What is Preventative Drain Maintenance?

Preventative drain maintenance is an important part of any drainage system. Making sure your drain is in peak working condition can mean your drains can operate efficiently while also preventing the possibility of unexpected downtime which may become expensive to fix. It’s often said that a good preventive maintenance plan involves keeping records of past inspections and further details on the servicing of the equipment. As such, here at Draincall, we are going to talk you through the preventative drain maintenance procedures we conduct in order to stop any drain problems occurring. 

The two main causes of drain problems are blockages and neglect. Grease, fat and disposable wipes are primary culprits for drain blockages and can easily be troubleshooted. 

It has been well documented that the term ‘Fatberg’, formulated by grease and fat, causes many problems for drain systems and is regularly reported in the news when water authorities are required to remove them. The way fatbergs are created is by fat/grease being poured through the kitchen sink from rinsing plates which then sticks and solidifies in the pipework of the drain. Once formed, it will quickly build up to create obstructions and hard crusts around the drain systems which then restricts the flow of water and other substances passing through the drain. This is where problems and inefficiencies occur for your drainage system and it is our duty to make sure this does not happen. 

What we do here at Draincall is offer routine cleaning and inspection to prevent the build-up of grease, scale and debris and allows us to ensure that a drainage system is working efficiently. A drainage system that is forgotten about can deteriorate quite suddenly and this will be noticeable once a problem has occurred. For this reason alone, it is imperative that preventative measures are put into place for your drain systems. Regular preventative maintenance far outweighs the cost and nuisance of emergency maintenance so it is best getting your drainage system check sooner rather than later.

Here at Draincall, we offer the following preventative drain maintenance methods to help  you achieve a durable and functioning drain:

Descaling

Descaling is the process of removing scale (a thin coating/layer of oxide forming on the surface of a metal such as iron or steel and is usually rich in sulfate of calcium) from equipment. Scale can harbour dangerous bacteria, restrict water flow, can cause blockages and will inevitably increase maintenance costs so it is vital it does not develop and build on your drainage system. Effective descaling procedures remove:

• Limescale
• Calcium
• Rust
• Water scale buildup
• Mud
• Other non-soluble deposits

Degreasing Lines 

Degreasing is the removal of grease and oil from a surface. Degreasing typically cleans electronic assemblies and electrical components. However, when applying this for drainage systems, it helps clean almost all metals used to construct the system such as copper. Furthermore, nearly any size or shape of drain can be inspected and troubleshooted so if you have any problems related to excessive grease, our skilled cleaning engineers will be able to solve the problem for you.

Servicing Traps

A servicing trap is a feature designed to retain a small amount of water each time the drain system drains, and this water standing in the bottom of the curved portion of the servicing trap seals the drain and keeps sewer gasses from escaping and entering your vicinity. There are traps in every drain system because any connection that leads to the drain system is also a possible outlet for sewer gas. Whenever you notice a strange odour in any room where there is a drain, this could be because the servicing traps are dry. If a drain trap is dry, the sewer gas can escape and could be a root to the foul smell present in the vicinity. It’s worth noting that the smell is mostly an annoyance but in very high concentration could cause health problems. This is why it is advised to conduct regular inspection of servicing traps to avoid this possibility. 

By installing new and inspecting already existing service traps in your drain system, you can save yourself a lot of hassle in the future by inquiring about our preventative drain maintenance procedures here at Draincall.
To conclude, we carry out maintenance contracts ranging from servicing entire below ground drainage systems for industrial or retail parks or sinks and showers in domestic properties. Each of our contracts are individually assessed for the requirements such as installation ease, design and likelihood of misuse. Furthermore, our range of preventative drain maintenance also includes roofing and box gutters, surface water gullies, basins and many more. For more information regarding our preventative maintenance service, give us a call on 08000 157 823 or email us at office@draincall.co.uk