Question? Just ask us!
Free Encyclopedia of Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, Repair
InspectAPedia ® Home
SEPTIC SYSTEM INSPECT DIAGNOSE REPAIR
AEROBIC SEPTIC SYSTEMS
ALTERNATING BED SEPTIC SYSTEMS
BACKFLOW PREVENTER VALVE, HEATING SYS
BACKUP PREVENTION, SEPTIC
BACKUP PREVENTION, SEWER LINE
BACKWATER VALVES, SEWER LINE
BOD WASTEWATER TEST
CHEMICALS & TREATMENTS for SEPTICS
CLEANOUTS, PLUMBING DRAIN
CLOGGED DRAIN DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR
D BOX TROUBLESHOOTING
DEFINITIONS OF SEPTIC SYSTEM TERMS
DIFFICULT SEPTIC SITES
DRAINFIELD FAILURE DIAGNOSIS
DRIVING or PARKING OVER SEPTIC
DRYWELL DESIGN & USES
FILTERS SEPTIC & GREYWATER
FLOODED SEPTIC SYSTEMS, REPAIR
GARBAGE DISPOSAL vs SEPTICS
GRAVELLESS SEPTIC SYSTEMS
GRAVITY/SIPHON DOSING SYSTEMS
HOME BUYERS GUIDE to SEPTIC SYSTEMS
HOME SELLERS GUIDE TO SEPTIC INSPECT
LAGOON SEPTIC SYSTEMS
LEACHFIELD FAILURE DIAGNOSIS
MEDIA FILTER SEPTIC SYSTEMS
MOUND SEPTIC SYSTEMS
NOISE / SOUND DIAGNOSIS & CURE
ODORS GASES SMELLS, DIAGNOSIS & CURE
ODORS, PLUMBING SYSTEM
ODORS, SEPTIC or SEWER
ODORS, SULPHUR SMELL SOURCES
OUTHOUSES & LATRINES
PLANTS & TREES OVER SEPTIC SYSTEMS
PRESSURE DOSING SEPTIC SYSTEMS
RAISED BED SEPTIC SYSTEMS
SAND BED SEPTIC SYSTEMS
SEPTIC BACKUP PREVENTION
SEPTIC CARE INSTRUCTIONS
SEPTIC CLEARANCE DISTANCES
SEPTIC CODES & REFERENCES
SEPTIC D-BOX INSTALL REPAIR
SEPTIC DRAINFIELD FAILURE DIAGNOSIS
SEPTIC DRAINFIELD LIFE
SEPTIC DRAINFIELD LOCATION
SEPTIC DRAINFIELD RESTORERS?
SEPTIC DYE TEST PROCEDURE
SEPTIC FAILURE SIGNS
SEPTIC FIELD INSPECTION
SEPTIC HOLDING TANKS
SEPTIC INSPECTION & TEST GUIDE
SEPTIC SYSTEM INSPECTION CLASS
SEPTIC LIFE EXPECTANCY
METHANE GAS HAZARDS
SEPTIC PUMPING REPAIR
SEPTIC SUPPLIES & PARTS
SEPTIC SYSTEM DESIGN ALTERNATIVES
SEPTIC SYSTEM DESIGN BASICS
SEPTIC SYSTEMS, HOME BUYERS GUIDE to
SEPTIC SYSTEM INSPECTION & TEST GUIDE
SEPTIC SYSTEM ODORS
SEPTIC SYSTEM SAFETY WARNINGS
SEPTIC TANK BAFFLES
SEPTIC TANK COVERS
SEPTIC TANK, HOW TO FIND
SEPTIC TANK INSPECTION PROCEDURE
SEPTIC TANK LEAKS
SEPTIC TANK LEVELS of SEWAGE
SEPTIC TANK PUMPING SCHEDULE
SEPTIC TANK SIZE
SEPTIC TANK TEES
SEPTIC TESTS: DYE & LOADING TESTS
SEPTIC TREATMENTS & CHEMICALS
SEWAGE & SEPTIC CONTAMINANTS
SEWAGE BACKUP, WHAT TO DO
SEWAGE BACKUP TEST & CLEANUP
SEWAGE BACKUP PREVENTION
SEWAGE CONTAMINATION in buildings
SEWAGE CONTAMINANTS in FRUIT / VEGETABLES
SEWAGE GRINDER PUMPS
SEWAGE LEVELS in SEPTIC TANKS
SEWAGE NITROGEN CONTAMINANTS
SEWAGE PATHOGENS in SEPTIC SLUDGE
SEWAGE PUMP CLOG DAMAGE
SEWER BACKUP PREVENTION
SEWER GAS ODORS
SEWER GAS ODORS in COLD WEATHER
SEWER LINE REPLACEMENT
SINKHOLES, WARNING SIGNS
SOAKAWAY BED FAILURE DIAGNOSIS
TOILETS, INSPECT, INSTALL, REPAIR
TRAPS on PLUMBING FIXTURES
VIDEO GUIDES: Septic Videos
WASHING MACHINES & SEPTIC SYSTEMS
WASTEWATER TREATMENT BASICS
WATER, WELLS, WATER TANKS: TESTING GUIDE
WATER SOFTENERS & CONDITIONERS
WATER SUPPLY & DRAIN PIPING
WETLAND SEPTIC SYSTEMS
WINTERIZE A BUILDING
Sewer line backup prevention: This document explains for homes connected to a municipal sewer we discuss how to prevent sewer or storm drain backups into a building during rain or heavy flooding including the installation and use of backflow preventers, backwater valves, check valves and toilet drain plugs.
Green links show where you are. © Copyright 2014 InspectApedia.com, All Rights Reserved.
Guide to Use of Backwater Check Valves to Prevent Septic or Sewer Backups Due to Flooding or Sewer Main Backups
Definition of backwater valve: as used here a backwater valve is a check valve installed on a building drain to prevent backup should the drain line receive floodwaters from outside the building, such as due to area flooding or a septic or sewer line backup. The sewer line back flow prevention valve shown at page top is produced by Mainline Backflow Products - Backwater Valves (image use permission).
Don't confuse a backwater valve with a backflow preventer used on water supply piping and discussed separately at BACKFLOW PREVENTER on Heating Sys Water Feed.
If toilets are overflowing, see TOILET OVERFLOW EMERGENCY.
If your building drains are already backing up, especially during a time of heavy use such as with guests in the home, see SEPTIC BACKUP REPAIR or for homes connected to municipal sewer, see CLOGGED DRAIN DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR
If your home is connected to a private septic system and drains are already backing up, especially during a time of heavy use such as with guests in the home, see SEPTIC BACKUP REPAIR.
Late Night Sewer Backup Starts Washing Machine in the Basement
One of our clients in Cold Spring New York reported waking during the night to hear their old basement clothes washer running. Having just moved into the home the occupants wondered what ghost was doing laundry at 2 AM. Investigating they found that the local municipal sewer had backed up into the home through the main drain line.
Because their washing machine drain was improperly connected (without an air gap) to a drain line, and as it was the lowest plumbing fixture in the home, the clothes washer had literally filled up with sewage. Since this old clothes washer included a pressure switch that automatically turned on the washer when it sensed that the tub was filled, the washer had not only received backing up sewage, but had begun agitating it in the middle of the night.
Further investigation showed that sewer backups were notorious in the neighborhood, and that this home lacked a sewage backflow preventer at the home's connection to the sewer line. The home suffered from
Question on basement flooding due to sewer line backup:
I had a sewer backup into my home again yesterday at a basement toilet. Our main line has a sewer back-up flap [a wastewater check valve or backwater valve].
The main sewer line check valve works fine when sewer is full from a very heavy rain in a short time. But yesterday we had 60 cm rain in 30 minutes. I had back-up valves on the sink, vanity, shower,clothes washer (drains).
The only place where backup occurred is the basement toilet. I managed placing a ball of rags into the toilet and applying pressure that stopped the water.
Our backup was actually clean water from a flat roof draining into the sewer venting pipe. This is a duplex home.
Is there such a thing as a soft plastic or other material filled that would take the shape of the toilet and prevent water coming back up as overflow. Like I did with a ball of cloths, and a brick wrapped in plastic. It did the trick in an emergency, but it's not practical. - (Anonymous by request)
The advantage of installing a main sewer line backup prevention valve is that this device will avoid having to plug multiple drains in the home, and the valve, basically a big check valve, is always in place - you don't have to do a thing to get it to work.
If you are having plumbing or sewer line drains back up, including at the toilet, then either your main sewer line check valve is not working, or your backup is occurring (as you suspect) because water or wastewater is draining into your in-house building drain/waste/vent system before or ahead of the main sewer drain check valve. While you could install another check valve at or near the basement toilet waste line, it makes more sense to install just one such valve to protect the entire building and to make sure that one is working properly.
Stuffing a rag or any other temporary "block" into a toilet or other drains is not the best approach to this problem. Not only can it be unsanitary and a health risk in some cases (see SEWAGE PATHOGENS in SEPTIC SLUDGE), but also, who is going to stuff drains when flood conditions occur and no one is at home?
Install a Main Sewer Line Check Valve or Sewer Cutoff Valve or Make Sure Installed Valves are Working
First you may want to have your main waste line backup check valve inspected - if the sewer line is backing up from the street into your home, your main sewer sewer backup valve (waste backwater valve) or a flood guard valve is not working properly it won't protect from flooding from storm drainage or sewage backups.
Here is a Check Valve Maintenance Guide from the City of Ann Arbor, MI.
Mainline Backflow Products, a producer of sewer line check valves and related products, informs us that:
The City of Chicago and folks writing about Chicago sewer backups offer advice about avoiding sewer backups including the use of basement floor drain standpipes:
Don't Route Roof or Surface Drainage into the Sewer Piping System
Second, you should disconnect your roof drainage from the sewer piping system entirely, routing it to a nearby storm drain, or to the ground surface (at least 12 feet away from the building and to a location that drains away from the building to avoid basement flooding).
If connecting roof runoff drains to the sewer system is actually permitted in your neighborhood, try changing the drain connection to one that is downstream from your main sewer line trap and check valve.
By the way, in some communities it is illegal to rout roof runoff into the sewer piping. Doing so significantly increases the wastewater volume load on the municipal sewer treatment system so severely that during a storm the sewage treatment plant simply overflows, dumping raw sewage into nearby rivers or waterways.
Keep your Drains from Clogging & Unblock Slow or Clogged Drains
A clogged building drain can also lead to a sewage backup or toilet overflow even if the main drain is properly protected from sewer line backups. Flushing needles, diapers, paper products, sanitary products, and grease into drains is always a bad idea.
We discuss some of these items for homes served by private septic systems at NEVER FLUSH INTO SEPTICS. It's a good idea to keep those same items out of drains connected to a municipal sewer as well.
See CLOGGED DRAIN DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR for details about slow or clogged plumbing drain diagnosis, prevention, and repair.
Other Floor Drain Check Valves to Prevent Basement Floods
In addition, or sometimes instead of a main sewer line check valve, flood guards are often installed in individual floor drains for drains up to 4" in diameter. But if a main sewer drain check valve is installed and we are not draining roof runoff into the building drain piping, these should not be needed except on floor drains that connect not to the sewer piping but to a separate storm drain system.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about sewer backup prevention
Questions & answers or comments about backflow preventer valves, sewer backups, toilet drain backup prevention and sewer line backup prevention.
Question: Is there a plug for toilets that will prevent sewage backups into my basement?
Quick question, when it rains hard where I live our basement toilet backs up with water. Is there a plug of some sort I can put in it to stop this from happening.
Something like a shower plug but that would work in toilets. Thank you for your time. J.P.
Reply: How to plug or seal off a basement toilet and the buiding sewer line against sewer backups
A competent onsite inspection by a plumbing expert who is familiar with sewer backups usually finds additional clues that help accurately diagnose a problem such as an improper house drain installation, other sewer backup risk points such as basement floor drains or sinks, even washing machines, or the need for a check valve or backflow preventer valve at your home main drain.
How to plug or seal off a basement toilet against sewer backups - temporary toilet seals are unreliable and risky but here are some suggestions for preventing sewage backing up through a toilet on the building's lowest floor.
How to plug a toilet drain against sewer line backups: toilet drain test plugs
We don't know about a functional plug that fits in a toilet bowl and that reliably seals any toilet bowl shape against sewer backups.
As we describe here, there are however plumbing drain test plugs designed for all sizes of drain piping including ones commonly used to close off a toilet drain opening when no toilet is installed. And one type of these might work to seal some toilet bowls, depending on the toilet bowl shape and dimensions.
Typically a toilet drain piping itself is 4" in diameter and can sealed easily using a 4" expanding test plug. But sealing the drain inside a toilet bowl against sewer backups is a different matter. First the toilet bottom opening is not round, so a plumbing drain test plug may not seal the drain reliably; second forcing a plug into the bottom of a toilet risks cracking and ruining the bowl; third, using something makeshift (a ball of newspaper or loaf of bread) risks flushing a hard-to-clear blockage down the drain; third, even if we can plug the basement toilet against sewage backups,
Nylon or metal based expanding plumbing drain test plugs using rubber, silicone, neoprene, nitrile, or vitron flexible seals are devices that employ a screw and compression plate to permit a plug to be inserted and expanded to seal a round drain opening.
Plumbing drain test plugs used for testing plumbing drains for leaks (openings are plugged and the drain system is pressurized) are available from most plumbing suppliers.
But most plumbing drain system test plugs such as Pipestoppers™ won't work nor seal properly in openings that are not round. 
Flexible or inflatable pipe plugs may fit some toilets
An exception that might fit some toilet bowls and permit plugging an in-place toilet against occasional sewer backups are inflatable plumbing test plugs such as the Petersen line of inflatable plumbing test plugs and the Test Ball® Inflatable Plumbing Test Plugs produced by Cherne Industries.  
Watch out: plugging a basement toilet or toilet drain might stop sewer backups that have been flowing up and out into the building through one or more toilets found on its lowest level. But if other drain openings are present, the rising pressure from a sewer line backup may simply find the next higher drain opening (bath tub, sink, shower floor, even washing machine). That's why we recommend the alternative sewer backup prevention steps listed
Abandon the basement toilet to prevent sewer line backups into the building?
If your home includes a basement toilet that is a source of sewer backups, and if there are no other low-building drains that will assume that role if the toilet is eliminated, we suggest you consider removing the toilet completely, abandoning its use, and plugging the toilet drain line at floor level.
But if the basement toilet is needed and/or if there are simply other drains that will become the sewage backup and entry points if the toilet is removed, abandoning the toilet doesn't make sense.
How to use backflow prevention valves, backwater valves, or main drain check valves on the building drain protect against sewer backups
That said, our last suggestion is the best solution - a check valve (properly referred to as a backflow prevention valve or in some areas a "backwater valve") can be installed on the main building drain can prevent sewer backups through the toilet when the area sewer lines are flooding.
Install a flood alarm or backflow preventer valve (backwater valve) integrated flood alarm
If your home is subject to frequent risk of flooding or water entry or sewer backups, look into a flood alarm that can be installed along with the backflow preventer valve on your main building drain.
Alarms are available that sense water on the basement floor, indicating the beginning of water entry and provided someone is at home, giving time to investigate and take action.
But when discussing sewage backups through lower floor drains or toilets, we refer you instead to a somewhat different product such as the Rialco™ flood alarm  that is integrated into your backflow preventer, informing you when that special check valve has closed against a sewer backup.
By installing a replacement waterproof cap on the backwater valve installed at the main building drain, the modified back-water valve cap permits connection of the Rialco flood alarm sensor tubing to a port that will inform the alarm that the backwater valve has been activated. Thus the building owner or occupants are informed of sewer line flood conditions as well as of the fact that the valve is working.
Besides backflow preventers, other types of check valves used on building plumbing and heating systems are discussed at CHECK VALVES, WATER SUPPLY.
Use the "Click to Show or Hide FAQs" link just above to see recently-posted questions, comments, replies, try the search box just below, or if you prefer, post a question or comment in the Comments box below and we will respond promptly.
Suggested citation for this web page
Green link shows where you are in this article series.
Search the InspectApedia website
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
Technical Reviewers & References
Pennsylvania State Fact Sheets relating to domestic wastewater treatment systems include