Blocked Sewer Shortland
A blocked sewer in Shortland is opened with a jetter or electric eel, then camera-checked before and after the clear so you see the cause and the result. The plumber in Shortland team quotes a fixed figure up front, and the job carries our 365-day warranty on all work.
Licensed plumbers and gas fitters · NSW Lic. 359278C
Last updated October 2026
What Tells You the Sewer Is the Problem?
A single sluggish basin is a fixture problem. Trouble in several rooms at once points down the line to the sewer:
- The toilet gurgles or the water in the pan rises when another fixture drains
- A sewer smell inside, or near the overflow relief gully outside
- Grey water appearing in the shower base during a washing machine cycle
- The gully lifting its grate or spilling after a storm
On level ground with a high water table, a wet-weather surcharge can come from groundwater crowding a tired pipe as well as from a blockage. Footage from the camera shows which one you have.
How We Clear a Sewer
Open the line
Film the run
Match the repair to the footage
Sewer work is one part of our blocked drains service, alongside CCTV drain inspection and drain jetting.
What Drives the Cost of a Sewer Clear?
We provide up-front, honest quotes that will always match the final price, should you decide to go ahead.
The distance to the choke is the main driver. A blockage metres down the run takes more cable and more time than one sitting under the toilet.
Alongside distance, the price reflects:
- Whether there is a usable access point, or the plumber has to open one up
- How hard the material is to cut, from wet wipes to a mat of roots
- What the camera finds once it flows, since a repair is a separate job from a clear
Why These Sewers Block the Way They Do
Hand-jointed clay under postwar homes.
Wet soil moves the joints.
Roots move in after the water.
Little fall, little flushing.
"Professional, hardworking and friendly lads. Replaced our sewer line and got very filthy under the house." Annie
When We're Not the Right Call
Where the footage puts the choke in the shared main past your property connection, that is Hunter Water's to clear, and a call to their faults line starts it. Water lying in the yard after rain with no sewer smell is a stormwater fault, covered on the stormwater drains page.
Questions People Raise About Sewer Faults
What are the signs a sewer is blocked in a Shortland home?
Several fixtures draining slowly together, a toilet that burps when the bath empties, a sewer smell by the back step, or the shower base filling during the spin cycle. A lawn patch near the inspection opening that stays boggy for days can also mean the line is leaking or overflowing.
Do you clear sewers in the older commission-era houses here?
Yes. Earthenware pipe with hand-made joints sits under plenty of the Housing Commission homes, so the jetter nozzle and eel cutter are chosen for clay, and the water pressure is kept low enough that those old collars are not pushed apart.
Will the sewer just block again after clearing?
It can, if roots or silt are getting in through a broken joint. The second camera run shows whether the pipe is sound. Where it is not, we price relining or a section replacement so you are not paying for the same clear twice.
Is a surcharging sewer an emergency call?
Yes, once sewage reaches the house or spreads across the yard. We are Available 24/7. Hold off on flushing and running water, keep people clear of the spill, and phone straight away instead of waiting for it to soak into wet ground.
Need a plumber? Call or send the form
Call (02) 4063 1093 or send the form below. Available 24/7, you see a fixed figure ahead of any work, and every job carries our 365-day warranty on all work.
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