Blocked Sewer Glendale
A blocked sewer in Glendale gets cleared, flushed and camera-checked by your plumber in Glendale, working with a jetter, an electric eel and a drain camera. You see a fixed figure before work starts, and urgent backups can be booked after hours.
Licensed plumbers and gas fitters · NSW Lic. 359278C
Last updated September 2026
How Do You Know It's the Main?
One slow drain is a local fault. Several fixtures failing together points at the shared line, and clearing it end to end is the work that gets booked. The common warnings:
- Gurgling from the toilet when the shower or the washing machine empties
- Water rising in the lowest drain, usually the floor waste or the shower
- A sewer smell over the yard, strongest near the inspection point
- A soft or greener patch of lawn where the line runs, even in dry weeks
The more of these showing up at once, the closer the line is to fully blocking. A call at the gurgling stage costs less than a call at the overflow stage.
Why Do These Lines Keep Blocking?
Repeated blockages nearly always have a structural cause, and clearing alone treats the symptom:
Root entry
Ageing pipe
Grease build-up
If a cleared line blocks again within months, that is the line asking for a camera, not a third clear. The footage shows whether the fix is jetting, tree root removal or pipe relining, and nothing bigger is booked by default.
How We Clear a Sewer
Every sewer clear runs the same five steps.
- 01
Diagnose
We ask what you are seeing, then open the nearest access point and confirm the shared line is backing up rather than one fixture being at fault.
- 02
Clear
An electric eel or the jetter breaks through the blockage, chosen to suit the material and what is in the line.
- 03
Flush
Water moves the debris downstream so the wall is clean rather than merely open.
- 04
Camera-check
The drain camera travels the full run, which is how a cracked or root-hit section is caught while it is still a small problem. See the full method on the CCTV drain inspection page.
- 05
Report and quote
You get the findings in plain words, plus a fixed figure for any follow-up work the line needs.
What Drives the Price of a Sewer Clear?
We provide up-front, honest quotes that will always match the final price, should you decide to go ahead.
What feeds into the figure:
- The cause: a root ball takes cutting, grease takes jetting, and a collapsed section takes a repair
- The distance between the access point and the choke
- Which pipe material we are working in, because earthenware, clay and PVC each need a different touch
- Night or weekend timing, priced at its own rate and stated before work starts
If the line turns out to need relining or excavation, that is quoted on its own. You are never moved onto the bigger job without agreeing to it.
Old earthenware is reaching its end. The post-war boom built this suburb out with earthenware and clay sewers, and that pipe is now at the age where it degrades and collapses. Established trees in the older streets push roots toward every cracked joint, and with about 1,094mm of rain a year the soil rarely dries out enough to slow them.
Later builds run different pipe. Townhouses and brick-veneer houses built from the 1980s on are more likely to have PVC, which fails in other ways, so the fix follows the footage, never a guess.
What Customers Say
Professional, hardworking and friendly lads. Replaced our sewer line and got very filthy under the house.
When We're Not the Right Call
Two faults sit outside our lane.
A blockage in the street main
Creek water over the yard
FAQs
Why do sewer lines block so often in older Glendale streets?
Older homes in these streets were built between the 1940s and the 1960s over earthenware and clay sewers that have now cracked with age. Street trees and garden plantings send fine roots through those cracks, and inside the pipe they knit into a net that snags paper and waste until the line chokes.
Is high-pressure water safe for old earthenware sewer lines?
Yes, when it is run to suit the pipe. The nozzle and pressure are chosen for earthenware, and the camera goes through once the line runs to prove the wall held. If the footage shows a collapse, jetting stops and relining or excavation is quoted separately.
Who fixes a blocked sewer past the boundary in Glendale?
The line on your property is yours to maintain, and the street main belongs to Hunter Water. If the fault sits past your boundary, we report it to them on your behalf so their crew takes it on.
What should I do first if the sewer backs up overnight?
Stop using taps and appliances so the line is not fed more water, keep everyone away from any overflow, and ring the number on this page. Night work carries a separate rate, stated before anything starts.
Need a plumber? Call or send the form
Call (02) 4063 3469 or send the form below. Available 24/7, you see a fixed figure ahead of any work, and every job carries our 365-day warranty on all work.
Request a callback
Leave a name and number and a plumber will ring you back.