Blocked drains in Varna — drain unblocking by machine, with a camera when needed

What we unblock in Varna

Drain problems usually start in one of the places below. The work is the same whether it's your own flat in Varna, a holiday apartment in St. Constantine and Helena or a house near Balchik — what changes is how we get to the pipe.

• Toilets — water rises in the bowl, drains very slowly or overflows.
• Kitchen sinks — grease from cooking hardens in cold pipes and narrows them over months.
• Basins, baths and showers — hair and soap build up in the trap and the first metre of pipe.
• Floor drains in bathrooms, wet rooms and on terraces.
• Washing machine and dishwasher outlets — gurgling when they empty is the early warning.
• The pipe from your flat to the soil stack, and the shared soil stack in a block of flats.
• Outside drains and inspection chambers (manholes) at houses, and rainwater gullies.
• Hotel, guest-house and restaurant kitchens, including pipes to the grease trap.

Most household blockages are 15–30 minutes of work once we're on site. A soil stack or a long main drain can take one to two hours. We tell you when we can come and what the job is likely to cost before we set off.

Where is the blockage? Read the signs before you call

The first thing we ask is which sink, bath, shower or toilet is affected and whether the others work normally. The answer tells us where the blockage is and which machine to bring — so here's how to read it yourself.

You don't need to know anything about pipes. Tell us what happens when you run the water and we'll narrow it down with you.

Blocked toilets in holiday lets and flats left empty

Apartments that are let to guests or stand empty for part of the year block in predictable ways: wet wipes and sanitary products go down the toilet during the season, grease builds up in the kitchen pipe, and when nobody uses the flat for months the water in the traps evaporates and the bathroom starts to smell of drains.

Often it's the first guest of the season, the cleaner or the neighbour below who notices. If that's how you find out, send us the address and the name of whoever can open the door — we arrange the visit with them directly.

• A short note in the bathroom ("Please don't flush wet wipes") saves more call-outs than any chemical.
• A hair catcher in the shower drain costs almost nothing and keeps the trap clear.
• If the flat stands empty, ask whoever checks on it to run water in every sink, shower and floor drain — that refills the traps and stops the smell. Our property check includes this.

How we clear drains: spiral machines, jetting and a camera

We have 9 drain machines: electric spiral machines (drain snakes) of different sizes, high-pressure water jetting and CCTV drain cameras. We choose the machine for the job rather than the other way round.

Spiral machine. A rotating steel cable goes in through the trap, the toilet or an inspection opening and cuts through the blockage. Longer cables reach soil stacks and long horizontal runs in blocks of flats.

High-pressure jetting. When grease or silt still lines the pipe after unblocking, a jetting nozzle washes the walls clean. This is what stops a kitchen drain blocking again a few weeks later.

CCTV drain camera. A camera with LED lights on a flexible cable. You watch the picture on the screen on site, together with us, and see what is inside the pipe: cracks, roots, sagging sections, scale or building debris. It's worth doing when a drain keeps blocking, and before you buy a property or renovate a bathroom or kitchen.

Some jobs need equipment we don't own: tree roots are cut with a root cutter, and tankers, excavation and no-dig pipe relining are done by partners we work with. We tell you in advance if your job needs any of these. Digging is only needed when a pipe is broken or has collapsed — and the camera shows that before anyone starts.

Drain unblocking prices in Varna (EUR)

These are starting prices, not the final bill. The final price depends on how far in the blockage is, how easy it is to reach (a trap you can open, an inspection opening, or a toilet that has to come off), whether the camera is needed, the type of property and what is actually in the pipe. We tell you the price before we start, and it includes labour and basic consumables. All our prices are on one page: prices in EUR.

If you're not in Bulgaria right now

Plenty of flats in Varna and on the coast belong to owners who live in the UK, Germany, Scandinavia or elsewhere. A blocked drain doesn't need you to fly in.

1. Tell us what's happening. Email info@kanalvarna.com, use the form below or call +359 52 993 333. Send the address, the floor and, if someone is there, a photo or short video of the problem.
2. Who lets us in. Your building manager (the person or firm that runs the block), a neighbour, your letting agent or your cleaner. Give us their name and number and we agree a time with them directly.
3. We clear it and explain. You get a short written summary by email: what was blocked, what we did and, if we used the camera, what it showed. If a pipe needs repair, you get the price first and decide.
4. You pay from wherever you are. Bank transfer after the job, or cash or card from whoever is on site. We issue an invoice — give us the name or company details when you book.

Your pipe, the building's or the water company's?

In a block of flats, the pipe from your sinks, bath and toilet to the shared soil stack is part of your flat. The stack itself is a common part of the building, and decisions about it are made by the owners' association, usually through the building manager. If the stack is blocked, several flats are affected and the cost is normally shared.

At a house, the boundary is usually the inspection chamber in the garden or yard: the pipes from it towards the house are yours. A blockage outside the property, in the street sewer, is the job of the water utility. We tell you on the phone or by email if the problem isn't one for us, before anyone wastes a trip.

What to tell us when you get in touch

1. What is blocked and since when. Slow for weeks usually means a narrowing pipe; a sudden stop means a solid blockage.
2. One outlet or several. Use the table above.
3. What has been tried. Plunger, drain cleaner, a hand spiral. Please tell us if chemicals have been poured in — we need to know before we open the pipe.
4. The property. Flat (which floor, is there a neighbour below?), house (manhole in the yard, septic tank, connection to the street?), or a restaurant or hotel (grease trap?).
5. Access. Can the pipes under the sink be seen? Is there an inspection opening? Can the manhole be reached?

If you don't know some of this, that's fine — describe what you see and since when.

Keeping drains clear between visits

• Don't pour cooking fat down the sink — let it cool in a bottle and put it in the bin.
• Fit a hair catcher in showers and baths.
• No wet wipes in the toilet, even the ones sold as flushable.
• Run hot water for half a minute after washing greasy pans.
• Book preventative drain cleaning once a year for a home, and every 3–6 months for a restaurant kitchen.

If a drain blocks again and again, the cause is usually further down the pipe — scale, a sag or roots — and the camera is the quickest way to find it.