Start with the pattern. Blockages that turn up in different drains around the house usually come from what goes down them, such as fat, wipes, hair and food scraps, and a few habits will stop most of those. Blockages that keep coming back to the same drain within weeks or months usually mean something is wrong with the pipe itself, like tree roots, a crack or a sag. No habit fixes a broken pipe. Finding the fault and repairing it does.
The drain cleared fine three months ago. Now the same sink is slow again, or the toilet gurgles every time it rains, and you’re wondering whether the last plumber did the job at all. You’re not the first. Plenty of repeat blockages trace back to the pipe rather than the household, and some come from things going down the drain that shouldn’t. Knowing which one you’re dealing with tells you what will actually stop it.
It isn’t only houses that cop it. Central Coast Council deals with more than 600 sewer blockages and failures a year across its own network, and its advice to households is simple: only the three Ps (pee, poo and toilet paper) go down the toilet.
Work out which kind of blockage you’ve got
It’s probably what’s going down the drain if:
- different drains block at different times through the year
- the kitchen sink slows down gradually over a few weeks
- a plunger clears it easily, and it stays clear for months afterwards
It’s probably the pipe if:
- the same drain blocks in the same place, weeks or months after being cleared
- it’s worse after rain, or the drains gurgle when nothing is running
- several fixtures back up at once, like the shower backing up when you flush the toilet
- the house is older, with clay sewer pipes and established trees nearby
If the first list sounds like your house, the next three sections will stop most blockages. If it’s the second list, skip ahead to when good habits aren’t enough.
In the kitchen: keep fat out of the pipe
Kitchen blockages are mostly fat. It goes down warm and liquid, cools further along the pipe, and sets into a crust that catches everything else.
- Pour cooled fat and oil into a jar or tin and put it in the bin. That includes the oil left in the frypan and the fat from the roasting tray.
- Wipe greasy pans and plates with a paper towel before washing. Bin the towel.
- Use a sink strainer. It catches rice, peelings and coffee grounds. Coffee grounds don’t dissolve, and they bind with grease into a sludge that’s hard to shift.
- Don’t rely on hot water to fix grease. Hot water and detergent move fat further down the line, where it cools and sets anyway. A run of hot water after the washing up keeps soap scum moving, but it won’t undo fat that’s already gone down.
In the bathroom and toilet: hair, wipes and the three Ps
- Fit a hair catcher in the shower and clean it out every week or two. Every month or so, lift the shower grate and pull out the hair that has made it past.
- Bin wipes, even “flushable” ones. Council’s Dunny Do’s campaign says flushable wipes should be bagged and binned, because they don’t break down the way toilet paper does.
- Keep everything else out of the toilet too. The NSW Government’s advice on preventing sewer blockages adds paper towel, tissues, cotton buds, hair and sanitary products to the bin list.
- Don’t use chemical drain cleaner as maintenance. Regular doses damage older pipes and fittings. We explain why in Can I unblock a drain myself?
Outside: protect the line you can’t see
- Keep the overflow relief gully clear. That’s the round grate outside, usually near the bathroom or laundry. Keep it sitting above the garden bed so soil, mulch and stormwater can’t wash in.
- Find out where the sewer line runs before you plant. Roots go looking for the water and nutrients inside a sewer line, so trees and shrubs planted close to it are where most root problems start. If you’ve already got big trees close by, our post on the signs of tree roots in your drains is worth a read.
When good habits aren’t enough
Habits stop blockages caused by what goes into the pipe. They can’t do anything about faults in the pipe itself:
- Roots that have found a gap at a joint, most often in older clay lines
- Cracked or broken sections
- Displaced joints, where one length of pipe has dropped out of line and left a lip that catches waste
- A sag in the line where water sits instead of draining away
- A partly collapsed pipe
A plunger, an electric eel or a jet clean can clear the blockage and get water flowing again, but the fault stays where it is. Roots grow back from what’s left in the joint. Waste keeps catching on the same lip. That’s why so many “it came back a month later” stories involve the same drain. Clearing it again won’t fix it. Finding and repairing the fault will.
Fix the fault instead of clearing the blockage again
A recurring blockage gets solved in three steps:
- See inside the pipe. A CCTV camera inspection shows what’s causing the blockage, where it is, and what condition the pipe is in. At Turner & Co Plumbing, the camera goes in before any tool does, and you watch the footage with us.
- Choose a fix that matches what the camera found. That might be replacing the damaged section with new PVC, which has glued (solvent-welded) joints that roots struggle to get through. If a repair isn’t practical straight away, a jet clean on a schedule set from the footage keeps roots under control in the meantime. That’s management, not a fix, and the plumber should say so.
- Check whose pipe it is. If the fault is in Council’s sewer beyond your point of connection, it’s Council’s job to repair. Our tree roots post explains who pays for the repair on the Central Coast.
Whatever the camera shows, you’ll have a written quote before any tool comes out, and that quote is the price. If our workmanship on the repair ever fails, we come back at no charge. More on how we find and fix drain faults is on our blocked drain service page.
Other questions about stopping blocked drains
How often should I get my drains cleaned?
A sound pipe with good habits behind it doesn’t need cleaning on a schedule. Scheduled jet cleans make sense when a camera has found roots or a fault you’re not ready to repair yet. In that case, the plumber should set the interval from what the footage showed, not from a standard calendar. If you’d rather have someone keep an eye on the whole house, our plumbing maintenance service covers drains along with everything else.
Do enzyme or bacteria drain cleaners stop blockages?
They can help keep soap and food film down in kitchen and bathroom waste pipes. They won’t touch tree roots, wipes or a broken pipe.
Will new pipe stop tree roots for good?
New PVC pipe is far harder for roots to get into than old clay pipe, because the joints are glued rather than sealed with mortar or rubber rings. It isn’t immune, though. Ground movement can still damage it, and a tree planted right on top of the line will keep looking for a way in.
Keep a record before you call anyone
The most useful thing you can do about a repeat blockage costs nothing. Each time a drain blocks, write down the date, which fixture it was, and what was done to clear it. Two or three entries for the same drain tell you it’s the pipe, not the household. A record like that also helps the next plumber read the camera footage faster.
If your list already shows the same drain blocking again, send us the dates and which drains have been playing up. We’ll book a camera inspection and show you what’s in the line before anyone talks about clearing it again.
