How much does drain unblocking cost? Pipe, sink and toilet prices

Drain unblocking prices in 2026

Drain unblocking prices by type of blockage

Prices depend on where the blockage is and which tool is needed. About 70 % of jobs are solved with a hand auger or a pressure pump in under an hour; the rest need an electric spring machine with cutting heads, and in downpipes and inspection chambers sometimes a camera to locate the problem. We tell you which row applies to your case from a photo and a description by WhatsApp, and that price is what you pay.

Drain unblocking prices by town

Central Valencia is 10-15 % higher because of parking and older blocks with fibre-cement downpipes that need careful handling; Alicante has the standard rate; Torrevieja and Benidorm add up to 10 % in urbanisations and in beach ground floors with sand in the pipes. Details on drain unblocking in Valencia, drain unblocking in Alicante, drain unblocking in Torrevieja and drain unblocking in Benidorm.

What changes the price of a drain unblocking job

• Where the blockage is. In the trap or a metre along, a hand auger does it and it falls into the cheapest row. At 5-15 m, inside the flat's collector pipe or in the stack, an electric machine is needed.
• What is causing it. Compacted cooking grease and limescale are cut with a head; a towel, a toy or wet wipes in the toilet mean removing the object, sometimes by taking the toilet off (which adds €40-60).
• Time and day. From 8am to 9pm, Monday to Sunday, the normal rate. At night and on public holidays, the emergency row, which already has the surcharge included.
• Access. A sink with a cupboard full of things underneath, or a floor gully under a tiled shower tray with no access hatch, take more time than a basin with the trap in plain view.
• Type of pipe. The fibre-cement or lead downpipes in 1960s-70s blocks in Valencia and Alicante cannot take aggressive heads; we work more slowly so as not to break them.
• Standing water and clean-up. An overflowing toilet or a flooded kitchen means bailing out, disinfecting and protecting the area before starting.
• Repeat blockages. If the blockage comes back within six months at the same point, the problem is the pipe (back fall, a break, roots) and we propose a camera and a fix, not another unblocking.
• Who pays. If the blockage is in the communal stack, the invoice goes to the comunidad de vecinos (residents' association) and it is worth telling the administrador (managing agent) before starting.

What the price includes and what it does not

Included: travel within the town if you accept the quote, the unblocking with hand auger, pump or machine according to the row, dismantling and cleaning the trap or floor gully, a test with hot water, cleaning of the work area, an invoice with IVA and a 6-month written guarantee on the point unblocked. If a camera is needed and you book the unblocking, the camera is not charged.

Not included: replacing broken sections of pipe, replacing the toilet if it has to be broken to get an object out, communal stack clearing with a tanker and septic tanks (we work with a partner tanker company and pass you their quote), building work to open an inspection chamber that has no access, and chemicals, which we do not use because they damage old pipes. If you do not accept the quote after the visit, we charge the call-out only: €25 in Valencia and Alicante city, €35 elsewhere.

Three real jobs with the total

• Kitchen sink not draining in Ruzafa, Valencia, a Saturday at 11am. Grease built up in the trap and the first metre of pipe. Trap dismantled, 3 m hand auger and a flush with hot water. Total: €95 including IVA, 45 minutes, no surcharge for a Saturday.
• Blocked toilet in a holiday flat in Benidorm (Levante), Monday at 5pm. Wet wipes from the previous guests two metres from the toilet. Electric spring machine with a retrieval head, toilet left in place. Total: €150 including IVA, invoiced to the management company.
• Shower and basin blocked in a beach ground floor in Torrevieja (Playa de los Locos), floor gully full of sand and hair. Electric machine from the gully to the stack, 8 m, plus a camera inspection to check the pipe is not broken. Total: €170 including IVA, the camera free of charge because the unblocking was booked.

How to avoid the "drain unblocking from €29" scams

Drain unblocking is, along with locksmithing, the trade with the most misleading adverts. The pattern: a website saying "24-hour drain unblocking from €29", a phone number that will not quote ("depends what we find"), an operative who turns up, puts the auger in for two minutes and says the blockage is serious and needs a tanker or a new pipe, and an invoice for €300 to €900 presented while the sink is still full of water. If you pay, you pay out of fear of being left without a kitchen.

• Ask for a fixed price by WhatsApp before they set off, with a photo of the sink or the toilet. If all they give you is "from", the real price gets decided in your home.
• Ask what each possible tool costs (hand auger, machine, camera) before they come. With the table above you know what is normal.
• Do not accept a tanker for a household sink or toilet: tankers are for communal stacks, cesspits and septic tanks, not for a flat.
• If they say the pipe has to be replaced, ask to see the camera footage. Without a video there is no reason to break anything.
• Check that the company has a name, NIF (tax number) and address, and pay by card or Bizum with an invoice. It is the only way to complain later.
• If the invoice does not match what was agreed, do not pay under pressure: ask for the hoja de reclamaciones (official complaint form) and, if needed, call the Policía Local.

When you can unblock it yourself and when to call

A sink that drains slowly, a basin full of hair or a toilet with too much paper can often be sorted at home. Start with the gentlest option: very hot water and a plunger, then baking soda and vinegar, and finally dismantling and cleaning the trap, which takes ten minutes. The steps are in how to unblock a kitchen sink, how to unblock a toilet, how to unblock a bathroom basin and how to unblock a shower drain.

Call when water rises in another drain as one empties (the blockage is in the collector pipe, out of your reach), when the toilet overflows on flushing, when the blockage comes back every few weeks, when the ground floor of the building smells of sewage, or when you have already tried everything in how to clear a badly blocked pipe without result. And never pour caustic soda or chemical drain cleaners into old pipes: they do not shift the plug, they generate heat that warps PVC, and then we have to work with a corrosive product in the pipe. If what is dripping is a trap or a tap, the right service is the plumber.

Book this service

• Drain unblocking
• Drain unblocking in Valencia
• Drain unblocking in Alicante
• Drain unblocking in Elche
• Drain unblocking in Orihuela Costa
• Drain unblocking in Benidorm
• Drain unblocking in Dénia

Guides and tips

• How to unblock a kitchen sink: 5 methods from gentle to heavy duty
• How to unblock a toilet without a plunger and without making a mess
• How to unblock a bathroom basin: hair, soap and the trap trick
• How to unblock a shower or shower tray in 15 minutes
• How to clear a badly blocked pipe when nothing else works
• Baking soda and vinegar for blocked drains: when it works and when it does not
• How to unblock a dishwasher that will not drain

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