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Drain Unblocking

Blocked drain? Cleared properly, with the cause found, not just pushed further down

A sink that will not empty, a toilet that rises instead of flushing, a gully overflowing across the patio, a smell in the bathroom that comes and goes. Blocked drains cleared across London for homes, flats and small commercial premises.

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ExcellentMany five-star reviews
Drain Unblocking

What people say when the water finally goes down

Reviews

Excellent

Rated by London homeowners and landlords

  • Boiler repair, flat

    Boiler locked out on a Sunday evening and the flat was freezing by Monday. Explained the fault code over the phone, turned up when they said, had the part on the van. Heating back on the same visit.

    Sarah M.Reviewed on Google

  • New combi boiler

    Got a written quote with the boiler model, the flush and the filter all listed, nothing added later. Two days of work, tidy, and they talked me through the controls before leaving.

    Daniel O.Reviewed on Google

  • Landlord gas certificate

    Needed a CP12 quickly for a tenancy renewal. Booked for the next morning, the tenant said the engineer was polite and quick, and the certificate was in my inbox that afternoon.

    Priya K.Reviewed on Google

  • Blocked kitchen drain

    Kitchen sink had been slow for weeks and then stopped altogether. Cleared it, showed me the fat build-up on the camera, and gave honest advice on stopping it happening again.

    Tom R.Reviewed on Google

  • Radiators cold at the bottom

    Three radiators were cold at the bottom however much I bled them. Power flush took most of a day and the difference is obvious, the whole house heats up far faster now.

    Helen W.Reviewed on Google

  • Leak under the bathroom floor

    Water was coming through the kitchen ceiling and I feared the whole floor coming up. They traced it to one joint on the bath waste and only lifted two boards. Very relieved.

    Marcus L.Reviewed on Google

  • Bathroom refit

    Full bathroom, old one stripped out and a walk-in shower put in. Plumbing, tiling and electrics all handled by the same people, so nothing fell between the gaps. Really pleased.

    Aisha B.Reviewed on Google

  • Annual boiler service

    Straightforward service, no upselling. Checked everything, cleaned the condensate trap, adjusted the pressure and explained what the readings meant. Booked again for next year.

    George P.Reviewed on Google

What the work involves

A blockage is the most disruptive fault a property can have for its size. Nobody can use the kitchen sink, or the only toilet, or the shower before work, and the longer it is left the worse it smells. Speed matters, and so does not making it worse: pouring chemical drain cleaner into a fully blocked pipe turns a blockage into a pipe full of caustic liquid that the person clearing it then has to deal with.

Dependable Heating clears blocked drains the way they should be cleared: find out where the blockage is, use the right tool for that pipe, get the water flowing, then look at why it happened. Internal wastes, soil stacks, gullies, inspection chambers, shared private drains and the run out to the boundary are all covered. Where a blockage is on the public sewer beyond the boundary, you are told, because that is the water company's job and they do it without charge.

The same engineers do the general plumbing that often sits behind a drain problem, such as a badly fitted waste or a trap that is the wrong shape, so the fix is not just the blockage. Coverage runs across the areas we cover in and around London.

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01

Fast emergency drain unblocking

A fully blocked toilet or a kitchen sink backing up into the bath below is dealt with as a priority. Tell us what is blocked, whether water is coming up anywhere it should not, and whether there is more than one fitting affected, because that last detail says whether the problem is in one waste pipe or further down the line. If sewage is surfacing inside, stop using water in the property and keep people and pets away from it until it is cleared.

Most internal blockages are cleared on the first visit with hand tools and a drain machine. External blockages in gullies and chambers are usually rodded first and jetted where rodding does not shift them.

02

Fixed prices and what they include

Drain work is priced by the job, not by the hour, so a stubborn blockage does not cost more because it took longer. You are given the price for clearing the blockage before the engineer starts. If the drain turns out to be damaged rather than blocked, that is a separate job, quoted separately after you have seen the camera footage. Nothing is added on the day that was not agreed.

03

Domestic blocked drains and sinks

Kitchen sinks block with fat. It goes down as liquid, cools in the pipe and builds up in layers until a piece of food closes the last gap. Bathroom basins and showers block with hair and soap. Toilets block with wipes, even the ones labelled flushable, and with the things children post into them. Washing machine standpipes block with lint and undissolved powder.

Each has a different fix: a kitchen waste is often best cleared by removing the trap and clearing the run with a machine, a shower trap is usually a hand job, and a toilet is cleared with a proper closet auger rather than a plunger that just moves the water. Where a fitting blocks repeatedly, the cause is often the pipework: a waste with too little fall, a long run with too many bends, or a trap that has been replaced with the wrong type.

04

Commercial drain clearance

Cafés, restaurants, salons, small offices and communal areas in blocks of flats have the same drains with harder use. A restaurant kitchen without a grease trap, or with one that has not been emptied, blocks its own drain on a schedule. Salons fill traps with hair. Communal bin stores have gullies that fill with leaves and litter. This work is arranged around opening hours where it can be, and where a blockage is recurring the recommendation is a maintenance jet every few months rather than an emergency every few weeks.

05

Drain jetting and high-pressure cleaning

High-pressure water jetting pushes a hose with a nozzle down the drain; the jets face backwards, pulling the hose along the pipe and scouring the walls as it goes. It clears fat, scale, silt and roots that rods only poke a hole through, and it cleans the whole pipe rather than just the blockage, which is why a jetted drain stays clear far longer than a rodded one. It is the right tool for external runs, gullies, long kitchen wastes and any blockage that has come back after rodding.

06

Drain repairs and CCTV diagnosis

When a drain blocks repeatedly, or clears but drains slowly, or there is a smell or a damp patch near a drain run, a camera survey shows what is actually down there. A CCTV camera is pushed through the pipe and the footage shows cracked pipes, displaced joints, root intrusion, a collapsed section or a belly where the pipe has sunk and holds water. You see the footage and get a report with the position and depth of any defect.

Repairs follow from that: a localised excavation to replace a broken section, a patch liner cured in place over a crack, root cutting, or re-laying a run that was never laid at the right fall. Where the defect is on a shared drain, the report is what you need to agree the cost with the neighbours.

07

What causes blockages and how they are cleared

Fat, wipes, hair, scale and roots account for nearly everything. London's hard water adds a layer of limescale to the inside of older pipes that narrows them year by year, so a pipe that took a wipe or two in 1995 will not take one now. Older clay drains crack and let roots in; the roots feed on what is in the drain and grow into a mat that catches everything.

Clearing is matched to the cause: mechanical cutting for roots, jetting for fat and scale, hand clearance and augering for wipes and objects. Preventing the next one is mostly about what goes down: fat in the bin, wipes in the bin, a hair catcher in the shower, and an enzyme dose in a kitchen waste every month if fat is unavoidable.

08

Call-out, response times and availability

Blocked drains are attended as quickly as the day allows and you are given a realistic window when you book rather than a promise that cannot be kept. Evenings and weekends are covered for genuine emergencies, which for drains means sewage surfacing, a toilet that cannot be used in a property with only one, or water backing up into another fitting. A slow shower drain is not an emergency and is booked at a normal time at the normal price.

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How a job runs

How a blocked drain is dealt with

The order matters: locate, clear, check, then advise. Skipping the last step is how the same drain blocks again next month.

  1. Reading the job through before the visit

    01

    Locate the blockage

    Which fittings are affected, where the water stands and what the outside chambers show tells the engineer where in the run the problem is.

  2. Checking the plans and paperwork

    02

    Clear it

    Hand tools, a drain machine, rods or a high-pressure jet, chosen for the pipe and the cause. The water goes and the fitting is tested.

  3. Engineer drilling a wall for a fixing

    03

    Check the run

    A camera down the pipe where a blockage has recurred, so a crack, root or sunk section is found rather than guessed at.

  4. A finished boiler and cylinder installation

    04

    Stop the next one

    Plain advice on what caused it and what would keep it clear, and a written quote if a repair is needed.

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Sink, toilet or gully blocked? Get it cleared today

Tell us what is blocked and where. An engineer calls back with a price and a time.

Quick Quote OnlineCall 07883 293 725

Where we work

Drain unblocking across London

Blockages in Victorian terraces with shared clay drains, in mansion blocks with a single soil stack for twelve flats, and in outer suburbs where the run to the sewer crosses a long garden. All of it covered, across the towns below.

  • London
  • City of Westminster
  • Islington
  • Chelsea
  • Battersea
  • Holloway
  • Brixton
  • Peckham
  • Fulham
  • Archway
  • Shepherds Bush
  • Canary Wharf
  • Stamford Hill
  • Willesden
  • Cricklewood
  • Putney
  • Streatham
  • Stratford
  • Catford
  • Canning Town
  • Acton
  • Wimbledon
  • Tottenham
  • Finchley
  • Leytonstone
  • Walthamstow
  • Mitcham
  • Wembley
  • Beckenham
  • Brent
  • Morden
  • Edmonton
  • Eltham
  • Croydon
  • Barking
  • Ilford
  • Carshalton
  • Enfield Town
  • Chingford
  • Greenford
  • Harrow
  • South Croydon
  • Hounslow
  • Welling
  • Southall
  • Heston
  • Surbiton
  • Sutton
  • Becontree
  • Purley
  • Borehamwood
  • Ewell
  • Bexley
  • Hayes
  • Dagenham
  • Feltham
  • Banstead
  • Cheshunt
  • Esher
  • Romford
  • Dartford
  • Watford
  • Uxbridge
  • Staines
  • Leatherhead
  • Hatfield
  • Redhill
  • St Albans
  • Grays

Jobs that often go with this one

  • Plumber

    Plumber

    Taps, toilets, ball valves, stopcocks, pipework and the small jobs that turn into big ones if they are left. A local plumber for London homes and flats.

  • Emergency Plumber

    Emergency Plumber

    Burst pipes, water pouring through a ceiling, a stopcock that will not turn or no hot water on a cold morning. Tell us what is happening and we get someone moving.

  • Leak Detection

    Leak Detection

    Damp patches, pressure that keeps dropping, a water bill that has jumped. Hidden leaks traced under floors and behind walls, then repaired with minimal disruption.

Resources

Guides worth reading before the visit

FAQ

Drain Unblocking: the questions people ask first

Should I use drain cleaner before you come?

Please do not. Caustic and acid drain cleaners rarely shift a full blockage and leave the pipe full of chemical that the engineer then has to work in. A kettle of hot water down a slow kitchen sink is fine. Anything stronger, wait.

How do I know if the blockage is mine or the water company's?

Drains within your boundary that serve only your property are yours. Once the pipe passes the boundary, or once it is shared with a neighbour, it is normally the water company's public sewer. If the engineer finds the blockage is on the public side, you are told and the water company attends without charge.

Do you clear blocked toilets?

Yes. A blocked toilet is cleared with a closet auger or a machine rather than a plunger, and if the pan itself is cracked or the connector has failed, that is shown to you and priced separately.

What is a CCTV drain survey and when do I need one?

A camera pushed through the drain, recording the condition of the pipe. You need one when a drain blocks repeatedly, when there is a smell or a damp patch you cannot explain, or when you are buying a property and want to know what you are buying.

Will jetting damage old pipes?

Jetting at the right pressure for the pipe material is safe on clay, cast iron and plastic. A pipe that is already collapsed or badly cracked will not be made worse by jetting, but it will not be fixed by it either, which is why a camera follows a jet on a drain that keeps blocking.

Can you unblock a drain the same day?

Usually, for genuine blockages that stop a property working. You are given an honest arrival window when you book rather than a promise that cannot be kept.

Anything not covered here is answered on our contact page, and the longer reads on boilers, radiators and leaks live in our heating resources.

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ExcellentMany five-star reviews

Say what is blocked and where the water is going

The fitting, whether anything else is affected, and whether water is surfacing outside. That is enough for a price and a time.

  • A written price before any work starts
  • Boilers, gas, plumbing, drains and bathrooms under one roof
  • London and the towns around it

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