We can sit here and tell you to have your pipelines inspected until the sun goes down, but that won’t make you understand your pipelines more fully. If you want to avoid disastrous sewer line breakage or water main leaks, you need the right information on your side — and the right team!
Gotelli Plumbing can provide the skills and knowledge to help you navigate the murky waters of pipeline assessment and repairs. From San Rafael sewer cleanouts to pipeline repairs, we offer you the best plumbing service in the area.
Why Should You Care About Pipelines?
The first thing to remember about pipelines is you could be held accountable for pipeline repairs, replacements and breakages on your property. When is the city responsible for water or sewer lines? Only once the lines run into public property (usually under the street). That means YOU have to know enough about your pipelines to take care of them and resolve any problems that arrive.
How Do Pipelines Work?
Water lines are driven by pressure and valves, so they aren’t difficult to understand. Sewer lines, on the other hand, are a rarely seen or dealt with system. The key to a properly operating sewer pipeline is the drain pipe slope.
Positive Slope
Imagine the material that is being funneled away from your home through a sewer drain pipe. It’s not pure liquid, we can agree on that. That means the pipe it travels through needs to be angled and straight to allow the materials to move at a downward slope. At the bottom of the slop, the sewer pipe connects with the city’s portion of the sewer that will take it away from your home. This is called a positive slope.
No Slope
If your sewer pipe is smooth inside but has been laid straight, you’ll have a problem. There is no slope to pull the sewage down the pipe. Blockages and backups are more likely to occur as the pipe can’t clear out frequently enough.
Belly or Sag
Sometimes, your positive slope pipeline will develop a lower area inside the pipe. This sag or belly that forms is the perfect place for material inside the pipe to collect and get stuck. Once a small accumulation occurs, more material will form around it, causing a clog or blockage that will need to be cleared professionally.
No Slope AND Belly/Sag
As you can imagine, a pipe with no slope would be difficult to push sewage through. If your pipe has no slope and a belly/sag, you’re in for some major problems. The collected material will be nearly impossible to move naturally because of the lack of slope in the pipe. You will likely experience frequent drainage problems or backups until the pipeline can be cleared out.
Let The Pros Handle Your Slope
We don’t expect you to know everything about your pipeline — that’s our job! However, if you notice recurring drainage problems and backups, you should consider a pipeline inspection as soon as possible. All pipeline problems are best dealt with in a timely manner, and there’s no time to waste. Especially when Gotelli Plumbing is just a call away!
