Blocked drains in the Midlands? How they occur and how to prevent them.
Nobody likes blocked drains, they tend to lead to smelly drains, slow flowing water and unpleasant encounters with grease, congealed milk, baby wipes, tangled hair and gone off food! A main culprit of blocked drains, aside from the much published ‘baby wipes’, are fats, oils and greases, or as we like to call them in the drainage industry, ‘FOGS.’
We are all quite familiar with the term ‘Fatberg’ these days and FOGs from our food waste (domestic and commercial) contribute greatly to this growing sewer problem. Any food or liquid that is poured down our toilets or kitchen sinks containing fat or grease, eventually cools, solidifies and clings to the sides of the drain or sewer walls. After a period of time the blockage continues to get bigger and catch other passing materials: including food fragments, Sunday’s roast dinner gravy, our personal toilet business and baby wipes. Sadly, the latter does not disintegrate like toilet paper and this leads to a blocked drain. This is why we are told to only flush the 3 Ps – Paper, Pee and Poo.
If you live in or around the Midlands – Warwickshire, Leicestershire or Birmingham for example, and have blocked drains plaguing your property, the main way to investigate the problem would be to carry out a CCTV drainage survey. A drain survey will identify where the blockage is as well as what the blockage is. An experienced CCTV drainage crew can then remove the problem getting your drains clean and freely running again.
At Wilkinson Environmental we provide CCTV drain surveys throughout the Midlands and deal with all types of emergency drain blockages covering Warwick, Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry as well as further afield. With autumn upon us and winter weather not far away we thought we’d give you some tips for keeping your drains clear.
- Food plates – always scrape leftover food into your compost bin before rinsing in the sink.
- Sink traps – use them in your kitchen sink to catch food and in your bathrooms to catch hair.
- Shower trays – remove hair from your shower drain regularly to prevent internal blockages
- The 3 Ps – only flush the 3 Ps, Paper, Pee and Poo. Nothing else (including nappies, condoms and ladies’ sanitary items) should be flushed down your loo!
- External drains – remove leaf debris from your washing machine outlet.
If you are concerned about blocked drains, smelly drains or think you may require a CCTV drain survey, please visit our drainage services page and get in touch with the Midlands drainage experts.