Hiring A Plumber To Unclog Stable Drains
I received a call yesterday that one of our sister horse farms in Toronto was dealing with an extreme case of clogged stable drains. Their farm is located near Sunny Brook Stables in Toronto. We all deal with clogged stable drains differently, depending on the resources available. I prefer to run the hose from my pressure washer down the drain pipe and turn it on full blast. If you have access to a water pump, it can be an effective way to pump water through the pipes to force the blockage out. If you are unsuccessful in that effort you can always rent a snake. But there are times when you can throw just about everything at these clogs and you just can’t unclog those drains. Stable drains can be difficult to unclog, as stable stalls are cleaned out, horse feed, and horse manuer can make it’s way into he drainage system and really clog up the pipes. Rocks and dirt will also find it’s way into the drainage pipes and together can really back it up.
After speaking to my associate about the clogged drains, she informed me that they decided to call in a Toronto plumber do snake the stalls and unclog the drains. Apparently this was one of the more sever cases of clogged drains she had seen. Between the horse feed, manure, hay, dirt, and horse hair it was clogged bad enough that they needed to send in a snake with a camera to identify the cause of the clog. It’s out of the question that a varmint crawled in there, got stuck, and died. This has happened on our farm before and not only does it clog the stable drains, it smells, and attracts roaches and other scavengers that may be looking to feed on the carcass. In this case, it wasn’t a dead animal, it was years worth of build up that clogged almost 6 feet worth of drain pipe. They were able to loosen it up with a motorized snake, some chemicals, water pressure, and some serious man hours. The stable drains are now clear and draining properly.
The biggest thing a stable owner / caretaker can do to prevent clogged stable drains is to shovel and dispose of feed 
and manure before the stall is rinsed. We rinse our stalls daily, horses pee and poop in there all day and for many reasons we clean daily. Shovel all of the debris on the floor into a wheel barrel, and discard of it prior to rinsing the stall out and prior to washing the horses. Preventative measures are always better than dealing with the expense of hiring a plumber to unclog the drains. There may be times every few years like this that you need to call in a professional plumber, but you can usually manage the small clogs on your own. Like I mentioned earlier, I prefer pressurized water to loosen our clogs. The dirt, feed, and manure typically break down pretty easily if the water pressure is high enough. You can always hire a stable cleaning service if you don’t have enough hands on the farm to properly clean the horse stables.