Author Archives: Edenflo

Catch Basin 101: Know Your Responsibilities

At Edenflo, we’ve always taken great pride in educating our customer base about the importance of catch basin cleaning. We think it’s important for property owners/waste generators to understand their role and responsibilities in the process.

That’s why, when we came upon an informative and entertaining video developed by the Capital Regional District (CRD), we simply had to share it! The CRD is the regional government for 13 municipalities and three electoral areas on southern Vancouver Island and the nearby Gulf Islands. The CRD provides regional decision-making on issues that transcend municipal boundaries, and they also develop partnerships to facilitate and deliver projects and services that benefit the region as a whole.

Their mandate is to serve the public and build a vibrant, livable, and sustainable region, so they were more than happy to give us permission to use their video in today’s blog. In addition to the video, their brief article on catch basin maintenance provides all the information you need to be a responsible catch basin owner.

If you’re in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, Edenflo has preventative maintenance programs that can help you to manage your catch basin responsibly and seamlessly; contact us today for more information.

Video Camera Line Inspection Service

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Video Camera Line Inspection has grown to become a popular and valuable service for those in pump truck services and the plumbing industry. The video camera is a flexible rod that has a high-resolution camera at the end of it where the images are transmitted to a camera operator and recorded for viewing at a later time.

This tool allows technicians to see inside sewer lines and pipes and has many benefits for business owners and homeowners alike. With the video camera, technicians are able to easily locate damage, cracks and other problems in the sewer lines and pipes. Instead of digging up the sewer lines, the video camera allows the property owner to save money and mitigate future emergency maintenance by discovering the problem ahead of time.

Any foreign objects causing a blockage in your lines and pipes are also identifiable with the video camera. A video camera can be used to find valuable belongings such as jewelry that may have accidentally been dropped down a drain.

If you are dealing with problems in your sewer lines and pipes, video cameras are a cost effective method that could potentially save money on repair bills in the future.

How to Identify Septic Issues

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septic-tank-buyer-pathThe purpose of the septic tank is to separate liquids from solids and to provide some breakdown of organic matter in the wastewater. However, if proper maintenance is not conducted throughout the life of your septic system, issues can occur that could impact your septic system, yard, home and belongings. Below are some clear identifiers that your septic system may not be functioning optimally:

  • The ground around the septic tank or over the leaching bed may be soggy or spongy to walk on.
  • Toilets, showers and sinks may back up or may take longer than usual to drain.
  • Occasional sewage odours may become noticeable, particularly after a rainfall.
  • Gray or black liquids may be surfacing in your yard or backing up through fixtures into the house.

Edenflo offers preventive maintenance packages that will help you avoid costly repairs that can sometimes affect aging or neglected septic systems. Based on the age of your system and the number of people using the system, we will give you friendly reminders when it’s close to time to clean your system. Call today and ask about our regular maintenance schedules, designed to make your life a little easier!

Everything You Need to Know about Hydro Excavation; What are the Benefits to you as a Homeowner or Business Owner?

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Hydro excavation is a very exciting modern invention that combines two very powerful forces. It brings together high-pressurized water to disrupt debris and then sucks away the fallout with an industrial strength vacuum. The net result is an area devoid of all unwanted debris in a relatively brief period of time.

What are the Benefits to You as a Homeowner?
Hydro-excavation_Sept-2016For the most part, homeowners would only need hydro excavating for landscaping purposes or exposing utilities. In either scenario, hydro excavating is an especially beneficial method because it runs little risk of leaving any real damage behind. The process is, after all, non-mechanic and also non-destructive. Many people actually refer to it as “soft digging” as a reference to how gentle it can be to the surrounding area.

When unearthing utilities, this is essential. The conventional method for exposing utilities too often resulted in a bigger problem when the septic tank was damaged in some way. This is virtually impossible when hyrdo excavating is utilized.

What are the Benefits to You as a Business Owner?
As a business owner, you might need hydro excavation services for similar reasons. Property managers, for example, might wish to use hydro excavation for utilities on their commercial properties.

However, hydro excavating is also great for industrial activities that involve clearing out large amounts of debris at once. If you’re looking to dig out anything from a swimming pool to a courtyard, for example, this method is ideal.

Hydro excavation services are especially helpful for construction, as they save so much time, and thus money, compared with conventional forms of handling the same process. This includes processes like remote digging where fibre optic cable might need to be laid. The process is great for cold weather digging, as well.

Whether your needs are residential, commercial or industrial in nature, Edenflo can provide you with the service and information that you need.

Hydro Flushing as Preventive Maintenance

It’s often said that an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. Well, when it comes to plumbing, a few dollars in prevention is worth more than thousands of dollars of repair and clean up costs in the aftermath of a malfunction. There are a few preventative measures you can put in place to keep your residential or commercial plumbing doing what it should – taking the things you don’t want pooling in your basement away from your home and disposing of them appropriately.

Hydro Flushing
Hydro Flushing - 1Hydro flushing is an excellent preventive measure. All sewer and waste pipes, over time, collect debris in the nooks and crannies – often it’s a buildup of silty sludge, which can trap other material. Once enough material gets trapped in a pipe to slow the flow of effluent, the problem will be compounded as the existing waste material gets compacted and more and more solids bunch together.

The result is an eventual stoppage of the pipe, a backup, and a potentially unpleasant and expensive flood.

Regular maintenance of your sewer pipes through hydro flushing (in which the buildup in your pipes is blasted away by a high-pressure water jet) is the most cost-effective and safe way to prevent these blockages from forming.

At Edenflo, we provide the lower mainland’s most expert pump truck services. We provide emergency response and preventive maintenance services to both residential and commercial customers. If you’ve got a sewer pipe to take care of, call us and we’ll help you keep things flowing.

For more information about the services offered by Edenflo, call us at 604-575-1414 or fill out our online request for service.

Preventive Maintenance Series – Video Line Inspection

As part of our series on preventive maintenance for your plumbing, let’s take a look at Video Line Inspection.

In Video Line Inspection, an Edenflo service technician will use specialized CCTV video camera equipment to inspect your residential or commercial waste pipes up close and personal – from the inside, where it’s easy to spot the problems and take action before they cause an expensive problem.

Edenflo Video Line InspectionVideo line inspection can help us find all manner of plumbing problems. Most often, it will alert us to a developing clog situation, and we can use hydro flushing (located on the same truck as the camera equipment) to get rid of the buildup before it impedes the system’s function.

We occasionally find more serious problems that require more serious repair work. Because of Video Line Inspection’s ability to pinpoint the exact location of a problem, you’ll save money because it will reduce the amount of costly excavation needed to affect a repair.

A plumbing system with a problem will tend to lead to other problems. Regular preventive maintenance is the key to reducing overall maintenance costs, and preventing disaster in the form of sewer back up and flooding.

Edenflo’s technicians are armed with the technology and know-how to solve your problems and save you money.

For more information about Video Line Inspection, Hydro Flushing, and other services offered by Edenflo, call us at 604-575-1414 or fill out our online request for service.

Residential Pump Services for Septic Systems

“Out of sight, out of mind” is a terrible, costly approach to septic tank maintenance.

septic-tank-cleaningIf your home has a septic tank, rest assured that you are using a time proven, environmentally responsible method for getting rid of waste products. Septic tanks are generally very reliable, self-sufficient methods of waste disposal. They don’t require much maintenance, but what little service they do need is imperative in avoiding big problems in the form of sewage backups and potential overflows into your home.

Septic tanks are the great separation engine in your waste disposal system. When waste enters the tank, solids float to the top, where they form a layer of decomposing material called “scum”. Most of the scum turns into liquid containing mostly water and some nutrients that makes its way out of the tank and into the ground via your leaching field.

Any solids that don’t decompose sink to the bottom of the tank and become “sludge”. Because the biological action that takes place in the tank is quite efficient, sludge builds up slowly. When the level does, inevitably, become too high, it can interfere with the layer of water moving out into the leach field, and the scum at the top of the tank will build up too quickly and can actually back up into the “in” and “out” pipes of the tank. This can cause a backup into your home.

The answer? Preventive maintenance. You need to periodically pump out the tank to remove the sludge buildup at the bottom. How often you need to do this depends on a number of factors, including size of the tank, number of people in your home, and the size and makeup of your leach field.

To find out about how often you need to service your septic tank, contact the professionals at Edenflo. We’ll send out a knowledgeable technician, fully equipped to deal with your septic system. We can be reached at 604-575-1414 or fill out our online request for service.

Storm Drains and Catch Basins – Preventive Maintenance

Storm-Drain-Catch-BasinWhen it rains, or there’s a sudden snow melt (rare here in the lower mainland, but possible), it’s essential that the infrastructure in an urban or suburban area is designed so that there’s somewhere for the water to go. Otherwise, it ends up pooling in basements and around building foundations, where it can cause costly damage and lead to structural problems, mould growth, and other unpleasant conditions.

Most areas use storm drains (intakes that are connected to municipal storm sewers) and catch basins (“holding areas” for water that can fill when there’s a lot of flow, and empty slowly later) for runoff management.

It’s easy to forget about storm water management systems when it’s not raining, or when they’re working properly. The problem is that we don’t notice that there’s a problem until it’s too late – when the water is advancing on our homes and businesses, or filling up our basements.

July 28 2014 Catch Basin 1You need to take stock of your storm water management systems when it’s not raining. Edenflo specializes in pump truck services on the lower mainland, and can help you keep your storm drains and catch basins free of debris, and your drains flowing. We operate British Columbia’s premiere pump-truck service, with high-pressure water jets to dislodge clogs and vacuum pumping to take them (and whatever else) away for environmentally responsible disposal. We even have a special “lowboy” unit that fits into lower spaces, like underground parking garages.

Edenflo provides emergency response and preventive maintenance services to both residential and commercial customers. If you’ve got storm sewers or catch basins on your property call us and we’ll offer advice and service that will keep you out of trouble when the skies start falling.

For more information about the services offered by Edenflo, call us at 604-575-1414 or fill out our online request for service.

Preventive Maintenance for Residential Sewer Lines

Three of the most dreaded words you can utter to a homeowner are “sewer back up”.

kitchen-sink-drainIndoor plumbing is one of the best features of modern living. Waste is removed from our home, and taken to a remote location – either your own septic system or, in urban areas, a central waste processing facility that processes the waste before returning it safely to the environment.

As a homeowner, you are responsible to maintain the sewer line from your home to the location where it joins the main sewer line, where your property ends. This “main line” exiting your home is susceptible to problems that can result in blockage, and cause sewage to back up into your home, usually at the lowest point, your basement drains.

The problems can originate inside the line, with a buildup of grease or other material that then attracts other solids to stick, building a clog. They can also be caused by outside forces – tree roots are often the culprit, penetrating the line through gaps or actually crushing it under pressure.

The main indicator of a problem in the main sewer line is the smell of sewage in the basement. This odour is best not ignored, because it can be matter of a few hours before the effluent starts rising from the drains.

Edenflo is experienced in taking care of sewage problems, quickly and efficiently. Video Line Inspection uses CCTV camera equipment to pinpoint the cause of the problem. Most of the time, a clog can be cleared using hydro flushing, in which we use a high-pressure jet of water to blast it away. In the less common case that your main line is damaged, we can pinpoint the problem and expose it using hydro excavation.

To find out more about the many services, residential and commercial offered by Edenflo, contact us today at 604-575-1414 or fill out our online request for service.

Edenflo is Your Hydro Excavation Expert

HYDRO-EXCAV

Hydro excavation is a new form of digging. More efficient and faster than mechanical removal of soil for septic tanks, sewer lines, and trenches for other utilities, it’s becoming standard procedure when you need fast and accurate holes dug in a hurry.

Here’s how it works:
Hydro excavation is also called “potholing” or “daylighting”. The procedure involves blasting the soil to be removed with a high-pressure water jet, breaking it up and mixing it with the liquid. The resulting slurry is removed quickly by vacuum, and contained in the truck for appropriate disposal.

It’s a pretty simple procedure, and for an experienced technician quite quick and easy to execute. Utility companies pioneered the hydro excavation technique because it allowed them to easily locate existing services without damaging them, and install new services quickly and safely. Unlike conventional digging, there’s no danger of destroying an existing service line when digging and destroying it. Landscapers and other contractors adopted the technology because it’s very targeted – it allows you to pinpoint the location of your excavation with minimal damage to adjacent property. Hydro excavation is ideal for stump removal, drilling of postholes, and installation of landscaping features like ponds and man-made streams.

Because hydro excavation is relatively “hands off”, it is safer for the workers involved in your project, and it can be used year-round, using hot water when the earth is frozen in winter.

Next time you have an excavation project, forego the backhoe. Contact Edenflo pumping at 604-575-1414 and find out how hydro excavation can help you get it done, quickly and efficiently.