Emergency Drain Unblocking Cirencester | 2am Guide

Your drain is blocked. It's 2am. Water is backing up into the shower tray or, worse, raw sewage is sitting in the downstairs toilet bowl. You don't know whether to call someone now or wait until morning.

Here's the honest answer to that question, and what to do in the meantime.

Is it actually an emergency?

Not every blocked drain at 2am is a crisis. Some can wait six hours. Others genuinely cannot.

Call an engineer now if:

• Sewage is coming up through any fixture, a toilet, shower, or outside gulley
• Multiple fixtures are backing up at the same time (that points to a blocked main drain, not just a sink)
• Water is getting into a room it shouldn't be, near electrics, under flooring, into a cellar
• You're a landlord with tenants and there's no working toilet in the property

Wait until morning if it's a single slow-draining sink or bath and you can isolate it. Turn the tap off, don't use it, and go to bed.

The test I always give people over the phone: can everyone in the house use the toilet? If yes, you're probably safe to wait. If no, don't wait.

What to do before we arrive

This is where people make things worse without meaning to.

Stop using water. I had a job out on Chesterton last winter where a family's main drain was completely blocked at the junction. They didn't know, so they kept flushing, kept running the dishwasher, and by the time we got there sewage had backed up under the kitchen units. The blockage was a two-hour jetting job. The damage took two weeks to dry out.

Turn off the washing machine. Don't flush the downstairs toilet. Don't run the kitchen tap. Every litre you put into a blocked system has to go somewhere, and it won't be the sewer.

Find your stopcock. Usually under the kitchen sink or where the water main enters the house. You might not need it, but knowing where it is saves time if things escalate.

Check your outside manhole. If you've got access to a ground-level inspection cover in the garden or drive, lift it carefully with a flat-head screwdriver. If it's full to the brim with water or effluent, your main drain is blocked downstream of that point. If it's empty, the blockage is likely inside the house. That information is genuinely useful to give the engineer on the phone.

Don't pour chemicals down. I know it's tempting. Caustic soda, drain unblocker, boiling water. At 2am, none of that is going to shift a solid blockage in the main line. What it does is create a chemical hazard for the engineer who then has to jet the pipe. I've had burns from it. Don't bother.

What the engineer will actually do

For most out-of-hours blocked drain calls in Cirencester and the surrounding GL7 villages, the fix is high-pressure water jetting. We put a hose into the drain, run it to the blockage, and blast it clear. It's fast, it's clean, and it works on fat, wipes, roots, and compacted silt.

If jetting doesn't fully clear it, or if we suspect structural damage is causing repeated blockages, we'll recommend a CCTV drain survey during daylight hours. That puts a camera through the pipe and shows us exactly what's going on.

Out-of-hours work does cost more than a daytime call. That's true across the trade and I won't pretend otherwise. But a blocked main drain left until morning in a house full of people is rarely a cheaper outcome.

A word on who's responsible

If the blockage is in a shared sewer on your street, that's Severn Trent's problem and their number is 0800 783 4444. They cover the public sewer network. If the blockage is on your private drain, the bit that runs from your house to the public sewer, that's yours.

Not sure which side of the boundary you're on? That's fine, tell us what you're seeing and we'll work it out.

Drainsco covers Cirencester and the GL postcodes around it, including South Cerney, Kemble, Siddington, Coates, and out to Fairford and Northleach. Engineers are on call around the clock. There's no call-out fee, and you'll get a clear price before any work starts. If you're not sure whether it's an emergency, ring anyway. That's what the line is for.