Vlog

• Ever asked a plumber to remove tree roots from your blocked drains without digging up your property or lifting up pavers?
• If others can’t we can. We’ve got all the gear and every idea! 
• Plumbdog specialise in blocked drains and drain repairs
• Check out more of our VLOGs & don’t forget to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel

In today’s video, our Plumbdog Richard is at a property in Bibra Lake, Western Australia. Today’s client is facing two issues, both related to water blockage. The first issue is with the toilet system as it is not flushing anymore. When Richard tries to flush it, the water fills up to a pretty high level but drains very slowly. The other issue that the client is facing is with the laundry, as one can hear strange glugging noises which is also a cause of concern.

Inspecting Blocked Drains

After it’s clear that the drains are blocked. Richard comes at the property’s backside and points towards a pipe behind him, which is the vent from where the air enters inside the drain. The function of the drain is to flush out the water and allow the air to come inside. We can hear the glugging sounds because there’s a blockage around the vent which Richard suspects are the tree roots that are growing inside the drain. These blockages tend to be present in the space around the toilet, the vent, and also the laundry.

The fact that the toilet present on the front side of the house is working just fine is that the tree is causing a problem in this side of the house, and they need to be cleaned out to get the toilet few flowing and get rid of that googling sound. One way to clean these drains is by digging this end of the house and clean the drains, but the customer is not very keen on letting us dig because they have laid the tiles only recently.

The good part is that the customer knows about the inspection shaft present in the driveway. Using this inspection shaft, we can put the CCTV equipment down the pipes and find our way around the property to figure out the blockage issue and clean it by using the jet combined. Richard now puts in the CCTV 30 meters upstream, finding the way through all the various bends and figures out the tree roots that have been causing the blockage in the drains. He needs to be very careful as the path is very tricky, and putting pressure on the wrong side can cause hefty damage.

Using CCTV & High Pressure Water jetter

Through the CCTV, we can see the clogging due to the tree roots on the pipe’s dry end. As the CCTV moves forward, the movement becomes restricted as it gets very thin. The roots are thick enough, not even to let the water pass through, and that’s the reason for the drainage issue. Richard now uses his jetaxe nozzle to clean the blockage and annihilates the roots from the pipes. After getting done with the process, he goes and flushes the toilet to see the results and finds out that the procedure has been a success, and the flush is working just fine. The nozzle that he used is adequate to get rid of 100 percent roots causing the blockage.So in case you are facing any blockage issue at your place, then wait no more and give us a whistle. Our plumdog will reach your place and help you get rid of all the drain blockages completely.

If you like the video, let us know in the comment section below, and do not forget to subscribe and press the bell icon to get notified every time we upload a new video.

• If you’ve been following us for a while now you may have seen some of the interesting things we’ve found using our specialised CCTV equipment.
• Richard shares one of his funny CCTV stories.
• Fixing Blocked Drains and Sniffing out the problem all in one go is what we do best. 

Blocked Drains Caused This Basement to Get Flooded

A client from Claremont calls for help as their basement got flooded, squishy wet carpet and all.  Richard headed there and inspected the place. He found out that there were issues with the stormwater drain pipes. The property is around 50 years old and tree roots had already made their way in and became the reason for the clogging. As much as we want to be able to finish work in a day or as fast as possible, there are instances such as this that a few visits are needed to make sure we give quality work. The property is a 4-unit apartment and Richard had to do multiple visits and was able to clear a massive amount of tree roots in the different areas and pipes.

A Final Sneak Peak

As a final inspection Richard used one of our state-of-the-art gadgets, a CCTV drain camera, in all the hopper pipes and make sure that all are free flowing from top down to the ground.  One by one he inspects each apartment pipe and on the last top apartment he encounters an obstruction.  Making his way through the maze of pipes at first, he thought it was a tennis ball. To get a clearer view he used a hosepipe and flushed it with water and what a surprise he found!

Funny Surprise!

After thinking that it was some kind of a ball, it seemed to be the bottom part of a water bottle. He had to make sure of his hunch, armed with a lot of patience and his gadgets he tracked it through the network of pipes. He followed the bathroom pipes down to the walls and ceiling and it led him to one of the lower unit’s laundry area.  When he was able to pin-point where the obstruction is, he cut the pipe near the 90-degree PVC bend and VOILA, stuck upside down a plastic water bottle. How did it get there, no one knows? It’s just one of the funny days in our line of work. You will never know what to expect what comes out of those drain pipes!

When you have problems like flooding in your property always call professionals to solve the problem. Our licensed plumbers can resolve your plumbing issues quickly and efficiently as we are armed with years of experience.  We also make sure that they are fully equipped with state-of-the-art tools for accurate troubleshooting. That’s why we say we have all the gear and every idea!

• A tell tale sign that a hot water system is due for service is when the hot water isn’t as warm as it usually is.
• Most people leave their hot water systems until they notice a decline in performance but did you know that manufacturers recommend servicing on a regular basis?
• Plumbdog are genuine maintenance plumbing specialists. We help our customers save money in the long run by performing service and maintenance to prolong the life of hot water systems rather than simply recommending replacing anytime there is a performance issue.
• Check out more of our VLOGs & don’t forget to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

Hot Water System Not Working Properly?

Our top dog Darius is out to do a minor service on a Bosch 10P. The system isn’t quite as warm as it used to be. Many would simply think that it’s been quite a few years and like any appliance, it’s almost time for a new one but you would be amazed that even a minor hot water service could breathe some new life into the hot water system.

The Bosch 10P is one of the common and popular hot water systems used in Perth and we have all the gear and every idea to repair and maintain these or if the need arises, we can replace them too like for like or with another new hot water system.

BOSCH 10P – How To Light the Pilot Light

If you’re trying to work out how to light your Bosch 10p, Darius shows us at 4:34 how to get the pilot light started. You can watch on this video or watch it in Youtube here which will take you right to the spot.

Manufacturers Recommend Regular Servicing

As Darius mentions in the video, the manufacturers of hot water systems do recommend regular servicing. Even if it’s not replacing a heap of parts, natural wear and tear will occur so checking under the hood can save on performance issues and can also improve the life of your system.

A seasoned plumber can easily tell whether the hot water unit has been recently serviced. Check out the video where Darius shows us what takes place in a minor service and shows us how even a minor service can bring life back to this Bosch 10P. Imagine if a hot water installer was contacted rather than a seasoned maintenance plumbing specialist, the customer could have been simply been recommended a new system which would have cost a pretty penny.

Give us a whistle! and a Like and Thumbs Up!

If you’re in Perth and need a local Perth plumber, then give us a whistle! We’re happy to help and don’t forget to like and share our videos if you find them useful or entertaining! You can also hit the subscribe button and the bell to get notified.

• Fowler Toilets have been around for many years and on the rare occasion we get to see some great antiques still in action.
• If you have one of these systems, this video will show you how to remove the lid to check inside the cistern. It’s not hard but there’s a little trick to it.
• Old or New, Plumbdog have All The Gear and Every Idea! We’re your Perth Plumber!

Old Antique Toilet Cisterns

Our plumbing concern for this video is going to take us back in time, as Darius shows how to service an old-style cistern.  He arrives at the property to service a leaking toilet suite. He will fix an old-style Fowler suite; these types of style came out around the 1970s to the 80s. As you can imagine this is pretty much rare to see these days, so this is indeed a treat!

How To Open Fowler Toilet Cistern From 70’s/80’s

Cisterns nowadays are easy to open for any troubleshooting.  We just remove the lid because there’s no lock or any mechanism that you need to fiddle with. This type of cistern is a little tricky because the lid is secured to the base.  If you are not experienced or an expert, you’ll be stumped and stuck on how to remove it.

This antique cistern has a dual flusher that you can pull up or push down where these days we have either buttons or lever. Watch the video where Darius shows us how to unscrew the bottom ring part of the flusher as we would normally do.  After doing that we may think that this will free the lid, but it will still not budge.  He continuous to loosen the middle part of the flusher and remove the top button, there you will see two-part pieces of the flusher. Now we have the cistern lid open and ready for inspection.

Rare Toilet = Rare Parts

Darius removes the mechanism by twisting it a little to free it from the cistern. Upon close inspection, the washer needs to be replaced. It is all worn out, so he unclips the ring and removes the old one.  Since Fowler has been bought out by Caroma it is seldom that we can find any service parts for the old toilet models. Being an expert plumber from his experience along with having fully stocked vans, he found the best possible match to replace the washer. He also highlighted the importance of putting the washer in the proper position, that is the ridge to be upside down so it can push the washer around on the ring for a tight fit. He also shows the sump and that it needs to be thoroughly cleaned.  If there’s still bits and pieces from the old washer, we may end up with a leak again. He installs the mechanism back, closed the lid and tests the cistern to make sure everything is good to go.

Not just another job done but a “Job Well Done” for our plumbing expert Darius!  This is Plumdog’s promise to all our clients.