Drain Cleaning in Amarillo, TX

Amarillo grew as a railroad and cattle town in the late 1800s and boomed with oil and gas in the 1920s. Neighborhoods near downtown, including the Plemons-Eakle district, Wolflin and the streets around Polk Street, have homes from the 1900s through the 1940s with cast iron or clay laterals.

Postwar neighborhoods spread south and west through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, mostly slab and basement homes with cast iron drains.

Unusually for Texas, many older Amarillo homes have basements, which means floor drains and lower-level fixtures that are the first place sewage shows up when the main backs up.

Southwest Amarillo and the newer subdivisions toward Canyon have plastic drains and outside cleanouts, and their problems are usually what goes down the drain rather than the pipe.

Winter temperatures drop well below freezing, and blizzards can bring days of cold. Drains in exterior walls, garages and crawlspaces can freeze. Wind blows grit into uncapped cleanouts and vents.

The City of Amarillo's utilities department runs wastewater collection and treatment. Homeowners maintain the private service line from the house to the city main.

Winter is the hardest season. Arctic fronts and blizzards can freeze drains in exterior walls, garages and crawlspaces for days.

Spring wind blows dust into uncapped cleanouts and vents. Summer thunderstorms can drop heavy rain and hail quickly, overloading sewers and flooding basements.

The Plemons-Eakle historic district and the Wolflin neighborhood have some of Amarillo's grandest older homes, many with basements and original cast iron or clay laterals. Roots from mature elms and cottonwoods find their way into joints, and corroded cast iron narrows over time. A camera inspection shows what's going on before a basement backup.

Many Amarillo homes built before the 1970s have basements, which is rare in Texas. A basement floor drain is the lowest point in the plumbing, so when the main backs up, sewage shows up there first. A backwater valve can stop it from coming back in. Keep the floor drain trap filled with water so sewer gas stays out.

Amarillo winters bring arctic fronts that can drop temperatures below zero. Drains in exterior walls, garages and crawlspaces freeze. Insulate exposed pipes, close garage doors and crawlspace vents during cold snaps, and let faucets drip. If a drain freezes, warm the area slowly; never use an open flame.

During a February cold snap, a family in a 1950s home near Wolflin finds the basement laundry drain won't take water and the kitchen sink is slow. The plumber finds the line frozen where it runs through the crawlspace, thaws it and recommends insulation and sealing the crawlspace vents.

Amarillo draws water from the Ogallala Aquifer and Lake Meredith, and both carry a heavy mineral load. White crust builds inside bathroom traps, tub drains and the bottom of water heaters within a few years. A shower that drains slower every month usually has a crusted drain body catching hair. Pull and clean traps every year or two, keep a hair catcher in each shower and drain a few gallons from the water heater each fall to flush out sediment.

Amarillo is regularly ranked among the windiest cities in the country, and spring gusts can blow for days. Dust and grit find their way into uncapped cleanouts, broken vent caps and outdoor drains, settling in the low spots of a lateral where they catch paper and grease. A plastic cleanout cap costs a few dollars. Walk the yard after a big wind event, make sure every cap is whole and screwed down and replace any that cracked in the cold.

Panhandle thunderstorms can drop heavy rain and hail in minutes. Streets flood, playa lakes fill and sewers can be overloaded, pushing water into basements. A backwater valve and a working sump pump help.

Southwest Amarillo, along Soncy Road and Hillside, and the newer subdivisions stretching toward Canyon were built from the 1980s onward with plastic drains and outside cleanouts. Pipe failure is rare. The usual trouble is kitchen grease from family cooking, wipes in kids' bathrooms and lint from daily laundry, plus the occasional frozen line in a garage that wasn't insulated.

The old Route 66 strip along Sixth Avenue and the steakhouses and diners along I-40 serve a lot of beef and fried food. Commercial kitchens need grease interceptors pumped on schedule and kitchen lines jetted regularly so a busy weekend doesn't end with a flooded floor.

The Pantex plant, Tyson and the Bell Textron facility employ thousands, and many workers rent homes in north and east Amarillo built in the 1950s and 1960s. Those homes often have cast iron drains with decades of scale. Renters should find the cleanout on move-in day and report slow drains early, before a full backup soaks a basement or carpet.

Give your neighborhood and the home's age, whether there's a basement and whether the drain might be frozen. Mention if water appeared on a basement floor drain, whether the cleanout cap is missing or cracked and whether this has happened during past cold snaps. If roads are icy, say how a truck can reach the house.