Blocked Drains South Hams
Exjet covers Totnes, Dartmouth, Kingsbridge, Salcombe and the villages between them, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. We work for householders, holiday-let owners, farms, estates and commercial sites, from a blocked gully to a failed septic system. There is no call-out charge, and our engineers carry jetting and CCTV equipment on board, so most jobs are diagnosed and dealt with in a single visit.
what we do
The South Hams is awkward country for drainage. Steep, narrow lanes, long private runs shared between several properties, deep valleys down to the Dart and the Salcombe estuary, and a great many homes with no mains drainage at all. Add a population that swells every summer as holiday lets and second homes fill up, and systems that coped all winter start to struggle in July.
Exjet has been clearing and repairing drains across the South West since 1986, and our depot is in Paignton — twenty minutes from Totnes, half an hour from Dartmouth. We bring the same equipment and standards to a farmhouse outside Kingsbridge that we use on adopted sewers and commercial contracts: high-pressure jetting to shift the blockage, a CCTV survey to establish what caused it, and a written recommendation if the pipe itself needs work.
Estuary, Estate and Village Drainage
Much of the housing here predates mains drainage entirely. Georgian and Victorian property in Totnes and Dartmouth often still runs on original clay pipework with displaced joints and root ingress from mature hedgerow. Out in the villages it is more often a septic tank that has not been emptied on schedule, or a soakaway that has silted up and stopped taking water.
Shared private drains are common and cause more disputes here than anywhere else we work — several cottages on one run, and no one certain who owns what. A CCTV survey settles it, which is usually cheaper than the argument.
Why Choose Exjet in the South Hams
Exjet has been working on drains and sewers across the South West since 1986, from our depot at Torbay Business Park in Paignton — genuinely local to this patch, not covering it from out of county. Our engineers are directly employed rather than subcontracted, which is why standards hold steady from one job to the next.
We carry Constructionline Gold, SSIP/SMAS, CHAS and SafeContractor accreditation, so we are equally at home on an adopted sewer, an estate contract or a domestic drain behind a cottage. You get a straight explanation of what was wrong, what we did and whether anything still needs attention. No call-out charge, no jargon, and no pressure to buy a repair you do not need.
The company was founded in 1986 and is still owned and run by the family that started it. The full story is here.
AREAS WE COVER IN THE SOUTH HAMS
Our engineers cover the South Hams postcodes — TQ9 Totnes, TQ6 Dartmouth, TQ7 Kingsbridge and TQ8 Salcombe — taking in Dartington, Harberton, Stoke Gabriel, Dittisham, Kingswear, Blackawton, Modbury, Aveton Gifford, Thurlestone, Hope Cove, Malborough, East Prawle and Slapton.
We also work up the Dart valley through TQ10 South Brent and TQ11 Buckfastleigh, and across to Ivybridge and the edge of Dartmoor.
The district is steep, rural and largely off mains drainage, with long shared private runs, and a summer population several times its winter one. Systems that manage perfectly well in February start backing up in August. Our vans carry high-pressure jetting and CCTV survey equipment as standard, so we can diagnose and clear most problems on the first visit.
Those postcodes are where most of our South Hams work happens, not the limit of it. Our depot is in Paignton, and we cover Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset — if you sit just outside the list, it is still worth a call.
Nearby? We have dedicated pages for Torbay, Newton Abbot and Plymouth.
Nearby areas: Torbay to the north east, Newton Abbot inland and Plymouth to the west.
Drainage FAQs South Hams
Do you offer emergency drainage callouts in the South Hams?
Yes. Exjet runs a 24-hour callout service across the South Hams, every day of the year. If a drain is overflowing, a toilet will not flush or water is backing up into the property, call 0800 328 6655 and we will get an engineer to you.
Which South Hams areas do you cover?
We cover TQ6 to TQ11 — Totnes, Dartmouth, Kingsbridge, Salcombe, South Brent and Buckfastleigh — plus the surrounding villages including Dartington, Stoke Gabriel, Dittisham, Kingswear, Modbury, Thurlestone and Slapton. If you are unsure whether you are in range, call and ask.
What kinds of blockages can you clear?
Sinks, toilets, baths, showers, outside gullies, yard drains, soil stacks, surface-water runs and main sewer connections, along with septic tanks and treatment plants. We work on domestic, holiday-let, agricultural, estate and commercial systems.
How do you find what is causing a blockage?
Usually by inspection and flow testing, which is often enough. Where a problem keeps returning, or where a drain is shared between properties and nobody is certain of the layout, we run a CCTV camera down the line and record what we find — so you can see the fault rather than take our word for it.
Can you fix drains that keep blocking?
Yes, and in this part of Devon a drain that blocks repeatedly usually has a structural cause: a displaced joint, root ingress from mature hedgerow, a collapsed section, or a long shallow run that cannot clear itself. We survey the line, establish the cause and set out the options rather than simply jetting it again.
Is there a call-out charge?
No. There is no call-out charge, wherever you are in the South Hams. We explain what the work involves and what it will cost before we begin.