Give us a call today: 613 791 5777 for a free upfront estimate!
Clogs are the main reason behind backups and are therefore a major concern for most of the homeowners. Sometimes you might be able to use chemicals to clean a clog or rely on the plunger, other times you may need to rely on the professionals. Especially if the damage is such that you are going to need trenchless sewer repair or trenchless pipe repair. An entire trenchless sewer replacement is not something that you want to complete on your own. Another plumbing issue that makes a lot of homeowners worried is backflow, although less common this plumbing issue is different from backup.
It is a situation when the wastewater starts to backflow through the shower drain, kitchen sink, and toilet, even when they are not in regular use. Although less common that blocked drains, backflow is a major issue and can greatly impact your family life if left unattended.
Backflow easily falls into the category of a plumbing emergency, and therefore demands emergency plumbing treatment. Make sure you have all the contact details of a highly skilled emergency plumbing service provider who offers round the clock services.
What to Do When Your Drain Overflows
As long as water coming into your Ottawa home is flowing in one direction, you can enjoy an uncontaminated supply of water; however, if the normal water pressure in the system is disturbed due to any reason backflow can happen. When backflow happens, filthy water is sucked into the fresh water supply from a number of sources such as toilet tanks, lawn sprinkler system, dishwashers or washing machines, swimming pools, or even gutter or garbage cans.
Why Water Pressure Drops
There may be several factors behind the sudden drop in municipal water pressure that can cause backflow, let us have a look at a few of these factors:
- Breakage/leakage in main water supply pipes
- Discharge of high volume of water for a fire hydrant
- Failure of a municipal pumping station
When water pressure is suddenly dropped from the system, water from nearby sources may be drawn into the system creating all sorts of problems for the homeowners.
How to Prevent Backflow
These professional plumbing agencies will install specialized devices in your system that will ensure that fresh water is not cross-connected with wastewater. Such devices will keep the municipal water flowing in one direction only and will prevent the contaminated water to enter into your water supply system.
Following are the two common types of devices that are used by the plumbers to prevent backflows:
- Hose Bib
A hose bib is used in a single outlet such as an outdoor water faucet to prevent backflow. The presence of a spring in a hose bib is what keeps the water pressure in only direction only. A sudden drop in the municipal water pressure causes the spring present inside the hose bib to close and the valve to open, this ensures that back flowing water is discharged before it even enters into the fresh water supply.
- Pressure Type Vacuum Breaker
This device is usually installed in the pipe that supplies water to the sprinkler system. This device constantly senses the pressure in your water supply system. As soon as the pressure in your water system suddenly drops below air pressure entering through an above-ground inlet, a built-in valve is automatically activated preventing the backflow.
What can cause the backflow to occur?
There are many factors that contribute to the backflow issue, a few of the major ones are:
- Broken/Non-functional Backflow Preventer
The backflow preventer is a check valve present in your home’s wastewater disposal system and works to keep the sewage water from backing up into the system. It is, therefore, the most important component of any home’s wastewater disposal system. If this backflow preventer somehow breaks down and become non-functional, you will experience serious backflow issues throughout your home. Plumbing emergencies like this demand quick action and immediate remedy, otherwise they can create some serious problems for the homeowners. Call an emergency plumber as soon as you notice backflow issues in your home to come and perform necessary replacement and/or repairs.
- Sewer Line Damage
There are times when the sewer line that connects your home’s wastewater system to the municipal system gets damaged due to one reason or another, this causes the sewage to start flowing back inside your home. The aftereffects of a damaged sewer line will first start to show up in your basement before it affects your toilet and sinks, therefore keep a close watch on the signs of a damaged sewer line in your basement, these signs include permanent leakage from basement drains and constant foul odor coming from your basement. In case your main sewer line gets damaged, the only option left is to call professional emergency plumbing agency to take care of the situation since it requires extensive work.
- Municipal Source
Sometimes it is not your plumbing system that is at fault, rather the root cause of the backflow lies with the city or local sanitation system. If the backflow in your plumbing system is caused by the backup of the city or local plumbing system, the responsibility to fix it lies with the utility company. However, instead of waiting for the utility company to come and fix the issue, you need to make sure to call your emergency plumber to manage the clean-up and prevent further damage to your plumbing system.
If you believe that you may need a sewer replacement or just want to know what to do when your drain overflows, we highly recommend that you call us at Dr. Pipe Drain and Plumbing Services.
Give us a call today: 613 791 5777 for a free upfront estimate!
