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The Plumber Diary: Home Drainage System Explained | Sugar Land, TX
Plumbing involves two subsystems. The first subsystem brings water to your home from the nearest main water line. The water is then regulated via taps and other plumbing fixtures in the house through a series of pipes. The other subsystem conveys wastewater and solid wastes away to a treatment plant, which is what drainage essentially entails.
A drainage system works with the help of gravity and doesn’t use any other form of pressure to get water moving through your home’s plumbing system. This means if your drains are closer to a vertical pipe, the used water will drain away easily and quickly. However, this cannot be achieved with the standard home’s design as most drain pipes are placed at a horizontal angle to keep wastewater flowing at a constant rate to the sewer.
With all said and done, familiarizing yourself with parts of your home’s drainage system may be vital if a problem arises. You can tell the problem and schedule a drainage inspection service with a plumber right away. This is going to save you time, money, and even headaches! Here are some of the components that comprise a drainage system:
Fixture Drains
This is the visible upper section of your sink, tub, or shower drain that almost everyone is familiar with. The drains’ pathways start with an opening through which wastewater finds its way out to a septic tank or a sewage treatment site.
The fixture drains hardly develop drainage problems, except where washers or gaskets cause a sink or tub bowl to leak. Ideally, most drainage issues begin right down the fixture drain openings. A plumber in Sugar Land, TX, can come in if there’s a blockage in the pop-up stopper of your tub or bathroom sink. Remember, hair can clog the stopper.
U-Bends Or P-Traps
Right below the fixture drain openings, there’s a drain trap that’s mostly a curved pipe shaped like the letters’ P’ or ‘U.’ The function of the trap is to hold standing water that seals the sewer system and thus, prevents sewage gasses from rising in your home. In case you smell sewer odors in your house, you can contact a plumbing service to come and establish where the issue might be.
Toilet Trap
Every toilet has a drain trap built-in. You can easily see it from the side of your toilet bowl, and just like the P-trap, the toilet trap blocks sewer gasses in your home. If you notice sewer smells coming from your toilet, be sure to contact a professional to identify its cause.
Clothes Washer and Stand Pipe
While most of your washing machine parts may be hidden behind walls, the standpipe is often exposed. The standpipe leads down to another drain trap that serves the clothes washer.
This is how it works; the washing machine drain tube takes away contaminated water into the standpipe, from where it drains into the main sewer of your home. To ensure all the plumbing is done as required, you should find a qualified plumber to put everything in the right place.
Branch Drain Lines
Branch drain lines are often hidden behind the floor surfaces, ceilings, and walls. They connect fixture drain traps to soil stacks that lead to the main drain lines. A trained plumber should place branch drains to run horizontally, though with a little downward slope.
Soil Stacks
Wastewater and other dirt flow down into wide-diameter vertical pipes called the soil stacks from the branch drains. The stacks empty into your main drain line, leading to the sewage-disposal site or the city sewer system.
You may not see these fixtures as placed beneath the surface, but your Sugar Land, TX, plumbing service, can. So, in case your drainage system fails, the plumber can run a camera inspection into it and rectify the errors.
Soil Stack Vent
This is the upper part of the vertical soil stack. You can easily see it since it penetrates through the roof of your home into the open air. The function of this part is to ensure uniform air pressure within your home’s drainage system to prevent the backflow of water from the drain traps. Additionally, the vent provides a way out for toxic fumes that are health hazards.
A faulty venting system will cause water to be sucked out of the drain traps. Therefore, it’s good to have an experienced plumber who has expertise in a home’s drainage.
Sewer Line Clean-Out
The sewer line clean-out is meant for regular cleaning and emergencies. It’s usually mounted into the basement slab of your building. However, in certain cases, Your plumber can mount it in an in-ground fitting right outside your home’s foundation.
Main Drain Line
You may not see the main drain line since it is hidden under your home’s foundation slab or basement. It can only be visible when a plumber comes in for major repairs or additional plumbing. All waste from your home is taken to the municipal sewer via the main drain line.
Municipal Sewer Main
Your home’s drainage system ends here. A plumber ensures your home’s main drain line is placed perpendicularly to the sewer main, though tilted at an angle for easy movement of the waste.
Parting Shot!
All the water that comes into your home passes through a meter, which measures the amount of water you’re consuming. By now, you should be able to locate your main shut-off water valve and meter. The water stop valve is often near the water meter and is useful in preventing a flood if your pipes burst.
In such circumstances, or when your drains are clogging because of a faulty drainage system, contact bluefrog Plumbing + Drain of West Houston – Sugar Land, TX. We provide sewer and water line repairs. For all your plumbing needs, talk to us today! Other services we provide include drain cleaning, tankless water heaters, video inspections, water and gas leak detection, and general plumbing.
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