Our expert plumbers look for your plumbing problems where we know they might originate, and for drain issues and sewer gas smells, that can very well be up on your roof. That’s the difference between a specialized plumbing service that clears your drains and a plumbing service that diagnoses and repairs your plumbing with the experience and knowledge of a licensed professional plumber. At Craig’s Plumbing, serving Las Vegas, NV and the surrounding area since 1997, we not only can take care of problems like these, but since both drain backups and sewer gas are urgent plumbing problems, our 24-hour emergency plumbing service can get to work right away. Our team is prepared to diagnose and service plumbing throughout your home, including water heaters, sinks, showers, and toilets, dishwashers, and garbage disposals, and your whole-house plumbing and sewers, including the plumbing vent system.
More About Plumbers On Your Roof and Drain Problems
Your home’s plumbing vent system usually goes unnoticed, providing its essential functions without anyone giving it much thought. The vent pipe or other mechanism on the roof, however, is essential for your drain system to work properly. If it gets damaged or blocked, you’ll either hear drains and toilets gurgling if it’s a partial block, or you’ll see drain backups and smell foul smells if it’s a total block requiring plumbing service. Many things can block the vent, especially if it’s a pipe leading straight up, including material that’s been blown in on an especially windy day, or, most commonly, a creature such as a bird that is drawn to the warmth of the vent and blocked it in the process of making itself comfortable. Once that happens, when you flush the toilet or empty a sink drain, the wastewater going down the drain pipes creates a vacuum effect much like a siphon. Unfortunately, with no air to come in the other end of the siphon due to the blocked plumbing vent, the drain flow will slow and stop. You’ll have to call the plumbing service to avoid a messy backup or the dangers of sewer gas, and hopefully, you’re in time. Even more critical is the risk of a backup into the vent system, where it will leave waste after the water evaporates, and require a thorough cleaning of the vent pipes, which can be costly.
Wastewater Flows Downhill, So Don’t the Pipes Need a Tilt?
When you think of drains, you think of down, from the pipe under the sink to the drain pipes in the wall that carries wastewater to the next floor down and further on. What about the pipes that carry water from the sink and toilet over to the big vertical pipes going downstairs? That’s the thing, they need to have a slight tilt to be effective. It’s usually a given that they’re installed according to code and have the right amount of drain pipe slope, but even new construction can have pipes that were mistakenly installed level, which actually makes sense to people who like squared-off geometry, but not to experienced plumbers. Once or twice solving a drain clog problem that was the result of a level drain pipe, and they remember why the slope is specified.
The problem is that not everything flows downhill in a level pipe, just the stuff that was pushed down by more coming in. At some point, waste is going to sit in the pipe because there’s no more flow for the moment, and it can gather, over time creating a partial clog sticking to the side, and a full clog blocking your pipe flow. These pipes are deep in your walls or floors, so they’re not as likely to be suspects for drain clog clearing as a P-trap below your sink or a toilet that’s always getting clogged. Your plumbing service has the tools to quickly address these problems, once they’ve been identified.
After a while trying to clear the closer clogs, someone may figure out that you’ve got a problem in the walls, maybe use video to confirm and locate it, and finally get it cleared out. Experience pays off. If the technician or plumber realizes that you’ve been having frequent problems in that line, they may think about less common problems like level pipe clogs sooner. By the way, more slope is not actually helpful, either: the plumbing code specifies a maximum and minimum slope because too much tilt leaves even more stuff behind to clog since the faster-flowing water gets away without carrying much solid matter with it. Yes, plumbers learn a lot of specialized knowledge in their years of training.
What Goes Down Might Come Up
When you send something down the toilet or sink, it might not just go down, especially if your pipes are getting clogged. You’ve seen backup appear in your sink when you flush your toilet, or some similar effect, so imagine whatever you’re flushing down coming back up somewhere else. It could be embarrassing, but it could also create a real plumbing service disaster. For example, some people, in the process of repurposing a bathroom to a closet or for some other reason wanting to permanently close a drain, pour concrete down it. It makes some sense at first, since an open drain leaves many hazards, from things falling into wastewater and gases coming out. The trouble is, that concrete can flow up into another drain, one you’re using, blocking it also. Then it’s time for the plumbing service to come and clear the pipes of a pretty nasty concrete clog. Almost like cement, especially if you use the clumping kind, is kitty litter.
Your Plumbing Service That’s Ready for Unexpected Challenges in Las Vegas, NV
The advantage of reaching out to Craig’s Plumbing in Las Vegas, NV is we’ve seen so much in our decades of plumbing, so we’re ready to solve your plumbing challenge. Give us a call.
