Emergency drain unblocking in Valencia and Alicante: sinks, toilets, showers and downpipes, same day

What we do

• Kitchen sink that will not drain
• Blocked basin and bidet
• Blocked or overflowing toilet
• Shower tray and bath
• Traps and gully traps
• House downpipes and inspection chambers
• Electric spring machine unblocking
• Camera inspection to locate the blockage
• Grease build-up cleaning
• Replacement of damaged trap or pipe section

The most common blockages and how we clear them

Kitchen sink that will not drain. Almost always grease: cooking oil that cools in the trap and the first metre of pipe and sets into a hard plug. We take the trap apart, clean it and run the spring through to the gully trap or the downpipe. If you have tried to unblock the sink with chemicals, tell us: caustic soda sitting in the pipe burns and changes how we work. There is a guide to unblocking a kitchen sink with what you can try first.

Blocked or overflowing toilet. So-called flushable wipes are the number one cause in rental flats in Benidorm and Torrevieja. We start with a pressure pump and, if it does not give, a short spring through the pan itself. When the blockage is beyond the toilet bend, we move to the machine via the inspection chamber or the downpipe. Unblocking a toilet without cracking the ceramic means knowing where to stop, which is why we do not use acids. See the guide to unblocking a toilet if it is only a minor blockage.

Slow basin and shower. Hair, soap and limescale. In Alicante and the Vega Baja the water is very hard and limescale narrows the waste year after year; in Valencia it is more often hair wrapped round the shower tray waste. We remove the waste, clean the trap and run an 8 mm spring through. Unblocking a basin or a shower costs €70-120, the same as a kitchen sink, and rarely takes more than 40 minutes.

House downpipes and inspection chambers. In ground-floor flats near the beach, bungalows and villas the problem is usually in the garden inspection chamber or the run to the mains connection: roots, sand and builders' debris. This is where the electric spring machine with cutting heads comes in, and the camera if the cause is not obvious. If communal pipes need clearing or a septic tank emptying by tanker, we work with a partner tanker company and put you in touch.

How we work

Three steps, always the same, so you know what you will pay before we set foot in your home.

• 1. Photo or video on WhatsApp. Send us a photo of the sink, toilet or inspection chamber, tell us what you have tried and whether other drains are affected. If two outlets are draining badly at once (say the shower and the toilet), the blockage is further down and that tells us everything.
• 2. Fixed price. We give you a firm price for the unblocking, not an hourly rate. If you accept, the call-out is included; if you end up not going ahead, it is €25 in Valencia or Alicante city or €35 elsewhere in our area. The camera inspection (€60-120) is free if you book the unblocking.
• 3. Same-day visit, payment on completion. Between 8am and 9pm, Monday to Sunday, we usually come the same day; with water overflowing, in 20-45 minutes. When we finish we run water at full flow to check it drains, you pay in cash, by card, Bizum or bank transfer, and you get an invoice including IVA (VAT) and a 6-month guarantee on labour.

What affects the price of drain unblocking

First, where the blockage is. A trap or the first metre of pipe is cleared by hand or with a hand spring: €70-120 for a kitchen sink, basin or shower, and €80-140 for a toilet because we are working on ceramic and sometimes have to lift the pan. If the blockage is several metres in, in the downpipe or the inspection chamber, the electric spring machine comes out and the price goes up to €110-180.

Second, the time of day. Night and bank holiday emergencies cost €130-220, because an on-call technician comes out. It is the only surcharge we apply and we tell you when we give the price; many customers with a partial blockage prefer to wait until morning and pay the normal rate.

Third, whether anything needs replacing: a trap cracked by an attempt with a coat hanger, a split length of PVC or a corroded shower waste. We see it when we take things apart, tell you the price of the part and you decide. To see what the market charges for clearing pipes, with ranges by town and the tricks behind the "from €39" adverts, go to the drain unblocking prices page.

When the blockage is worse than it looks

Some signs tell you the problem is not in your sink but further down. If you flush the toilet and water rises in the shower tray, or the basin gurgles when the washing machine empties, the blockage is in the downpipe or the inspection chamber and affects every drain in the home. In that case we go straight in with the machine and the camera, and find the inspection chamber before putting anything down the fixtures.

In Valencia blocks from the 60s to 80s the downpipes are often fibre cement, which breaks under aggressive springs. There we work with gentle heads and less pressure, even if it takes longer. In urbanisations in Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa we find palm and ficus roots inside the garden pipe: they are cut out with a blade head, but if the pipe is broken the answer is to replace the section, not unblock it every three months. If you have a badly blocked pipe that closes up again within weeks, there is almost certainly a break, a back-fall or a dropped joint, and the camera shows it in ten minutes; our guide to clearing a badly blocked pipe explains what can be done without a machine and when it is time to stop.

If the blockage is in the communal downpipe, the one running down the light well that all the flats share, the comunidad de vecinos (residents' association) should pay. We tell you on the spot, leave you a report with the camera image for the administrator and, if you wish, do the work ourselves once the comunidad approves the quote.

Where we unblock drains

We set out from Valencia and Alicante with the machine on board, and from the Vega Baja for the southern coast. In Valencia the most frequent calls are grease-blocked sinks in Ruzafa, El Carmen and Benimaclet, and old downpipes in Patraix and Campanar. In Alicante we do a lot of ground-floor flats near the beach in San Juan and Albufereta and 1970s flats in Carolinas and the Centro.

In Elche we cover the blocks of Carrús and El Pla and the apartments of Arenales del Sol. In Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa most jobs are bungalow kitchens and garden inspection chambers in summer, when the houses fill up. In Benidorm we work with holiday-let managers who need a drain cleared between two check-ins, and in Dénia with villas in Les Marines after the storms.

We also cover San Vicente del Raspeig, Mutxamel, El Campello, Santa Pola, Guardamar, La Mata, Villajoyosa, Altea, Mislata, Torrent and Paterna from the nearest base. If your town is not on the list and you are looking for a 24-hour drain service, write to us anyway: within a minute we tell you whether we can get there today and at what price.

Guide prices

Drain unblocking in…

• Valencia
• Alicante
• Elche
• Orihuela Costa
• Benidorm
• Dénia
• Torrevieja

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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