by Catherine Lear

Created on: May 18, 2009   Last Updated: July 22, 2009

The Romans had the right idea I think if my history serves me right they invented them, then for some reason they went out of fashion only to make a come back in Victorian times.

We all have them if we did not have them we would all be in a right old good mess quite literally. And all buildings have them they have to by the law of the land. well they do if you live in Great Britain I am talking of course of drains now do you see when I said we would be in a mess how right I was. In medieval Britain people would just throw there waste out of the window into the street regardless of who was passing by, and it did not matter if it was the waste from cooking or our bodily waste. Mind you, they did not have to clean any blocked up drains did they. No wonder there was so much disease in those days.

Today we live in a modern world with all the mod cons that we can live with; those mod cons include drains although they have not changed much since they were first invented they still run from your home down into the ground in pipes that take it to the sewerage plant many miles away from your home.

Sometimes though you flush the toilet and you see the water swirl to the top of the pan, why is this, well you have a blockage after all the pipe in great Britain running underground is only 4inches wide and it does not take much to block.

How do we now unblock the blockage, you could call out your local plumber or your local council yes your local council has an obligation in the UK to come out and unblock your drain, at a price mind you, they wont charge the amount that a local plumber will, but it still is a quite a lot of money.

No the best way is to unblock it yourself and it is quite easy if not a bit messy and a bit smelly. All you do is go down to your local hardware shop and buy yourself drain rods these are rods a 3ft long that screw together and on one end you fit either what looks like a flat 4inch rubber plunger or a large type screw. Once you have done this take up your outside manhole and you will see a mess locate the 4-inch drainpipe and proceed to push the drain rod into it. Keep pushing until you hit the blockage, you will know when that is because you will not be able to push any further. Now pull back the rods for about 3feet and very quickly push forward, the water in between the rod with the plunger on the end and the blockage will then clear the blockage.

If it does not do it the first time keep doing it till it clears, you will know when it clears the rods will go further. All that remains to be done is to pull the rods back out and clean and disinfect. Run a hose out and turn on and hose down the drain, or you could use a bucket or two of clean water. Put the manhole cover back the job is done and you will not have harmed any of the drains.

Now because drains can carry disease and can be quite smelly, I would advise anyone unblocking a drain to wear the proper attire, this means fitting yourself up with a good set of overalls and a mask and rubber gloves, and then after clean them with a good disinfectant, by doing this you will help yourself to be clear of any disease.

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