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Can Your Plumbing Cope With Christmas?

Santa's hands using a toilet plungerChristmas is a time for family get togethers and visitors, which is what the festive season is all about. It can also be a time of stress, especially for your home and its functions behind the walls. Extra inhabitants mean extra pressure on utilities, and in the summer months it is inevitably the plumbing and water supply that is hardest hit.

Whether it’s 2 or 12 guests coming to stay for a week or just the day, your toilets, showers and sinks take a hit as people use these for everyday living as well as when entertaining. Extra kitchen waste, extra toilet waste and major water usage are just some of the  factors to consider when Christmas is happening at your place.

Some easy ways to prep your plumbing for the festive season include:

  • Potential Blockages
  • Prepare Ahead In The Kitchen
  • Check Your Gas Bottles
  • Hot Water System Ready
  • Free Up All the Bathrooms

Potential Blockages

Blocked drainageGive your pipes a sniff now to avoid plumbing disasters when you least need them. If your pipes are a bit on the smelly side, or draining particularly slowly already, it’s best to call in a plumber now to clear the pipes before your guests bring increased usage with them.

Prepare Ahead In The Kitchen

Busy kitchens and extra bodies bring extra waste and some people’s disposal habits can result in your pipes being clogged with food waster. Oils, grease, gravies and small food items such as pips and skins can end up in your sink and eventually in the plumbing. Have paper towels handy and strainers over your sink holes to catch any extra debris.

Check Your Gas Bottles

Mainline Plumbing and Cheap Hot Water and Gas can assist you with connecting your BBQ to your home’s gas system to avoid running out of gas when entertaining or at the most inopportune times. It saves you money and product wastage, as well as the stress of remembering just another job on the list at Christmas time.

Hot Water System Ready

Hot water installedHow’s the flow in your bathrooms? Can your hot water system keep up with several extra bodies using hot water not only for showers but for washing dishes and running the washing machine as well? Set up a roster system with your guests to stagger out the showers either morning or night and run your dishwasher when everyone is in bed to relieve the pressure on your hot water system. If you think your system might be a bit on the older side and will struggle with increased workload, call Mainline to have it looked at today.

Free Up All The Bathrooms

Do you have 2 or more bathrooms and toilets that are hardly used? Or even don’t currently work? Turn on these toilets for extra guests and make sure all your bathrooms are available to be utilised by your guests. Plumbing doesn’t love being overloaded in one area. Also, make sure a bin is available for toilet rolls and other non-flushable items such as sanitary pads, baby wipes and paper towels to avoid them being flushed down the loo and blocking the pipes.

Can Your Plumbing Cope With Christmas?

Have your plumbing pipes and gas lines checked now before the rush by Mainline Plumbing and Cheap Hot Water and Gas to get your home ready for the festive season. For friendly, reliable service by local, licensed tradesmen, call 9791 1608 (Bunbury) or 9759 1317 (Dunsborough) 24 hrs, 7 days a week.

Maintaining Your Leech Drains

Leech DrainIs your home still connected to a septic tank? Does the Water Corporation’s deep sewage system not run through your area yet? If your home’s wastewater runs to a septic tank on your property, you will have leech drains; large drainage channels running from your septic tank that carry your wastewater from your septic tank into the surrounding soil. These channels are essential for your household plumbing and need to be maintained to ensure not only your families comfort, but also the integrity of your plumbing and insurance requirements.

Maintaining your leech drains is like maintaining your normal plumbing drains and pipes in your home, the only difference being that there will usually a septic tank and then one or more leech drains where the pipework from your home drains into. Follow these tips to keep your leech drains running smoothly:

  • Watch What You Put Down the Sink
  • Ensuring Your Septic is Active
  • Tree Roots
  • Change Your Drains Over
  • Listen To Your Plumbing

Watch What You Put Down the Sink

Whatever you put down the sink, toilet or drains in your home will travel to your leech drains. Fat, soaps and thick substances that do not dissolve in water will become lodged in your leech drains and form ‘plugs’, effectively diminishing the efficiency of your drains by preventing the water from draining out. Keep these substances out of the pipes by disposing of them alternatively.

Ensure Your Septic Tank Is Active

Adding enzymes to your septic tank allows it to dissolve and process the wastewater more effectively, allowing for less chance of blockage in your leech drains.

Tree Roots

Ensure trees and plants with evasive roots are not too close to your leech drains. Root systems are notorious for weaving into the holes of concrete drains, or running down the sides of the more porous, mesh-type leech drains and providing a thick barrier that waste water cannot escape through.

Change Your Drains Over

leech drain installationIf you have more than 1 leech drain it is a general rule of thumb is to change your leech drains over every 12 months, however if you have a large family, you may want to do it more often. This swap gives one drain the chance to rest while the other takes over the drainage duties, allowing the ground to dry out a bit and more efficient evacuation from the leech drain.  If you only have 1 leech and are having issues you may need to consider getting a 2nd leech drain added. Speak to Mainline Plumbing and Cheap Hot Water and Gas about your options.

Listen To Your Plumbing

Just as you will find with household plumbing pipes and drains, leech drains do not respond well when clogged with debris, oils, fats and soaps. Gurgling toilets, slow to drain sinks and drains and a large amount of water coming up from the diverter tap are all signs that your septic tank is full and your leech drains are not working to their full capacity.

Who Can Help With Your Leech Drain Maintenance?

The team at Mainline Plumbing and Cheap Hot Water and Gas are experts in the plumbing industry, with over 30 years’ experience in the South West. For all your enquiries regarding all things plumbing, hot water and gas, call the trusted name in plumbing on 9791 1608 (Bunbury) or 9759 1317 (Dunsborough) for a free quote today.

Emergency Plumbing Over Christmas?


Where to go for the best plumbing service in Bunbury?
Mainline Plumbing & Cheap Hot Water & Gas for all your Emergency Plumbing Over Christmas.

Don’t know much about us? Well, we have almost 40 years of experience and have been servicing the greater Bunbury area all this time. We service Australind, Dalyellup, Gelorup, Eaton, Brunswick, Capel, Collie and the surrounding areas. We operate 7 days a week – 24 hours a day – so we are always at your beck and call. Our quotes are always FREE and there’s no call out fee or after hour charges. We are even here for all your emergency plumbing over Christmas

The Mainline Plumbing teamMainline Plumbing & Cheap Hot Water & Gas Fully Equiped Ute

We have a team of honest, motivated and experienced professionals. All our tradesman area fully qualified, accredited and police cleared. Our staff will always provide you with a fast and reliable service. We will be available when required – especially during those emergencies at times like Christmas – when you need us most. We are all about sharing our knowledge and passion for solutions. No matter what your plumbing needs are – Mainline Plumbing & Cheap Hot Water & Gas will have a solution for you.

Check out our testimonials.

Our vehicles

Our vehicles at Mainline Plumbing & Cheap Hot Water & Gas are all fully equipped and can handle any situation. They contain stock, oxy and acetylene and welding equipment for all of your plumbing and gas needs. We have drain machines, and rods are specifically designed to clear blocked and clogged drains. We also have a backup service for septic storm water pump outs.

Mainline Plumbing is your best plumbing option

Whether you have a drain that’s not working, need sewer cleaning or simply a gas fitting, we are fully equipped to help you out. Don’t let any problem disrupt your business or daily life – let us provide you with our quality service.

Emergency Plumbing Over Christmas?

Mainline Plumbing & Cheap Hot Water & Gas for all your emergency plumbing Bunbury and surrounds.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Remember we are here for emergency plumbing work.

We pride ourselves on great customer service, being prompt and offering cost-effective solutions to all your plumbing issues. Don’t get your hands dirty, call the professionals at Mainline Plumbing & Cheap & Hot Water & Gas on 9791 1608 (Bunbury) or 9759 1317 (Dunsborough).