Structural Damage – if your clog is not immediately addressed, the pipes can burst and cause other structural damage to your home.
Leaving a clog unattended can lead to increased pressure inside pipes, which can then crack or burst. This is a messy and often expensive problem that can cause significant damage to your plumbing and home.
High Pressure
Pressure. Excessive water pressure can cause stress on your plumbing leading to leaks and burst pipes. If you hear banging from your pipes (known as a water hammer) this is a sure sign of high water pressure. It may mean that the water pressure from your supplier to your house is too high.
Clogs can often cause the pressure in the pipes to fluctuate and sometimes exceed the range of pressure tolerance. This creates a flex in the line that can damage joints and cause leaks – sometimes several in different areas.
If you hear sounds from inside the walls, a burst pipe is possible. Water sounds, in particular, point to burst pipes. Drip sounds usually indicate a leak, but rushing water sounds are likely from a burst. Check faucets before you attribute the sounds to a burst pipe.
When it gets clogged, drains all over your home are unable to work — and you could even end up with water backing up out of your fixtures, leaky pipes and other problems. Yikes! If you find yourself with a main sewer line clog, there's not really any do-it-yourself way of fixing it.
Snake It Out: In the plumbing world, a “snake,” also sometimes called an “auger,” is a tool used to break up drain clogs. Snakes can include everything from disposable plastic tools to complicated metal devices. For toilet clogs specifically, we recommend the more professional kind, with a handle on the end.
When a toilet has a clog made of water-soluble materials, it has a chance of slowly dissolving in the water and freeing up the toilet to work properly again. So, clogs that are primarily made of toilet paper can clear themselves.
Generally speaking, you're usually responsible for drains inside the boundaries of your property, while the sewerage company is responsible for lateral drains, which are usually outside of property boundaries, and sewers. Although most sewers are now publicly owned, there are still some private or unadopted sewers.
Yes, one clogged toilet can affect another. When a toilet is clogged, it can cause the other toilets in the home to back up and overflow due to an increased pressure on the plumbing system. This occurs when water has nowhere else to go except out of the drain pipe and into other areas of your home.
For an easy clog, your plumber may get the job done in mere minutes. For a more stubborn or deep-seated clog, the process may take multiple hours.
For a blocked kitchen sink or any other drain in your house, it's best to contact a licensed plumber to ensure you don't waste your money on a collection of tools that ultimately end up a waste of time.
Popping Sounds
If you hear one or more loud “popping” sounds coming from a wall in the residence, this noise could indicate pipes bursting. When water freezes, it expands in size. Consequently, chunks of ice in a frozen plumbing system sometimes press against pipe, blocking the flow of water.
Gurgling. When your plumbing system is attempting to drain out excess water or waste it may emit a type of gurgling noise. This gurgling sound is similar to the noise you would hear while emptying a bottle of liquid. This gurgling or glugging sound can be a sign that you have a clogged pipe somewhere in your system.
If these pipes don't have insulation or heat to protect them, a strong overnight freeze can cause trouble. Homeowners in the south need to be alert to the damages of freezing and bursting water pipes when the outdoor tempera- ture threatens to drop to 20 degrees F.
If you can hear the squealing sound everywhere in your home, it could be an issue with water pressure. Buildup in the pipes narrows the space for the water, which can cause squealing as the water tries to squeeze through the pipes. Wear and tear on the plumbing system can also cause whistling or squeaking.
A collapsed drain is on the more severe end of the scale when it comes to drain damage, and requires immediate attention once it has been identified.
Since all the drainage connects to the main sewer line, when it collapses, it impacts every drain. If the water has nowhere to go, then multiple fixtures can clog or have backups.
One of the most common problems to occur in older drain systems are collapsed drains. Broken drain pipes can easily result in a collapsed drain. This is due to water being unable to flow freely, which in turn causes the drain to collapse as it becomes blocked or begins to overflow.