Emergency Blocked Drains Sydney
If waste water is coming back up into the property, calling will get someone moving sooner than a form will. We take drain calls through the night, on weekends and on public holidays, we aim to reach most Sydney jobs within 60 minutes, with no call-out fee and the price agreed before any work starts.
Is this an emergency?
Not every blockage needs a night call-out, and paying for one you did not need is no better than waiting when you should not have. This is the line we draw.
- Sewage or waste water coming back up through a drain, a gully or a toilet
- More than one fixture blocked at the same time, which usually means the main line
- Water rising in a shower or floor waste when a toilet is flushed
- Waste water running across a floor, a garage or a shared area in a unit block
- The only toilet in the property is blocked and cannot be used
- One sink or basin draining slowly while everything else runs normally
- A drain that gurgles but still clears on its own
- A smell with no overflow and no water backing up
- A yard pit that only floods during heavy rain
- A blockage that has already been cleared and is being investigated
What to do before we arrive
None of this fixes the blockage, but all of it limits how much damage it does in the meantime.
Stop adding water
Do not run taps, showers, the washing machine or the dishwasher, and do not flush. Every litre that goes in has nowhere to go and raises the level in the line.
Keep people away from it
Waste water from a sewer backup is contaminated. Keep children and pets out of the area and avoid walking through it and spreading it through the property.
Lift what you can off the floor
Move rugs, boxes and anything absorbent clear of the water. It limits the damage and it makes the area safer to work in when we get there.
Clear access to the drain
If you know where the overflow relief gully or the inspection opening is, move bins, pots and anything parked over it. It saves time at the start of the job.
What happens when we arrive
An emergency call runs in a particular order, because relieving the overflow and finding the cause are two different jobs and the first one cannot wait for the second.
Relieve the overflow first
The first job is stopping waste water entering the property. Once the line is relieved the pressure comes off and the situation stops getting worse while the rest of the work is done.
Find out where it is blocked
A camera goes down the line to find the blockage and confirm whether it is the property drain or further out towards the main.
Clear it with the right method
Roots are cut out, grease and silt are scoured off the wall. What the camera finds decides the method rather than whatever is already on the truck.
Tell you what caused it
You get the footage and a plain explanation of whether it was build-up or whether the pipe itself has failed and needs repair.
After hours pricing
No charge for attending and assessing the problem, at any hour.
Drain clearing starts at $69. The figure for your job depends on the cause and where it sits.
You get the price before any work begins. That holds at 2am as much as at 2pm.
Drain calls are taken through the night, on weekends and on public holidays.
Emergency drain questions
What counts as an emergency blocked drain?
Anything where waste water is entering the property, or where the only toilet is out of action. Sewage coming up through a floor waste, a shower or an overflow relief gully is the clearest case, and it should not be left until morning because the contamination spreads and the damage grows.
A single slow sink, by contrast, can usually wait for a normal booking. There is a short list further up this page to help you tell the two apart.
Do you answer the phone at 2am?
Yes. We take calls through the night, on weekends and on public holidays. If the situation is an overflow, calling is faster than filling in a form, because the details we need are quicker to give than to type.
How much does an emergency call-out cost?
There is no call-out fee, so nothing is charged for attending and assessing the problem. Blocked drains are cleared from $69.
What a particular job costs depends on what is causing it and where it sits, and you are given that figure before any work starts. That applies at 2am exactly as it does at 2pm.
Is the blockage my responsibility or the water authority’s?
As a general rule the property owner is responsible for the drain inside the property boundary, and Sydney Water is responsible for the main sewer beyond it. The practical problem is that you cannot tell which from the fixture.
A camera settles it. If the blockage turns out to sit in the main rather than in your line, you are told that rather than charged for work that is not yours to pay for.
What if it is a blocked toilet rather than a drain?
A single blocked toilet with everything else draining normally is usually a blocked toilet repair rather than a main line problem. It becomes an emergency when it is the only toilet in the property, or when water rises in other fixtures at the same time, which points at the sewer line.
Once the overflow has stopped
Call now for an emergency drainer
An overflowing drain gets worse every hour it is left, and the contamination spreads with it. The phone is answered through the night, there is no call-out fee, and you get the price before anything is done.
NSW Licence 306733C. Fully insured. $0 call-out fee. Blocked drains cleared from $69.