TERMINOLOGY: WHAT IS A 'NORMAL BLOCKAGE'

[Phil]

I am hoping someone can assist me. I have rented out our family home as my husband has become quite ill and we have had to move closer to my family for help, the plumbing in the home is under 19 months old (we bought the property just after it was renovated from the developer) and I believe the pipes are mostly plastic.

The tenant complained to our agent that the drains were blocked (kitchen and toilet) and a plumber was sent out – he couldnt clear the drains and referred the job to a plumber with a high pressure system to flush it out. I spoke with the first plumber to find out what caused the problem, he advised me that when he looked at the job there were a number of baby wipes overflowing in the gully trap; I asked in his opinion would this cause a blockage and he said it could attribute to a blockage but the second plumber would know more; however the second plumber has advised me in writing …”that is is a normal blockage …baby wipes should not cause a drain to block at all, the drain is 100mm in diametre.”

What is a normal blockage? There are no trees as they were all removed. Is it possible that there would be a fault in the plastic pipes? My 83 year old father is a plumber and he believes it would have been caused by the baby wipes but now I am confused? Any help would be appreciated.

thanks

Ava

[TheLocalPlumberParticipant]

Rule # 1 , keep the baby wipes out of the sewer.

[nicktheplumberParticipant]

TheLocalPlumber wrote:

Rule # 1 , keep the baby wipes out of the sewer.

The plumbing codes specify the diameter and slope of drainage pipes so that the DWV system can handle “normally expected” drainage loads. If your system meets these diameter and slope requirements you are doing all that you need to do. If not, you need to bring your drainage system up to the code requirements.

That being said, dumping a bunch of baby wipes or whatever else into the drainage lines goes beyond the normal expected drainage load of the system. If there is a question of who’s at fault here, if your system meets the code requirements and your tenants are clogging the system with stuff they shouldn’t be dumping into it, they are at fault.

NTP

[Author]

Posts