Here’s a funny story about a blocked drain we found online at http://www.funnystories.com.au/blocked-drain-causes-overflow-during-square-dance-marathon/ that took place in Melbourne in April 2014:

A level-5 drain blockage at a Melbourne senior centre has caused massive damage, but still didn’t dampen the spirits of the local square dancers. Residents of the Shady Oak Senior Centre, located in downtown Richmond, were preparing for their third annual It’s Hip to be Square Dancing contest, when the pipe burst in the southeast corner of the residence.

“It was horrible to behold, but we tried not to let it interfere with the dance,” said reigning champion Elaine Robard. “We saw that the sewage was running up the side and under the front door, so we had to square dance our way to the north end of the hall.”

This is the third such incident in as many weeks, with many Shady Oak staff “permanently wearing gumboots in case another disaster befalls us.” Sally Hammond, assistant director of assisted living at Shady Oaks, described the experience of the Square Dance Deluge. ”Like a massive, slow moving tsunami. Like a molasses flood that happened in the 1930’s only smelling slightly worse.”

Emergency drain repairs in Melbourne were immediately called, “so as not to disrupt the dance-off for too long,” reported Hammond. “They were able to get rid of the blocking obstruction, while the rest of Shady Oaks enjoyed a good old fashioned old-timey dance, from old people.”

Elaine Robard won the contest for the second year in a row, stating that “this win goes to the brave men and women who had to dive into our sewers, with their fancy Melbourne drain cameras and equipment, and came out of it clean on the other side.”

Blocked drains and pipes are the most common problem that LPZ come out to fix, and they’re no laughing matter. Having foreign substances down your drain can easily cause a lot of damage through a domino-effect. If you think something’s wrong, you can always call LPZ Plumbing on to come and take a look for you. You can probably tell from the Square Dance story that it’s far better to catch this problem early than late!

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This blocked drain story is inspired by a story we found online at http://www.theplumbinginfo.com/sewer-rodding-stories/

The story begins with the plumber’s office receiving a call from the distressed office manager of a nearby medical centre. The manager explains that a plumber is required as they are having problems with a blocked drain – specifically that it is backing up every few weeks so they are repeatedly calling plumbers to rod the blocked drain. A plumber is quickly dispatched to the medical office and readies his camera to inspect the problem drain.

Without going into specifics, the blocked drain line is such a combination of old, decayed and corroded, that the plumber’s recommendation is that it isn’t even worth rodding any more. A much more painless option would be to just pull out and replace all the plumbing over the weekend when the medical centre isn’t so busy. Obviously, the doctor is reluctant to do this as it’s inconvenient, even during a weekend, to have a bathroom unavailable due to maintenance. With negotiations stalling (not unlike the blocked drain), the plumber finally manages to win the doctor over by promising that, with the new pipes installed, there will be no further problems in the foreseeable future. The doctor gives the okay to go ahead with the installation.

The installation goes off without a hitch, and the plumber replaces all the problem piping, hooks up the new pipes, gives it a few test runs and leaves. Remember that this happens over a weekend.

The following Wednesday, the plumber gets a call from a very annoyed doctor. Well, you can imagine how this scene plays out in the medical centre. All the people waiting in the surgery see the doctor – usually the very picture of calm, cool and collected – having a no-holds-barred shouting match over the phone with the plumber who promised him that his expensive new piping solution would give him no further trouble. Now, only 3 days after installation, he’s having exactly the same problem he had with the old piping.

The plumber, now very confused as to what’s happening, goes into the medical centre and once again readies his camera to inspect. Sure enough, it’s a blocked drain …again. Exasperated, he pulls up the bathroom tiles to get to the point where he can access the blocked part of the pipeline, reaches in and pulls out the obstruction – a medium sized blue fish. A further argument between doctor and plumber ensues, until eventually the office manager breaks down and solves the argument by admitting that one of the doctor’s favourite fish died the previous day, and she flushed it down the toilet and bought a new one to cover it up.

Blocked drains are one of the most common problems that LPZ Plumbing are called out to handle. You should be very careful about what goes down your drains or you may end up with a very distressed doctor and a hefty plumbing bill on your hands (although not as hefty with LPZ Plumbing as it would be with other plumbers)

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