LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — (Marketwire) — 08/06/12 — Recently, a few changes have been made to the way that water companies look after sewers and drainage networks. Most water companies will now find that they are responsible for a larger network of drains than they were before, which may have an impact on your water bills.
The Consumer Council for Water estimates that this may add an extra GBP 3-GBP 14 to your regular bills. Having had a very wet summer, it is possible that these costs could increase over the next few months.
Drain care
If you look after your drains and sewers well it can prevent serious problems from arising in future, which could help prevent rising bills.
Regular maintenance checks and drain clearing from expert drainage engineers, such as a , will keep drains working well and will prevent the need for expensive repairs by the Council. The new rules don–t affect drains on private properties. It–s still up to householders to cover costs for repairs to a blocked toilet for example, so maintenance of pipes may also cut down the cost of household repair and avoid the need for emergency plumbing.
What to look out for
Many homeowners feel that they are unqualified to do any basic plumbing or repairs in their home, but some of the smaller plumbing problems can easily be fixed without the need to pay a call out charge. Some problems are quite obvious – you don–t need an expert to tell you that something–s been accidentally flushed down your toilet when it overflows. Water dripping from external guttering could also be linked to a , where leaves and silt get trapped in pipes. Tree roots can also affect pipes as they stop waste flowing away, so looking out for overgrown plants and trees nearby can give you an idea of where the problem might be.
Techniques
To clear drains, have several different tools and techniques available. Drain jetting uses a high pressure jet to clear pipes of dirt, mud and other blockages, allowing the free flow of water and preventing any problems in future. For objects that are harder to shift, electro-magnetic cleaning is a good option. This involves machinery being passed along the pipe, cutting away blockages, like tree roots – with no damage to the pipe itself. Larger networks of pipes can be cleared using a tanker to shift persistent grime and foreign objects.
Contacts:
Customer Experience Team
Dyno
Waterfront Avenue
Edinburgh, Midlothian
EH5 1SG
0800 0846424