Sewer Line Replacement

This job has two different fittings that you won't see in any normal sewer line replacement. The first is a backwater valve, the valve in the picture is the fitting with a towel on top of it. This valve is used to prevent any water from coming back into the home. In this application it was used to prevent a storm water from entering the home. The city sewer and storm drain share the same pipe in this area of town due to the grade and space allocated for drainage to my understanding. So when the storm drain overflows it backs up in the homes in that area if no backwater valve is installed. The second fitting is a pvc 1/4 turn shut of valve. This is installed at the request of customer. A backwater valve should be efficient enough for stopping any water coming back into the sewer. Though I hate to lose work I do recommend customers to get estimates for trenchless sewer line replacements, especially if they have really nice landscaping. The only downside to having trenchless is you have the same grade as the old pipe. Grade being a continuous fall of 2%(3/4" per foot). Old systems get replaced, most of the time, due to breakage from tree roots. Tree roots can lift , push or pull a pipe in the ground. Hence leaving an ungraded pipe. So when you slide a new piece of pipe through the old, it keeps the same grade. For those of you who dont know why grade is important it's because any material flushed will not stay with the flow of water as it makes it way down the pipe. If theres to much grade the water will flow to fast for the material to flow with it, therefore leaving the material to sit and obstruct future flushes. So as u can imagine after a while there will be lots of material just building and building till you have to actually get in there and make the right grade.