Sewer cleaning in The Pinery is no different from cleaning sewers anywhere else in the country. It requires a concerted understanding of the system's needs, which can be quite varied. Our sewers, like those in many residential areas, experience a number of typical problems, including clogs, intrusion by tree roots, and sediment buildup. If we don't tend to these pesky little situations with the kind of regularity one might think of when considering more superficial cleaning tasks, they can and do escalate into something much larger—and much more expensive to deal with. So what exactly is required to keep our sewers clean, and by extension, functioning as they should? Narrowing the focus to just one residential plumbing system may seem a little silly, but in this instance, I'm going to go ahead and do it. My system is about 30 years old.
The Pinery contains a variety of plumbing situations, and several methods of sewer cleaning serve different scenarios well. Snaking is a time-honored means of clearing sewer blockages. For going after clogs that are nearer to the point where the sewer line exits a home, snaking can work like a charm. Snaking, however, is not always the right tool for the job. More often, a clog may represent an expression of sewer trouble that has its roots (pun intended) in a situation that has more to do with tree roots or excessive grease buildup than with the use of a simple, flexible auger. In those instances, one would more likely use a hydro jetting setup and not an auger.
The Pinery residents need to be aware of the signs that indicate a sewer cleaning is necessary. Slow drains, bad smells, and backups are obvious signs that something is wrong—but what if the sewer isn't in actual trouble and needs to be cleaned only because it's been used and abused (by us, the Pinery residents) for too long? First, let's talk about what residential sewers do and where ours fit in the rankings of the worst sewer systems in America. Then we can work toward understanding why diligence and proactivity in maintaining the cleanliness and efficiency of the Pinery sewer system can serve the residents of The Pinery very well.