Friday, June 28, 2013

Drain-o

I spent Thursday morning doing what's become an annual chore: cleaning the drains. All the "gray" waste water from our house drains down into a settling reservoir in the utility room where it then exits the house into the sewer system. You may recall that the sewer line in our neighborhood is pretty new, having been put in in 2006. Before that, our gray water drained into the vineyard and eventually to the river. Yuck.

Curly vine tendrils making their way around a leaf.

The concrete pipes that run through the slab our house sits on can accumulate gunk and deposits from our relatively hard water and blockages form slowly. So, once a year, I snake them out to keep them running. We had recently noticed a smell in the utility room and when I removed the cover of one of the access points, sure enough, there was yucky water accumulating.

I got the power washer out along with the drain-snake attachment and went to work clearing the blockage and cleaning the drain system. Now it's running normally again. By the way, human waste does not go through this system; the toilet has a pipe that runs directly into the sewer line separately. I don't have to mess with that.

7 comments:

  1. It's very satisfying to get the dreaded dirty jobs done........but I'm glad you didn't post a photo!

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  2. Whew! Glad to know that the human waste is a separate issue :)
    I think I remember you posting about this another year-- it was quite an accumulation of junk that you had to clean out.

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  3. Sometimes I like to read your post just because it makes me feel so good that I don't have to do all that stuff.

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  4. I remember the photo from last year showing the equipment set out around the exit hole. Ugh.
    Thank goodness, that's never been a chore in any of the houses I've lived in.

    I'm with Judy: glad there was photo of the tendrils, today! Even if it could have been a worm!

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  5. Baking soda followed by white vinegar, then flushed about 10 minutes later with warm water, every couple of weeks helps keep drains clear. And no nasty chemicals.

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  6. I made nice responsive comments to each of you, then I hit the wrong button and POOF! My comments disappeared. Sorry about that. But thanks for your comments, just the same.

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