink.  One such robot manufactured by Rethink Robotics named Baxter, is designed to perform all kinds of repetitive production tasks.  Another is an articulated robot named Pipe Snake.

“A team of U.S. Air Force Academy graduates has designed the Pipe Snake, a telescoping robot that can climb vertical plumbing shafts and even navigate curved pipes to locate victims of natural disasters. The Pipe Snake can carry medical supplies or other payloads, giving victims in inaccessible places a shot at immediate attention while first responders figure out what to do next.” 

Sooner or later the same minds that designed Baxter and the Pipe Snake are bound to put their heads together in order to come up with a device that can not only snake its way down the drain but perform repetitive tasks once it arrives.  Whether this means that plumbers will have another tech tool to work in hard to reach places, or whether the robots will try to muscle us out of the business is anybody’s guess.  All I know is I dread the day I pick up the phone only to hear the homeowner on the other end of the line tell me, “I’ve got a drone stuck in my drain.”

Billy Aldridge is one of the Doctors of Plumbology at Aldridge and Sons Plumbing in Jacksonville, Florida.  For more helpful plumbing tips and how-to videos, go to 

http://plumbers-jacksonville-fl.com