Blocked Toilets
Cleared at the pan or further down the branch, with the pan checked afterwards so it flushes properly again.
Home/Drain Unblocking
Drain unblocking in Bellville is only finished when the drain runs freely and you know why it blocked. Lines are cleared by rod or high-pressure jetter, flushed through, and checked at the gully and the inspection eye.
Tell us which drain is blocked and whether anything is coming back up elsewhere. That usually tells us where the blockage sits.
Where the water backs up tells you where the blockage is. One fitting means a branch; several at once means the main line.
Cleared at the pan or further down the branch, with the pan checked afterwards so it flushes properly again.
Fat and food waste cleared from the trap and the branch, where most kitchen blockages form before the main line.
Hair and soap build-up removed from traps and waste pipes, and slow drains restored to full flow.
The gully outside is often the first place a main-line blockage shows. Cleared and the cause traced downstream.
The run between the house and the City's connection, cleared with rods or a jetter depending on what is blocking it.
A drain that keeps blocking in the same place is filmed, because the cause is usually a joint or a dip rather than bad luck.
The City of Cape Town cleared 90,002 sewer blockages in 2025/26. Of those, 59,729 were rags, sanitary products and other objects, and 11,678 were fat. Tree roots, the cause most people picture, accounted for 7,443. Bellville South is among the City's top 20 areas for blockage call-outs.
Those two big categories need different tools. A rag or a wad of wipes is a solid object. Rods with the right head can hook it and pull it back out, so it is removed and you can see what it was. A jetter fired at the same wad tends to push it further down the line, where it lodges again at the next bend or ends up in the City's sewer as somebody else's problem.
Fat is the opposite. It coats the whole bore of the pipe, so a rod simply punches a hole through the middle and leaves the rest in place to catch the next load. High-pressure water scours the walls clean and carries the fat away, which is why a greasy kitchen line is jetted rather than rodded.
Choosing between them means knowing what is in the pipe, and the drain usually says. A toilet or main line that blocked suddenly points to an object. A kitchen line that has been slowing for weeks points to fat. When it is not clear, the first pass is made to recover what is there before anything is flushed through.
Ask what was pulled out of your drain. If nobody can tell you, the blockage may simply have been moved further down the line.
What people remember about a drain job is whether it stayed clear. These are the steps that make that likely.
Which fittings are affected tells us where to start, so the right section is cleared.
The cleared line is flushed hard enough to carry debris through, not just to show a trickle.
You are told what caused the blockage and how to stop it coming back.
Gullies, floors and fittings cleaned up and disinfected where sewage has backed up.
It depends on where the blockage is and what it takes to clear it. A single trap is a short job; a main line needing a jetter takes longer. The price is agreed once the blockage is located and before clearing starts. See the plumber prices page for how call-outs work.
For a single sink or basin, a plunger and cleaning the trap often works. Avoid caustic chemicals: they rarely shift a solid blockage and make the pipe dangerous to work on afterwards. If several fittings are backing up at once, the blockage is in the main line and needs equipment.
The outside gully is normally the first opening a backed-up drain reaches, so a blockage further down shows there before it shows indoors. It means the main line between the house and the municipal connection is blocked or restricted.
No. They do not break down quickly the way toilet paper does, and they are the largest single category in the City's own blockage figures, grouped with rags and sanitary products.
Rodding pushes through or breaks up a blockage with flexible rods. Jetting uses high-pressure water to scour the whole bore of the pipe, which removes fat and debris from the walls rather than just opening a path through them.
Usually a dried-out trap, a broken vent or a partial blockage holding waste in the line. Running water into little-used traps fixes the first; the others need a look.
A camera inspection. Repeat blockages in the same place usually mean a displaced joint, a dip in the line or root entry, and clearing it again will not change that.
Lift the cover of the municipal connection or the last inspection eye on your property if you can. If it is full, the blockage is further down, towards or in the City's sewer. If it is empty while your drains back up, the blockage is on your side.
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Toilet backing up, gully overflowing or a sink that will not drain? Send the details and we will come back to you quickly.