The sewer system is clogged in an apartment building, what to do?

A clogged drain in an apartment building.

Any modern residential apartment complex must be equipped with a drainage system, including piping, risers, wells, septic tanks, and treatment facilities. In other words, all wastewater is discharged into the sewer system, the efficiency and quality of which is determined by the approach to its operation by all residents of the building. A clogged sewer in an apartment building can be an unpleasant surprise, leading to flooding and a lot of consequences, so everyone should know the procedure and methods for eliminating such a problem.

Causes of clogging and their consequences

By understanding the reasons, you can always prevent their occurrence. The most common and constant of them are:

Wear of existing communications or initially incorrectly selected pipe diameter.
Violation of laying technology. In horizontal sections, the slope must be strictly observed, accepted at 2 cm per meter of pipeline.
Incorrect installation of the toilet. During installation, you need to use the solution rationally and ensure that it does not narrow the diameter of the drain passage.
The drainage system is not sealed. All sewers are designed as self-cleaning. If a large object gets into the pipe and gets stuck in a horizontal section, the water pressure increases. Due to this, the garbage will fly out, acting as a ruff that sweeps away all other contaminants in its path.
Overgrowing of the risers and water supply of the house with deposits over a long period of operation. Over time, roughness and irregularities appear on the walls of the pipes, to which hair, pieces of paper, pieces of cotton wool, and small debris cling, gradually filling the entire passage. Grease from dishwashers and kitchen sinks first accumulates, and then hardens, crystallizes and forms entire growths.

And of course, the main cause of blockage is the negligent attitude of the residents themselves. The drainage system is the pipes through which wastewater flows from apartments to the basement or cellar, then into sewer chambers and along large-diameter highways, covering the distance to treatment facilities. Many careless users constantly use the sewer system as a garbage chute, throwing rags, clothes, household waste, and personal hygiene products through the toilet, washbasin or bathtub. Debris gradually accumulates at turns, in wells, reduces the performance of the system, contaminates the chambers and, ultimately, leads to blockage.

It is important to note! Blockages can be minor, which special services can temporarily remove in a relatively short period of time. But there are also large-scale ones, in which case the drains first flood the basements, and from the flooded lower room, then flow out, filling the courtyards. In this case, the main victims are usually the residents of the first floors.

A sewer pipe can also become clogged inside the house, then water will go up the risers and begin to flow out through the bathtub, toilet, and washbasins. Removing such a blockage will take a lot of time, and during this time the drains will fill the entire apartment with an unpleasant odor, ruin the furniture and decoration, and may lead to the need for major repairs.

Types of sewer blockages

Important! Before you begin to eliminate a sewer pipe failure in an apartment building, you should understand what types of blockages there are:

operational. Appear as a result of long-term operation of the sewer system. The causes of clogging are the accumulation of microscopic particles on the walls of the pipe. A sign is the slow flow of wastewater from the toilet, bathroom, kitchen into the sewer pipe;
mechanical. They appear as a result of foreign objects entering the sewer pipe. They create an obstacle to the movement of wastewater through the drainage system. Elimination is possible by dismantling the old pipe and installing a new one;
technological. The first is violations during construction. Pipes of smaller diameter than necessary were installed. The second is the wear and tear of sewer pipes;
siphon. The sewer system is equipped in such a way that there is always water in the siphons, which prevents odors from the system from entering the home. For various reasons, these elements of the sewer system become clogged and stop passing wastewater. Cleaning or replacing the siphon will clear the clogged sewer pipe.

Thus, having established the cause of a sewer blockage in an apartment building, you can begin to eliminate the emergency situation.

Attention! Our qualified lawyers will assist you free of charge and around the clock on any issues. Find out more here.

Cleaning methods

When your drain becomes clogged, you should call utility services immediately. Among them there are private, paid ones, which guarantee a high speed of solving the problem. If the blockage is small, you can remove it yourself using several methods:

Hydrodynamic cleaning is one of the most effective, in which deposits are washed away with high pressure of water. For this purpose, special units are used that create pressure up to 200 bar. This installation is capable of removing even old fat layers, firmly stuck debris, scale and dirt.
Mechanical cleaning - the use of various tools to remove blockages, such as steel wire, cable, spirals.
Pneumatic cleaning is a blow of compressed air at high speed, as a result of which the garbage plug is torn into small particles and washed out of the sewer.
Chemical cleaning is carried out by using various chemicals to break down dirt. You can do it at home by pouring or pouring the product into the clogged pipe.
You can prepare cleaning products yourself from available ingredients. These can be saline, soda solutions, citric acid, Coca-Cola and more. In serious cases, when wastewater is gushing out of the toilet or washbasin at exorbitant rates, they may turn out to be ineffective, but they will cope with minor contaminants.

Where to go and who is to blame

Who to call and where to go in an emergency when the sewer is clogged and there is a threat of flooding:

If there is a blockage in the toilet, a pipe has burst, the riser is clogged, the first floors or basement are flooding, you need to call the fitters of the Housing Office or the management company.
Sewage wells are under the attention of the water utility. He must also service the yard sewerage system.
Emergency services are called in emergency situations when water floods several floors at once in a continuous stream.
The telephone number of dispatch and emergency services that carry out repairs and control of sewage systems must be listed in receipts for payment of utility services.

It is important to know! Before the workers of the above services arrive, you need to try to fix the problem yourself, warn other residents about the danger, and, if necessary, turn off the water in the riser.

If the sewage system becomes clogged and clogged constantly, the reason for this is the negligent attitude of the services that do not carry out preventive maintenance and cleaning in a timely manner. Finding the culprits and investigating what caused the clogged sewer can take a lot of time.

In the event of a serious blockage of the sewer system, resulting in flooding and significant damage to property, it is necessary to call representatives of the management company, repairmen, and plumbers, eliminate the contamination and record the consequences. You can remove small blockages yourself by purchasing chemicals at the store or preparing solutions at home. It should be remembered that timely preventive measures, monitoring the operation of the sewerage system and proper handling will prevent breakdowns and eliminate negative consequences.

The sewer in the basement is constantly clogged.

Its specialists must service the yard drainage system.

There are also emergency services. You can turn to them when you manage to clog your neighbor’s pipe and he floods several apartments. Such services respond to calls in case of emergency.
Telephone numbers of dispatch services that carry out sewer repairs and cleaning must be on receipts for utility bills.

ATTENTION! If in an emergency it is difficult to find the dispatcher’s phone number, you can dial the hotline number operating under the city administration or the rescue service. There you should provide the contact information you are interested in. Before the arrival of the masters, you should also follow a certain algorithm. If liquid appears on the ground floor from sewer pipes or in the apartments above, in the basement, it is advisable to warn other residents and turn off the water for a while.

Signs of clogged sewer pipes

The first sign of a clogged sewer pipe is the slow flow of water into the system. If you drain clean water and the situation does not change, this is a sure sign that it is necessary to take measures to clean the sewer.

The second sign is the spread of an unpleasant odor throughout the house. If you do not attach importance to this circumstance, you will soon be unable to do without calling the emergency housing and communal services service or the management company.

Does the housing office have the right to turn off water?

Read how to file a complaint with Rospotrebnadzor against the management company here.

What to do if you are flooded by your neighbors, read the link:

Clogged sewer in an apartment building: who is to blame, what to do and where to call

Some people break a pipe in the basement. As a result, all the dirt and feces end up there, and the smell will reach not only those living on the first floor, but also other residents of the house. In summer, such fumes pose a danger to human health. What causes a clogged basement drain? Who should be blamed for this situation? We can safely answer that all residents who carelessly treat the sewer system, throwing various large amounts of garbage into it, are involved.

Sometimes such things end up in the sewer that it’s hard to even believe. For example, they once found children's toys, rags, watermelon rinds, chicken bones, feminine pads, and plastic bags. It has been observed that blockages occur 50% more often in summer than in winter.

This is due to the appearance of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The sewer is clogged: what to do?

If an emergency occurs, be sure to turn off the water and notify other residents that it is impossible to use the water supply and sewerage for some time until the problem is eliminated.

The most important thing is not to panic, but to calmly and rationally take steps to eliminate it. In order to avoid accidents in the house, residents must follow the rules for using sewer systems, and housing and communal services must maintain the system in working order.

Sewer leak in the basement

For residents of the house, it is important that the toilet works properly and that water drains quickly and without leaks from the bathtub or washing machine. If the riser or pipe in the apartment is clogged, the first signs of a problem will quickly appear.

Residents of the house will feel an unpleasant, pungent odor in the toilet area. This will indicate problems with the patency of the riser.
The fact that the toilet is clogged or the hydraulic valve is not working properly will be indicated by the cloudy water remaining in the toilet after flushing.
There may be an air lock or a buildup of fecal sediment inside the drain pipe connected to the toilet.

In this case, the water from the tank will flow into the drain very slowly.

ATTENTION! When a drain is clogged, you cannot expect the blockage to go away on its own. The accumulations in the pipe will only increase, which will ultimately lead to flooding of your apartment and the premises underneath it.

How to assess damage from flooding in an apartment?

You need to involve an expert who specializes in assessing damage after floods and fires, as well as housing assessments and housing inspections.

Such a specialist has the necessary qualifications and must have a diploma, a license to conduct appraisals, and such an expert must also be on the register of appraisers. Check everything differently, if he does not have documents, then the court will not accept such an examination.

The appraiser will set a date for the inspection, also invite a representative of the management organization to the date of the inspection by telegram 3 days before the inspection, this is a mandatory condition, neglect of which may have a bad effect on the results of your examination in court, it may be challenged, and this is the appointment of a forensic examination which is very expensive worth it and the costs may fall on you.

The most important thing is to notify the management organization by telegram with a notification. As a result, you should have in your hands a notification that the telegram has been delivered to the addressee, a receipt for payment for the telegram and a copy of the telegram. You notified the defendant, and whether he comes or not is his business.

On the appointed day, the expert will arrive at your apartment and draw up a report that will include all repair damage and damaged items, furniture, appliances, etc. The expert will definitely take photographs of everything, you will sign the report and then the expert will go to prepare a conclusion, the so-called report, which will contain the total amount that will be needed to bring your apartment to the condition it was in before the flood, as well as the cost of all damaged things.

Next, this examination is transferred to you in paper and electronic form and you can already begin actions to recover the amount of damage from the management organization.

It will not be possible to go to court right away; the pre-trial procedure for resolving the dispute, the so-called claim procedure, must be followed; it consists of sending a claim to the management organization with a demand for compensation for damage and a copy of the examination is attached to the claim to justify the amount of damage you require.

You can submit the claim in person to the management organization; your copy must be marked with acceptance and the date; keep your copy with the marks.

Or you can send your claim to the management organization by registered mail with a list of attachments and acknowledgment of receipt. We also attach a copy of the report to the claim and indicate in the inventory that the envelope contains the claim and the report. Later, you will receive a notification in the mail that the claim has been served on the management company.

If within 10 days from the receipt of your claim you have not been contacted and offered a solution to the problem, then you have the right to sue the management organization and recover from it the amount of damage in court, as well as a fine of 50% of the amount that the court will award in your favor, as well as a penalty for all days of delay in fulfilling your demand.

You can draw up a statement of claim yourself, attach to it all copies of statements and claims that you sent to the management organization, attach all checks confirming the sending of telegrams and mail, attach notifications and inventory, attach all checks confirming the costs of preparing for the case, attach a copy of the examination , an act drawn up by the management organization and other evidence of the fact of damage, including photos and video materials.

Of course, your chances of winning are very good, but if you do not understand the legal intricacies of the issue, then it is best to seek help from a lawyer, of course this is not free, but the lawyer has experience in handling cases in court and will help you avoid mistakes that could affect for the total amount of damage, besides, you will not need to appear in court, a lawyer will do everything for you.

I hope the article was useful to you and you learned a lot of useful things for yourself, and I wish you good luck!

Sewer blockage: causes, emergency measures, maintenance

The work is carried out in several stages. First, all drain holes in the apartment are closed. Then a plunger is inserted into the toilet drain, with the suction cup facing down. The next step is to fill the toilet with water (up to 5 liters). Then you need to push the plunger up and down, also performing rotational movements with the handle. ATTENTION! Before cleaning procedures, it is recommended to pour up to 5 liters of hot water into the toilet hole; it will soften the paper and food waste that clog the pipe. The cleaning rules are not complicated; it is only important to carry out the process on time, without bringing the situation to a critical point. Mechanical cleaning is an effective method, as is chemical cleaning. Plumbing service experts recommend pouring a quality cleaning product into the toilet every few months. In this case, problems with the sewerage system will occur very rarely.

Blockage in the riser

Too frequent use of cleaning agents, detergents and chemicals, which can not only corrode the surfaces of pipes, but also form deposits of a specific composition. The list of detergents considered to be the cause of blockages mainly includes concentrated dishwashing detergents and washing powders, which contain a large amount of surfactants or surfactants. A clog in the toilet bowl can be cleared in two ways: removing the toilet bowl and clearing it through the toilet bowl drain with a plumbing cable.

I used to be a supporter of removing the toilet, since cleaning with a plumbing cable can ruin the enamel of the toilet and removing the toilet guarantees 100% removal of the blockage. Now I try to try to clean the toilet without removing it, if it is not connected to the sewer using a corrugation (it can be easily pierced with a plumbing cable). This always happens.

But! Only if the system is assembled hermetically. And if not?

What if there is a leak at the connection or a hole is punched? In this case, the water will not rise above the blockage; it will all flow out through the leaks. But solid waste will remain, accumulate in the pipe, and after it fills it, for example, in just a meter-long section, the sewer system itself will no longer be able to push through such a blockage, even if the leaks are eliminated by that time. In such cases, professional cleaning of the sewer riser helps, which returns the lost functionality to the system. Residents of apartment buildings, owners of private cottages or two-story dachas, and managers of large enterprises can turn to specialists for help.

In all such residential and industrial buildings, sewer systems imply the presence of many plumbing fixtures connected by pipes.

Topic: regular flooding of the basement with sewerage.

It is YOU who have no interest in this. YOU can only be interested in one thing: that services are provided to YOU with high quality, in this particular case, so that the basement does not flood. HOW exactly the Contractor will do this is not of interest to YOU at all. Will he agree with the “utility systems”, or the entire composition of the management organization, headed by the general director, will quickly begin to scoop up crap from the basement - you don’t care... You still read the article. 401 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation - there will be less unnecessary worries. Message from consumer+ The management company states that the maximum “good” that can be done for us, in the event of a clogged yard sewer, is to drain the sewer into the basement so that the first floor apartments do not flood. HOW exactly does it state? If the UO declares such nonsense in writing, then they will get themselves another fine - already under Art. 14.8 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. This is in addition to the fine under Art. 7.22 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

The sewage system in your apartment is constantly clogged, are you tired of it?

10/09/2011 22:52 #4 Alexander Georgievich, Alexander An, thank you for the answers. Please specify what actions the “management company” should take if the yard sewerage system is clogged. They should solve this problem with “utility systems” by filing claims, contacting housing inspectorate, or, as a last resort, to court (after all, there have been 11 blockages since the beginning of the year)? The management company claims that the maximum “good” that can be done for us, in the event of a clogged yard sewer, is to drain the sewer into the basement so that the first apartments do not flood floors. The problem of drainage is divided into two parts: the area of responsibility of the management company (within the building), and then the area of responsibility of the “utility systems”? Reply with quotation
10.10.2011 00:52 #5 Message from the consumer + what actions should the “management company” take if the yard sewer is clogged.

of the Rules Management organizations and persons providing services and performing work in the direct management of an apartment building are responsible to the owners of the premises for violation of their obligations and are responsible for the proper maintenance of common property in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the contract; - in accordance with clause 4.1.15 Decree of the State Construction Committee of the Russian Federation dated September 27, 2003 N 170 “On approval of the Rules and Standards for the Technical Operation of Housing Stock” Flooding of basements and technical subfloors due to malfunctions and leaks from engineering equipment is not allowed. At that time, the basement was not flooded, but the soil was saturated with dampness, there was a vile smell, and in places the sandy floor was covered in areas of up to several square meters with a thick layer of swarming worms. However, we need to work. At that time, we were no longer beginners—the quality of the plumbing fixtures installed by our craftsmen significantly exceeded the national average. However, we certainly didn’t have the kind of experience we have now; we also didn’t really delve into theory - we tried to do the job a little better than others, and that suited us (as well as our clients) quite well. After a few days, the basement was unrecognizable - everything was clean and tidy, the unpleasant smell had disappeared, new communications had been laid. And just as we finished re-routing the sewer, another emergency blockage occurred (later it turned out that one of the residents had stuffed a hefty plastic bag into the toilet, and it’s more than likely that this was done on purpose).

How to present your demands?

First of all, you need to notify the emergency service about the fact of an emergency and the provision of services of inadequate quality. Call the emergency dispatch service and report the accident. According to paragraph 106 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 06.05.2011 N 354, the consumer must inform the emergency service about the fact of a violation of the quality of the utility service, while the dispatcher is obliged to register your appeal in the log, tell him the reason for the appeal, your address and full name, as well ask under what number your request was registered and specify the name of the dispatcher, write down this data, indicate the date and be sure to save it, they may be useful to you.

Next, we record everything on a photo and video camera, all the damage, the very cause of the damage, we invite witnesses, neighbors from the lower floor so that they can see the reason, we do not remove anything, and then you need to write an application to your management organization, with a requirement to draw up certificate of damage caused by poor-quality utility services.

Write an application in 2 copies, come to your management organization and give both copies to the employee receiving incoming requests so that he can familiarize himself with them. Your copy must be marked with the incoming number, the date of acceptance, or another mark of acceptance and the signature of the receiving person, a seal is required since the Criminal Code is a legal entity. Pick up your copy and save it.

Such a statement is written in free form, the header indicates to whom and from whom, indicate your telephone number for contact, describe the situation below and invite a representative of the management organization to draw up a report on the damage caused, put a date and signature on both copies.

Based on subparagraph “K”, paragraph 31 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated May 6, 2011 N 354, the management organization is obliged to keep records of applications, complaints and other claims from consumers regarding the quality of utility services. The management organization is obliged, within 3 days from the date of receipt of the complaint, to respond to the consumer and inform about the satisfaction of the requirements or refusal to satisfy them.

A representative of the management organization should contact you and agree on a time for conducting an inspection and drawing up a report on the damage caused.

On the appointed day, a representative of your management organization will come to you and together with him you will draw up a report, which will indicate the date and time of the inspection, the reason and the violations identified, and the report will also indicate all damage resulting from flooding, be very careful to the damaged things and indicate everything and do not leave out anything; for things that are not indicated in the first act, you will not be able to receive compensation, since the court most likely will not take them into account, since it will consider that you intentionally added them to the second act, for increasing the amount of damage. It’s just that sometimes it’s necessary to draw up a second act, since after a flood, traces can appear and shortcomings can be revealed for about 1 month.

If a representative of the management organization refuses to enter something, write down these things in your list, and when signing the act, write an addition to the act, write that the representative of the management organization refused to enter this list of things and you do not agree with this and list all the things that were not included . You see, if you do not enter these things and sign the act, then in court you will no longer prove anything, because there was no pressure on you and it turns out that you signed an act in which some things were not included voluntarily, which means you agree with this document. In a word, be careful and persistent, no one limits you in your rights.

Upon completion of drawing up the act, you sign it and a representative of the management organization also signs and gives you a signed copy with dates. If they give you some other papers to sign, read them carefully and do not sign any agreements, you must sign only the act.

An act is a document confirming that a specific case of violation of the quality of utility services occurred in your apartment, resulting in damage to your property. This is the main document you need, but now you need to assess the damage from flooding!