Sewer Backup Prevention Tips for Toronto Households.

Sewer backups in the drains is an unpleasant experience that almost all households have had to deal with at some point of time. Some people think this is inevitable with any sewage system. However, the fact is that you can prevent sewer backup in your domestic drainage system by taking timely measures.

Domestic waste from the households flow through your sewer lines to the larger, community sewer lines. This sewage ultimately flows to the city’s central treatment facility under gravity or pressure. A huge amount of waste from different households make its way to the central treatment plant on a daily basis. A blockage in your home’s sewer line leads to back up at the toilets and drains located at the lowest points in your home. This backflow continues until you have removed the blockage from the line.

Now you can probably understand that backup is caused by any material that should not be allowed to pass through a sewer line. The most common factors responsible for backups are kitchen grease coming from meat fats, butter, cooking oil, food scraps, sauces, dairy products, baking products, etc.

Therefore, the foremost task in order to prevent sewer back ups is to stop grease from entering your drainage system. This is why we advise our clients not to dispose any fat, oil, and grease into their drain or garbage disposal. Grease tends to accumulate slowly and negatively impacts the grinding potential of your garbage disposal. It also results in clogging of drains. Allow cooking oil, grease, and fat containing materials to cool and put them in a container that can be sealed. You can add adsorbents such as coffee grounds or cat litter to help them solidify. Put the sealed container in the garbage.  Other things that you can do to prevent sewer backups are

• Never put sanitary napkins, diapers, tissues, etc. in the toilet.
• Avoid planting trees near your sewage line because tree roots can also cause a clogged drain.
• Do not connect any sump pumps or airway drains to your sewer line.
• It is a great idea to have a plumbers test plug installed at the lowest point of your floor drain.
• Similarly, doing a backflow preventer testing at your lowest drain line.
• If possible, eliminate your lower level drains and modify your plumbing system to make sure that water is pumped to the drains at a higher level.

Since many years, we have helped Toronto residents take care of their residential plumbing issues including sewer backup. Through this blog, we share our expertise to make your life easier. Thank you very much for going through this post, and keep coming back for more useful discussions on residential or commercial plumbing.