Water Backing Up In Your Drains - Maybe You Need A Professional Drain Cleaning

Sofia is another friend of mine whose boyfriend works for a drain cleaning company.  She tells me that her boyfriend works on drain problems in Laundromats all the time.  The major problem is that people don't realize that soap and lint form a very good material for clogging your drains.

Does Sophia think lint is cotton candy?

Some Laundromats need to have their pipes cleaned every six months, though some pipes last ten years or more without being serviced.  The better the construction when the pipes were put in, the longer the times between your need to hire Sofia's boyfriend.  If the pipes have a bigger drop (slope of the drain) and tie directly into the main sewer lines, they have fewer problems.  Plastic pipes also tends to clog less than cast iron pipes.

If you have a Chinese restaurant in your shopping center and your drain connects to the restaurant before the line gets to the main sewer, you likely have a lot of problems.  The grease, the soap, and the lint can cause lots of problems.

Another thing that can cause problems in Laundromats that have been around for a while (especially those with trees in the shopping center) is that roots can that grow into the drain lines.  The roots combine with the soap, lint, and oil from clothes and cause dams or blockages to be created in the lines.  On slow days, the water flows over the dams and you don't have a problem, but on busy days, the flow of water is so great that the water backs up into your store and sometimes your toilet.

Well, how often should you have the drains in your Laundromats cleaned? 

Sophia suggests every year for every Laundromat, but I think she just wants to get her boyfriend more work.  I think a reasonable time would be every three years, unless you have a problem sooner.  Be sure and have the standpipes cleaned as well as the main line.  Also tell the technician you want the lines cleaned all the way to the main sewer line.  Some drain technicians will stop right after they hit the first snag.  You want them to clean all the way to the main sewer.  After they clean the lines, they can give you a report and you can decide if you can lengthen or shorten the times between drain cleaning.

After the drain technician leaves, turn on a bunch of washers to ensure that any debris left behind in the cleaning process is flushed into the main sewer and doesn't remain to harden in your sewer line.  That's what I know about sewer lines, and just to let you know, Sophia sneezed for twenty minutes after getting some of the lint in her nose while taking the above picture.  :)

                 -The Latina Laundromat Advisor