What to do while a drain is backing up
Standing water in a tub or a gurgling toilet usually means the blockage sits past the fixture. Every flush and every load of laundry adds to the pile in the pipe, so stop using water until the line is open.
Move rugs and cardboard boxes off wet floors. Keep kids and pets away from water that came up through a floor drain, because that water can carry sewage.
- Skip the chemical openers.They sit on top of a standing clog, can burn skin, and splash back at whoever works on the pipe next.
- Don't plunge a toilet that is also backing into the tub.The pressure just pushes water to the weakest fixture.
- Write down which fixtures are slow.That one detail tells us whether the clog is in a branch line or in the line that serves the whole house.
Fixture line or main line? How to tell
One slow bathroom sink is almost always a branch line problem. When the toilet, shower and washing machine drain all misbehave together, the blockage is probably downstream in the building drain that carries everything out of the house.
| What you notice | Likely location | What a plumber does |
|---|---|---|
| One sink drains slowly, others fine | That fixture's trap or branch line | Pulls the trap, then cables the branch |
| Toilet gurgles when the tub drains | Shared bathroom branch or main | Cables from the closest access and compares flow |
| Water rises in the tub when the washer runs | Building drain below the bathroom | Cables from the cleanout, camera if the cable stops |
| Basement floor drain bubbles | Main line or lateral | Opens the cleanout, checks for standing water |
| Kitchen sink only, with a dishwasher hookup | Kitchen branch, often grease | Cables the branch and checks the dishwasher line |
Jordan Basin Improvement District (JBID) owns the sewer main in Riverton and publishes a simple cleanout test. Open your cleanout cap carefully. Standing water means the blockage likely sits between your house and the main, and JBID says to call the district. No water suggests the trouble is in your house plumbing, and that's our job.
Snaking and cabling: what the machine does in the pipe
Pick the access point
A sink trap, a tub overflow, a toilet pulled from its flange, or the cleanout. The nearest access to the clog keeps the cable short and the cleanup small.
Run the cable
A motorized cable machine feeds a flexible steel cable into the line. The operator feels for the point where it slows or stops.
Cut or retrieve
A spear head breaks soft stoppages. A blade head cuts through roots. A retrieving head pulls out hair, wipes and other debris.
Flush and test
We run water through the line and watch the drain. A fast, quiet flow is the goal, not just a hole in the clog.
Cabling clears the center of a pipe. It does not scrape the walls clean. If the cable stops at the same distance every time, or the drain slows again within weeks, a camera look or hydro jetting is the better next step.
Kitchen sink clogs and the grease problem
Kitchen lines clog differently from bathroom lines. Cooking grease goes down warm and liquid, then cools into a waxy coating that catches coffee grounds and food scraps until the pipe narrows to a trickle.
JBID's guidance is plain: don't pour cooking grease down the drain, even if you have a disposal. Let it cool and put it in the trash. A disposal chops food, but it does nothing about fat.
- Check whether the dishwasher drain hose empties into the disposal, because a clog there backs dirty water into the dishwasher.
- If the disposal hums but won't spin, that is a motor jam, not a drain clog. See our garbage disposal repair page.
- Water that rises in the second sink bowl when the first drains points to a clog past the tee, not at the strainer.
Drain backing up in Riverton right now?
Call the 24/7 line and tell us which fixtures are slow. We'll tell you the likely cause and the price before we start.
What shapes drain problems in Riverton homes
The sewer main belongs to JBID
The district maintains the main. The private line from your house to the main is yours, so a clog past the cleanout is often a district call and a clog before it is a plumber call.
Clay pipes and roots
JBID notes that clay sewer pipes from before the 1980s are prone to root intrusion. If your lateral is that old and clogs repeatedly, ask for a camera look before paying for another cable pass.
Hard water leaves scale
Riverton's 2022 water quality report lists average hardness of about 190 mg/L, roughly 11 grains per gallon. Scale can narrow older metal drain and supply pipes over time, so slow drains in aging plumbing deserve a closer look.
Flushed items count
JBID asks residents not to flush diapers or other disposable hygiene products. They don't break down, so they catch in lateral joints and build a plug.
Most sewer-side problems are covered on our sewer line cleaning page, and we also dispatch to South Jordan and Herriman from our Riverton base.
When a clog is hiding a drain line leak
Some clogs come with a second problem. A damp cabinet floor, a musty smell under a sink, or a ceiling stain below a bathroom can mean a drain pipe that has cracked or separated at a joint.
We run a camera or a water test to confirm before anyone opens a wall, and a sewer camera inspection covers the longer runs. If the line is damaged, cabling alone will not fix it.
What changes the price of clearing a drain
Which line is blocked
A single trap is quick. A main building drain takes heavier equipment and more time.
Access
A cleanout makes the job simple. Without one, we may need to pull a toilet or work through a roof vent.
Cause of the clog
Soft debris clears fast. Roots, grease buildup or a collapsed section take more tooling and sometimes a camera.
Whether a camera is needed
If the cable stops at a fixed point, we look inside the pipe before guessing.
Timing of the call
A night or weekend visit can change what the job costs, and you hear the number first.
Insurance rarely pays to clear a clog itself, and standard policies often exclude sewer backup damage, so check your policy and your declarations page. Call us for a real number on your drain.
Drain cleaning questions from Riverton homeowners
Yes. Our emergency line is staffed around the clock, and we offer same-day appointments when available. Call, tell us which fixtures are backing up, and we'll talk through what to do until a plumber arrives.
Whatever the price turns out to be, you hear it before work starts.
Repeat kitchen clogs usually come from grease and food film coating the pipe. A cable opens a hole, but the coating remains and catches new debris.
If it keeps returning, a camera can tell us whether the pipe itself is the problem, and jetting can scour the pipe wall.
Several fixtures acting up at once is the biggest sign, especially a toilet that gurgles when a tub drains. Then check your cleanout.
Standing water in the cleanout suggests a blockage between the house and the main, which JBID says to report to the district at (801) 571-1166.
We advise against it. In a fully blocked pipe the chemical just sits there, and it can harm skin and eyes when a plumber opens the line. It also doesn't remove roots.
Done correctly, no. The risk is highest in old, brittle or cracked pipe, which is why we stop and use a camera when the cable behaves strangely.
Then the blockage may be in the district's main, which JBID maintains. We can confirm that with a camera and a water check, so you know whom to call.