Town of Pinedale update
by Town of Pinedale
September 29, 2015
This week, as part of our ongoing preparations for winter and our routine cyclic maintenance, you will see our Public Works staff out jetting sewer lines. While this may not sound like a lot of fun, it is way more fun to clean them before there is a problem than it is to clean them because there is a problem.
The jetting does not occur on any private property. It is on Town owned lines only. The cleaning process causes a vacuum in the sewer. This will not affect homes or businesses except that the vacuum may cause "p-traps" (the little s shaped bend in the pipe under your sinks) to be sucked dry. Should you notice a sewer smell from this, just run a little water down the drain, it will refill for P traps.
It is recommended that you shut the water valve to the toilet off and put the toilet seats down. If you have floor drains, we recommend covering them while the work is being done. Watch your door for a notice to tell you when your area will be jetted.
Typically, you’ll see two men at work; one monitoring the machines protocols and the other operating the hose. It takes two people to insure safe working conditions.
A pipe is cleaned with a high pressure water jet by directing water pressure and flow through a nozzle. Controlled water pressure and flow propels a water jet through the sewer pipe allowing it to remove and wash away the obstruction. High-pressure water jetters usually operate with water pressures up to 4,000 PSI with flow rates of 2-25 gallons of water per minute. Some municipal hydro-jetters have flows up to 120 gallons per minute. The bigger the pipes, the larger and longer the water jet hose is needed to clean them properly.
This preventive jetting will clear the main lines of grease, tree roots and debris that may have built up. These build ups may not present an obvious problem at this point, but imagine what happens when the waste flow that is being reduced starts to freeze. Without clearing this before the freezing starts, we could have much bigger problems. This is not a cure all, but we need to prevent what we can.
We do want to remind you that if you plan on being gone for an extended period of time, you should be safe and have your water meter removed and drained by a professional before safely and warmly storing it. As a convenience to Town citizens, we are compiling a list of businesses that may be able to help you with this. We don’t recommend or endorse any of these over another; we are just providing you a list to save you some time searching.
If you go to www.townofpinedale.us, a list of contractors or service companies will be posted soon. Additional winter service providers such as pipe thawing and jetting companies will be available too.
And of course, if you are a service provider, feel free to contact us so we can add you to the list!
Enjoy this beautiful fall Pinedale, but get ready, Old Man Winter is on the way.
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