Blocked Sewer and Sewer Repairs in Wollongong

CS Plumbing & Drainage Services clears blocked sewers and repairs damaged sewer pipes for homes, rental properties, strata buildings and businesses across Wollongong and the Illawarra. We find the blockage with a CCTV drain camera, clear it with a hydro jetter or an electric eel, and repair or replace the section of sewer pipe that caused it. If sewage is coming up inside your home or into the yard, call 0416 101 022. We answer 24 hours a day and there is no call out fee.

Signs of a Blocked Sewer Pipe at Your Home

A blocked sewer usually shows up in more than one place at once. Sydney Water lists these signs of a wastewater blockage:

• Slow drains: sinks, the bath or the toilet empty slowly.
• Toilet problems: the toilet is not flushing properly or has overflowed.
• Gurgling: the toilet or a floor drain makes gurgling noises.
• Overflow outside: wastewater has overflowed from the drain or gully near your outside tap.

When several fixtures back up together, the blockage is usually in the main sewer line rather than in one sink or toilet. A blocked kitchen sink on its own is a different problem, and our blocked drains page covers those.

Is the Blocked Sewer in Your Pipes or Sydney Water’s?

If the overflow only happens when you use water on your property, the blockage is most likely in your own pipes. Sydney Water supplies wastewater services to the Illawarra, and its guidance says the blockage is probably in your private pipes if your neighbours are not having the same problem, your drainage is not shared with another property and there is no flooding in your area (Sydney Water).

The blockage is probably in Sydney Water’s pipes if the overflow is coming from a maintenance hole on public land, your neighbours have the same problem, there is widespread flooding, or wastewater keeps overflowing when nobody on your property is using water. In that case, call Sydney Water on 13 20 90, which takes calls 24 hours a day.

Property owners are responsible for the wastewater pipes on their property up to where they connect to the Sydney Water network. If you are not sure which side of that line the problem is on, we can put the camera down the sewer and show you.

What to Do If Sewage Overflows at Your Home

Stop using every tap, toilet, shower and appliance that drains water, including the dishwasher and washing machine. Every litre you use has to go somewhere, and with the sewer blocked it comes back up. If sewage is coming up through a floor drain, stay clear of it and keep children and pets away.

Sydney Water says that if an overflow or backed up wastewater happens only while you are using water on your property, you must get a licensed plumber’s assessment as soon as possible (Sydney Water report a fault). Call us on 0416 101 022 and tell us where the sewage is coming up. For other urgent plumbing, see our emergency plumber page.

How We Clear a Blocked Sewer Line

• We feed a CCTV drain camera into the sewer to find the blockage and check the condition of the pipe. You watch the footage with us, so you can see what is causing the blockage and where it is.
• To clear the line, we use a hydro jetter or an electric eel, depending on what the camera shows. The jetter uses high pressure water to clear tree roots, grease, wet wipes and silt, and it scours the pipe wall clean. The electric eel is a rotating cable that cuts through a blockage, which works well on roots in some pipes. We carry both.
• Once the sewer is flowing, we run the camera through again to check the pipe. If the pipe is sound, the blockage was the whole problem. If the camera shows cracks, open joints or a broken section, we explain the repair options before anything else is done.

Sewer Pipe Repairs for Cracked and Broken Sewer Lines

A sewer that blocks again and again in the same spot is usually damaged. Common causes in the Illawarra are tree roots getting into old clay pipes at the joints, pipes that have cracked or shifted with ground movement, and pipework that was poorly laid in the first place.

Once the camera has shown where the damage is, our pipe locator pinpoints the exact position and depth of that section from above ground, so we only dig where we need to. The repair options for a damaged sewer pipe are:

• Excavation and replacement: the damaged section is dug up and replaced with new pipe. This is the repair for a pipe that has collapsed or moved out of line. Our drain excavation and repairs page explains how we do it.
• Pipe relining: a liner is inserted into the old pipe and forms a new pipe inside it. Relining suits a pipe that still holds its shape, and it avoids digging up gardens, driveways and paving.
• A mix of both: one section is replaced and the rest of the line is relined.

If the damage is at the junction where your pipe joins the Sydney Water sewer, Sydney Water’s rules for licensed plumbers apply. Sydney Water owns the junction, the owner is responsible for the connection to it, and a plumber must not excavate at the junction until Sydney Water has given its approval (Sydney Water responsibility for repairs). We explain what that means for your property before any digging is planned.

Common Causes of Blocked Sewers in Wollongong Homes

Wet wipes: Sydney Water says non-flushable wet wipes contribute to 75% of wastewater blockages. Wipes sold as flushable do not break down like toilet paper, and they catch on any rough spot inside the pipe. Only toilet paper and human waste should go down the toilet.

Tree roots: fig trees, eucalypts and Norfolk pines are common across Wollongong’s older suburbs, and their roots look for water at the joints of clay sewer pipes. Once they are inside the pipe, they grow quickly and catch everything that passes. Sydney Water advises against planting trees within 6 metres of wastewater pipes. Our article on why tree roots keep coming back in Wollongong drains explains the problem in more detail.

Grease and fat: cooking fat poured down the sink coats the pipe walls and narrows the pipe over time until the flow stops.

Sewer Service Diagrams and Licensed Sewer Work in NSW

A sewer service diagram shows the private wastewater pipes on a property, and plumbers use it to clear blockages and work on the pipes (Sydney Water). You can order a copy through Sydney Water Tap in or a Property Link broker. If you have one, have it ready when we arrive, because it shows where the sewer line runs.

Sewer work in NSW must be done by a licensed person. The NSW Government says you need a licence or certificate for any plumbing, draining or gasfitting work, whatever the cost, and it defines draining to include the repair, renewal, maintenance, flushing and cleansing of any sanitary drain (Building Commission NSW). You can check a licence with Building Commission NSW on 13 27 00. Our NSW contractor licence number is 39901C.

How to Book a Sewer Plumber in Wollongong

Call us on 0416 101 022 or send an enquiry through our contact page. Tell us which fixtures are slow or overflowing, whether sewage has come up anywhere, and where the property is.

When we arrive, we inspect the sewer with the camera, show you what is causing the blockage and give you a price before any work starts. There is no call out fee. Owner Sandro Contarin has been a licensed plumber since 1992, and we clear and repair sewers across Wollongong, Dapto, Shellharbour, Albion Park, Kiama and the wider Illawarra, 24 hours a day.

$0 Call Out Fee | Contractor Licence 39901C | Available 24/7