Emergency drain clearance from engineers on the road 24/7 across SG13, SG14 and the surrounding villages. Most blockages cleared inside the hour — and if we can't fix it, you don't pay.
Four details is all we need. No obligation, no call out charge.
If wastewater is backing up into the property, call us first — then follow these steps to limit the damage.
Call our emergency lineFrom a slow kitchen sink to collapsed pipework under the drive, engineers covering Hertford arrive with jetting units, rods and camera kit on board — so the problem gets diagnosed and cleared in the same visit wherever possible.
Internal blockages cleared with rodding and electro-mechanical kit, then the branch checked beyond the fixture.
Kitchen & bathroom unblocking →Gullies, waste stacks, manholes and underground runs that stand full or overflow after rain.
Outdoor unblocking →Camera footage that locates cracks, root intrusion and collapses, with a plain-English report.
CCTV surveys →Scours fat, silt and scale off the pipe wall so the drain stays clear for far longer than rodding alone.
Water jetting →No-dig patch liners and localised repairs for damaged pipework — no excavating the drive or patio.
Repairs & patchlining →Hard water scale descaled from pipework and urinals to restore flow and remove odours.
Limescale cleaning →No automated queues and no vague arrival windows. You speak to someone who knows the Hertford patch and can tell you when an engineer will be with you.
You'll be told the price before work starts, shown what caused the blockage, and if we can't clear it there's nothing to pay.
Call, WhatsApp or send the quote form with your postcode and which fixtures are affected. We will give you a price and an arrival time on that first call.
Your engineer checks the chambers and the affected runs to work out exactly where the restriction is, using a camera if the cause is not obvious.
We clear the drain, flow-test it, show you what caused it, and flag anything in the pipework that could cause it to happen again.
I never write reviews but I had to for this one. Blocked sink and toilet — a lovely polite man came and unblocked everything in just an hour. Very happy!
Got there really quick and fixed my drain in under 30 minutes. The lads were efficient and personable. Amazing service, would definitely recommend.
Honest company and same day service. Sorted everything out quickly. Highly recommend this company to others.
A blocked drain in Hertford tends to show itself at the worst moment: a sink that drains slower each week, a toilet that gurgles when the bath empties, or a gully in the yard that backs up while it is raining. Underneath, the cause is the same — flow between your fixtures and the sewer is being restricted somewhere. Our work is to locate exactly where, clear it without damaging an already tired pipe, and tell you plainly whether the drain itself needs repair rather than another rod through next month.
We cover Hertford and the surrounding Hertfordshire area as part of Blockage Busters, a family run drainage company with more than thirty years of experience across the South East. In practice that means an engineer arriving with a fully stocked van — high pressure water jetting, HD CCTV survey kit, electro-mechanical rodding and no-dig patch lining — to a town whose age and its position on the rivers give its drainage a character worth understanding before anyone starts work.
Every call out across Hertford arrives with jetting, rodding and camera equipment on board — so most jobs are diagnosed and cleared on the first visit, with no return trip for parts.
Hertford is an old county town, and much of its housing predates the modern plastic drain by decades. Victorian and pre-war properties across Bengeo, Hertingfordbury and the centre were plumbed in vitrified clay, laid in short lengths and jointed every metre. Clay is durable, but the joints are the weak point, and it is there that trouble builds as the ground shifts over a century. Fine roots from garden trees and boundary hedges seek the moisture at a joint, work into the seal and spread into a fibrous mat that snags every wipe and fat globule. Elsewhere a length settles and the joint pulls apart, leaving a displaced section or a dropped invert — a step in the pipe floor where waste slows, drops its solids and chokes the bore. Rodding pushes the immediate blockage clear, but the snag point stays where it was, which is why an old clay run so often blocks again in the same spot. That pattern is why we start at the chambers and, where a fault keeps returning, put a camera down rather than keep rodding blind.
Hertford sits where the River Beane joins the River Lea, and low-lying ground near a confluence brings its own drainage problem. In prolonged wet weather the water table rises, the ground around buried pipes saturates, and groundwater finds its way into the drain through the same open clay joints that let roots in. That extra water fills the system from below while rainfall loads it from above, so chambers on low runs can surcharge — stand full and back up — even when nothing is truly blocked, an effect worst on older surface-water drains never sized for today's paved-over gardens. When we attend a property near the river valley in a wet spell, part of the job is telling infiltration and surface-water surcharge apart from a solid obstruction, because the remedy differs: sealing the joints against groundwater, not clearing a blockage that was only ever the valley filling the pipe.
Some drainage faults can wait for a booked appointment; others cannot. If wastewater is rising through a toilet or shower, if several fixtures have stopped draining together, or if an outside chamber is surcharging near a doorway during heavy rain, that is an emergency and needs dealing with before it soaks into floors and cavities. Our emergency line is answered by a real person around the clock, weekends and bank holidays included, and we aim to have an engineer covering Hertford with you within the hour for genuine emergencies. While you wait, stop running water into the affected system and keep caustic drain products out of it — on standing water they only become a hazard for whoever opens the chamber.
When a drain blocks repeatedly, the pipe is telling you something a rod cannot fix. A CCTV drain survey sends a camera through the line so root intrusion, displaced joints, dropped inverts and cracked sections can be seen, located and measured instead of guessed at — usually one or two failing joints doing the damage. Roots are cut back with the jetter, and many defects then repaired with a no-dig patch liner fitted from inside the pipe, sealing the joint against both further root entry and groundwater infiltration and keeping paths, driveways and mature gardens intact.
Local engineers on call across Hertford 24 hours a day, including weekends and bank holidays.
If we can't clear it you don't pay. Rated 4.9 out of 5 by customers across the South East.
Quoted before we start, no call out fee, and all major cards accepted at the door.
Our engineers work across SG13 and SG14 and the neighbouring villages and towns, usually within the hour:
Not listed? We almost certainly still cover you — call 07379 424 891 with your postcode and we'll confirm straight away.
For genuine emergencies in Hertford we aim to have an engineer with you within the hour, and we answer the phone 24 hours a day including weekends and bank holidays. Actual timings depend on traffic, your postcode and engineer availability, so call with your location and a description of the problem and we will give you a realistic arrival time rather than a vague window.
Every job is quoted before any work starts, and there is never a call out fee. The price depends on where the blockage is, how it needs to be cleared and whether access is straightforward, so the fastest way to get an accurate figure is to describe the symptoms over the phone. Our no fix no fee guarantee means if we cannot clear the blockage, you pay nothing at all.
We are a 24 hour drainage company and we quote on the job, not the clock. You will be told the price before the engineer starts, so there are no surprise out-of-hours surcharges added afterwards.
As a general rule you are responsible for the drains within your property boundary, while shared lateral drains and public sewers beyond it are usually the water company's responsibility. A quick inspection of the chambers tells us which side of that line the problem sits on, and we will tell you honestly if it is a matter for your water provider instead of charging you for work you do not need.
A blockage that returns normally means the pipework has a defect catching waste — a cracked section, a displaced joint, root intrusion or heavy scale. Clearing it repeatedly treats the symptom. A CCTV drain survey shows exactly what and where the defect is, and many can then be repaired with a patch liner without digging up the garden or driveway.
Because rodding clears the blockage but not its cause. A lot of Hertford's Victorian and pre-war housing is drained in jointed vitrified clay, and it is usually a single failing joint doing the harm — roots working in, or a section that has settled and left a dropped invert. That lip or root mat catches waste again as soon as normal use resumes, so it blocks in the same spot. A short CCTV survey shows exactly which joint is at fault, and a no-dig patch liner can seal it from inside without lifting the path or the garden.
Not always. Hertford sits where the Beane meets the Lea, and on low-lying ground the water table rises in prolonged wet weather. Groundwater then enters older drains through the same open clay joints that let roots in, filling the pipe from below while rain loads it from above, so chambers on low runs can surcharge without a solid obstruction. We inspect the chambers and, where needed, survey the line to tell infiltration and surface-water surcharge apart from a true blockage — because sealing the joints and a straightforward drain clearance are different jobs.
Our team answers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Free quote, no call out fee, and no fix no fee on every job in Hertford.