Summer is the season for sewer cleaning. The City of Hutchinson has over 75 miles of gravity sanitary sewer lines running throughout the city. Each year, the Public Works department cleans approximately half of the city’s sanitary sewer lines.
The sanitary sewer lines are cleaned using high performance sewer cleaning equipment. A jetting nozzle is propelled from one manhole to the next using water under high pressure. The nozzle is then pulled back to the starting manhole. Any debris in the pipe is pulled back with the water. If roots are found, they are cut with a root nozzle. This process is repeated once every two years on every sewer line cleaned.
During the cleaning of sanitary sewer lines, air occasionally vents into a home through the sanitary sewer service line and ventilation system. When this happens water in the toilet bowl can bubble or surge or, in rare cases, splash out of the bowl. To minimize water splashing out of your toilet bowl, make it a habit to keep the lid down.
The common causes of air venting into homes during sanitary sewer cleaning are:
- air movement from normal cleaning operations
- the use of higher pressure necessary when cleaning sanitary sewer lines that have a steep slope
- sewer lines running close to the building
- a plugged roof vent
- size and complexity of the home’s waste and ventilation system.
