Blocked drain or overflowing manhole: jetting, suction or both?

Most blockages build up slowly. Cooking fat goes down the kitchen sink as a warm liquid, cools in the pipe and sets on the walls. Sand blows into yard gullies and washes into the lines. Wet wipes, sanitary products and rags don't break down like toilet paper, so they catch on the fat and sand until the pipe closes.

Less often the pipe itself is the problem: tree roots growing in through a joint, or a pipe that has sagged or cracked so that waste settles in the low spot. A blockage that keeps coming back in the same place often points to one of these.

Start by working out how far the problem goes. If one sink, shower or toilet is slow and everything else in the building is fine, the blockage is close to that fixture, and it may be something you can clear yourself.

If several drains are slow at once, if water comes up in a shower when the toilet is flushed, or if the lowest floor drain is backing up, the blockage is further down, in the main line, at the manhole or at the septic tank or grease trap the line runs into. That is not a job for a plunger.

For a single slow drain, try a plunger first, with a little water in the basin or bowl so it seals. In a shower, lift the grate and pull out the hair and soap caught under it. In a kitchen sink, run hot tap water with washing-up liquid to loosen fresh grease. On a yard gully, clear any sand or leaves from the grating.

Know when to stop. Don't mix drain chemicals, and don't keep pouring them into a drain that isn't moving: they can damage the pipes and splash back on you. Never lift a manhole cover to look inside. Manholes and septic tanks can hold harmful gases, and nobody should go into one or lean over an open cover. If the plunger hasn't worked, or more than one drain is affected, call a professional.

Jetting and suction do different jobs. Drain jetting sends water at high pressure through the pipe from the nearest manhole. It breaks up the grease and sand and scours the pipe walls, so the line is clean, not just poked through. Suction lifts liquid and sludge out of a manhole, a septic tank or a grease trap into the truck's tank.

A blocked line on its own needs jetting. A full septic tank needs suction, which is our sewage and septic tank cleaning service. A full grease trap needs suction, and often jetting of the pipe after it, as part of grease trap cleaning. An overflowing manhole almost always needs both: the standing sewage is sucked out first, the line is jetted, and the debris that comes loose is sucked out at the manhole so it can't settle further down. Our Super Combi carries both, so it happens in one visit.

Keep everyone, especially children, away from the overflow, and don't try to lift or move the cover. Stop using the sinks, showers, toilets and washing machines on that line, because every drop you send down ends up at the manhole.

Then call or WhatsApp us with your location and a photo if you can. We work 24/7, including Fridays and nights, and we arrive in 3 to 4 hours within Doha.