I am tired of trying to explain to our American visitors, that even in December in UK it's not normally this wet . They go home on the 4th perhaps it will dry up then. They are from California.
Great start to the New Year - not. Yesterday morning our only loo decided it didn't want to drain properly so called British Gas Homecare. Emergency call out, 4 hours max. Nobody here in 4 hours and no contact apart from message to say they would call(sub-contracted to Dyno-rod). Tried calling the number provided which went to voicemail. After nearly 9 hours the engineer called to say he wouldn't be coming, apparently a family emergency. Isn't it always? (cynical me). I had to call BG to make a new appointment for today. When heading for bed last night I noticed that the toilet had drained. Playing safe tried a bucket of water as I could stop that if the loo started to back up again. No problem, water drained properly. I decided to keep the call open in case there was a partial blockage somewhere. When there was no contact by 11am today, and the loo was flushing normally, I cancelled the call.
Around midday, my good lady wife said the screen on her phone had gone blank. It would still power off and on but nothing more. Checked for local phone repairs and went to one in town with good reviews. Explained the situation and was asked to leave it with them for about an hour. Now this bit should be on RTBC as when I went back in it was working properly again. The guy did explain the black magic he'd performed and also said if it happened again to take it back in and they would investigate further without making any further charge. Great customer service, unlike BG and Dyno-rod.
I’ve got two toilet plungers, one is for the sink and shower drain, just in case. I haven’t had to use the plunger for the loo since I read about hair conditioner. If we ever do get a problem with a ‘natural human waste item’ that is reluctant to make the journey round the u bend, a squirt of hair conditioner seems to help it on its way. Only needed to try it a couple of times but it worked quickly and easily.
Better advice would be to be careful what you flush
Nothing out of the ordinary in our case. We don't flush wet wipes or anything similar. No idea why it backed up or how it cleared, but everything is OK now.
One thing has just come to mind. We had the family round a day or so earlier and my niece is notorious for the amount of loo paper she uses. I wonder if that could have caused a partial blockage of the pipe and subsequent flushed built on it. Standing water finally dissolving the paper. It's a possibility.
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