Why Sewage Main Lines and Water Mains Break and How We Can Help You Fix Them Fast

Sewage main line and water main line breaks can be devastating to your home. These connections bring water into your home from the city’s water supply (water main) and connect your wastewater to either a septic tank or your city’s sewage system (sewage main line). You cannot inspect these lines visually because they are located underground, and digging is required to access them. In this article, we will tell you why these pipes break and how to keep an eye out for a potential break.

What Causes Water Mains and Sewage Main Lines To Break?

Water mains and sewage main lines can break for a wide variety of reasons. Typically, soil conditions and weather are the biggest culprits when it comes to pipe breaks:

• Cold temperatures can cause the water line to freeze or increase stress on the pipe.
• Hot, dry weather can cause the ground to shift, increasing the stress on the water line.
• Increased volume because of seasonal water usage can also cause a water line to break.

Other contributing factors to a water main or main line break include:

• Pipe Material: Most soil breaks occur in iron piping. Most water mains and sewage main lines installed before 1980 were made out of iron.
• Soil Erosion: Excavation or nearby construction erodes soil around water mains and main lines, contributing to breaks.
• Age of the Pipe: As pipes age, the break rate increases drastically. Pipes have a higher chance of breaking once they are around 40 to 60 years old.
• Human Factors: People can inadvertently break a water line or sewage main through digging.

What Are Some Potential Signs of a Water Main or Sewage Main Line Break?

Sometimes, you might be able to notice a water main or sewage line break before it becomes severe:

1. Water in Your Yard: Unexplained wet areas in your yard, and on occasion, sinkholes, could be indicative of a water main or sewer main line break.
2. Puddles in Your Home and Damp Drywall: Main lines bring water in and out of your home. You might notice that these large pipes could be damp at the entry and exit points of your home. The drywall or concrete near these pipes could be wet, indicating a possible line break.
3. Low Water Pressure: Low water pressure could indicate a main water line break.
4. Problems With Drainage: If your toilets and sinks do not empty as quickly as they typically do, this could indicate a larger problem with your sewer main line.
5. Odor or Mold: If you notice that you have an odd odor in your basement or mold, this could indicate a leak in your sewage main line, which might turn into a potential break over time.

What Kind of Damage Can a Sewage Main Line Or Water Main Line Break Cause?

Water mains and sewage main line breaks can be expensive if not caught in time. In some situations, your homeowner’s insurance might not cover damage costs. If you have a finished basement, a break can damage drywall, ruin carpet, and ruin furniture. Even after cleanup, long-term health risks can also be present, such as mold that will build up in moist areas. If you have a main line break, you will need to:

• Keep children and pets out of the impacted area.
• Vent the window right away.
• Remove any dry, uncontaminated items.
• Poor small amounts of chlorine in standing water to keep bacteria from spreading.

The cleanup process is also extensive. Whomever is cleaning up a main line break or backup will have to have protective gear, have access to equipment, like a wet-dry vacuum, and will need to have training. Professional help will ensure that you get any break fixed fast.

How Blue Frog Plumbing Can Help You Out

Many homeowners often will deal with a backup or flooding on their own, but you truly need a professional at the first sign of trouble. Blue Frog can help out:

• At the first sign of a broken main
• When flooding is caused by a sewer line or septic backup
• You have health concerns in your home that can be aggravated by a backup

A lot of the signs that we discussed above are indicators that there is a leak in your water main or sewage main line. We have camera technology that can actually go in and inspect the pipe to see what the problem is before it spreads. We can be at your property in less than an hour and will have all the equipment necessary to get your broken mains fixed fast.

Why You Can Trust Blue Frog Plumbing of Orange County

We service several different areas in and around Orange County, California. If you live in Newport Beach, for example, the climate is not all that susceptible to pipe breaks. However, when it gets down to around 47°F (average January temperature), stress on your pipes might be higher than normal. During the summer months, more water usage may cause higher volumes of water in both your water main and sewage main lines. We service as far south as Clemente and as far north in Orange County as Brea.
Blue Frog Plumbing is 100% focused on customer satisfaction. You’re never expecting plumbing disasters to happen, but when they do, we are on call 24/7/365. We are one of the few companies in the home improvement/repair space that will have someone on site within the hour to make sure that your home is in good shape, especially when it comes to water mains and sewer main line breaks. We also love making our customers happy. We have a 5-star reputation with Google and work