Clogged Mainline

A plumbing mainline is the largest pipe that connects all of the other smaller pipes together in a home channel system. A clogged mainline is often the guilty party when you find multiple drains backed up at the same time in your house, for instance when you simultaneously notice a clogged bathtub and toilet.

Waste can form a clog in any part of your home drainage system. When a blockage occurs in your mainline, you need to address the issue right away before you find yourself dealing with a messy flood that can result from an unserviced clogged mainline.

Finding the Mainline

Track the pipes and connections in your house to the mainline. The mainline is commonly found in the basement or pantry closet. If you are lucky and you find the clog stops short from reaching the mainline and is in a branch drain instead, you can clean it out with a drain-and-trap auger.

In order to make the job easier, you can rent an electrically powered auger up to 50 feet long from a plumbing supply dealer to clear the clogged mainline.

If the drain clog is located in the mainline, the job becomes a bit more elaborate simply because the clog is usually relatively large to completely back up the mainline.

Clearing the Clogged Mainline

Be prepared for a gush of sludge!

1. Have a bucket ready
2. Have tools to help with valve control
3. Be as direct as possible when using an auger because it becomes less effective the more corners it has to round.
4. Have a high powered water hose available to flush pipes later

When to Call a Professional Plumber to Clear a Clogged Mainline?

The tools you may need (just in case) to completely repair the clogged mainline include: hand plumber's tape, small gas torch, solder, flux, plumbing sandpaper, pipe cutter, gas tape (to seal gas line), and some pipe glue.

If you are not prepared to address the issue yourself because you lack the expertise or tools, you should consider talking to a professional HVAC contractor to unclog the mainline in your home. Call a San Diego Plumbing Service technician at 1-800-836-1726.

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