The Pinetown Plumbers

Plumber
in Hillcrest

Plumber in Hillcrest for geysers, drains, leaks and burst pipes, up on the rise at about 680 m. Parts of Hillcrest were never on the municipal sewer, so before anyone rods a slow drain, it is worth knowing whether the house runs to a sewer or to a septic tank.

We phone back to talk through the problem and the cost first.

Request a call-out

Plumbing in Hillcrest

Hillcrest was founded in 1895 as a farming and weekend village on a rise in the main road between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. It sits about 32 km north-west of Durban, at roughly 680 m above sea level, looking out over the Valley of a Thousand Hills.

It is further from Pinetown than Westville or Queensburgh, up Field's Hill and through Kloof, so a visit is planned rather than squeezed in, and the call-out takes the distance into account. The work is the same four services as in Pinetown, plus one that matters more up here: telling a blocked drain from a full septic tank.

Upper Highway areas we cover

  • Hillcrest village
  • Kloof
  • Gillitts
  • Everton
  • Winston Park

Sewer or septic tank: find out before anyone rods a drain

A slow drain on a sewer and a slow drain on a septic tank look exactly the same from inside the house. They are completely different jobs.

Hillcrest's own history explains why. When the Hillcrest waste water treatment plant was built in the 1990s, it served only the central commercial area of the village, with extensions planned over time, while other areas carried on with septic tanks. Next door in Kloof, eThekwini was still connecting properties to the sewer for the first time in 2023, in a project covering more than 2,000 properties across Inanda, Ntuzuma and Kloof.

A septic tank works quietly. Waste from the house settles in the tank, the solids stay behind, and the liquid flows on into a soakaway in the ground. When the tank fills with sludge, or the soakaway can no longer absorb what reaches it, every drain in the house slows at once. Rodding a pipe fixes neither, because nothing in the pipe is blocked.

Rain makes it worse. A soakaway needs ground dry enough to take the water it releases, and after a week of summer storms the soil around it may already be full. A system that copes perfectly well in winter can back up in a wet January for no reason other than the weather.

Announcing the 2023 connections, eThekwini's mayor named the real weakness: "The biggest challenge with septic tanks is that households don't maintain them, and sewage often ends up impacting the environment." A tank has to be emptied by a tanker at intervals that depend on its size and how many people use it, and one that has not been emptied for years is the first suspect when every drain slows together.

So the first question on a Hillcrest call is a simple one: sewer or tank? The property plans, a neighbour who has been there a while, or a concrete lid in the garden usually answers it. If it is a tank, the useful work is finding it, checking the inlet and the soakaway, and telling you honestly whether you need a plumber or a tanker.

Find the lid before the rains: if the property has a septic tank, know where it is and when it was last emptied.

Septic tank or sewer On the left, a house drains to a two-chamber septic tank and then to a soakaway in the ground, under falling rain that has soaked the soil. On the right, a house drains through an inspection chamber to the municipal sewer. septic tank soakaway chamber City sewer on a septic tank on the sewer
The soakaway struggles when rain has already filled the ground. A sketch of the two systems, not of any property.

What we do in Hillcrest

The same four services as in Pinetown, each with a page of its own.

  • Geyser repair

    Storm-season geyser faults tested before anything is replaced, with photographs if a claim is likely.

  • Blocked drains

    On a sewer, cleared with the silt taken out. On a septic tank, the tank and soakaway checked first.

  • Water leak detection

    Long supply runs traced from the meter one section at a time, before anything is dug up.

  • Emergency plumbing

    The first move for a burst or a backing-up drain, then an honest arrival time that allows for the drive up the hill.

Hillcrest questions

Cost first, then the septic tank questions that come with the Upper Highway.

How much does a plumber in Hillcrest charge?

Hillcrest is a longer drive from Pinetown than our nearer suburbs, so the call-out allows for the distance, and you hear how it is charged before anyone sets off. When the fault has been tracked down, you get the repair price on paper, with parts apart from labour.

How do I know if my house has a septic tank?

Look at the property plans if you have them, check the garden for a concrete or plastic lid, usually downhill of the house, or ask a neighbour who has lived there a long time. A house on the municipal sewer has inspection chambers running towards a connection near the street rather than towards a tank.

Every drain in the house is slow. Is it the septic tank?

If the house is on a tank, that is the first suspect. One slow drain is usually a blockage near that fitting, but every drain slowing together points to a full tank or a soakaway that cannot take any more. Gurgling, a soggy patch above the soakaway or a smell in the garden all point the same way.

Do you empty septic tanks?

Emptying is done by a vacuum tanker, which is a separate service. What a plumber can do is confirm whether the tank is the problem, check the pipes going in and out, and tell you whether the soakaway is coping, so that you only call a tanker when one is actually needed.

Why does the septic tank back up after heavy rain?

Because the soakaway needs room in the soil for its water. After days of rain the ground is already saturated, so the soakaway drains slowly and the tank fills up behind it. It often recovers as the ground dries out. If it backs up in dry weather too, the soakaway itself may need attention.

Can I connect to the municipal sewer?

That is a question for eThekwini, because it depends on whether a sewer runs near the property and whether the network is being extended there. If a connection becomes available, the private plumbing from the house to the connection point can be quoted.

What should not go into a septic tank?

Anything that kills the bacteria the tank depends on, or will not break down: large amounts of bleach and strong cleaners, fat and cooking oil, wet wipes, nappies and sanitary products. Spreading laundry across the week helps as well, because a soakaway copes better with a steady flow than with a flood.

Which parts of the Upper Highway do you cover?

Hillcrest village and the roads around it, and on the way up, Kloof, Gillitts, Everton and Winston Park. Further out than that, ask; it depends on the day.

Tell us about the Hillcrest job

Say whether the house is on the sewer or a septic tank, if you know. We phone back to talk it through and explain the call-out, including the drive.

What is it about?

Used only to answer you. See your privacy.

Where we come out to

There is no shop or yard to visit: The Pinetown Plumbers comes to you. If your suburb is missing from the list, ask anyway.

  • Pinetown CBD
  • New Germany
  • Westmead
  • Cowies Hill
  • Sarnia
  • Ashley
  • Caversham
  • Padfield Park
  • Hatton Estate
  • Paradise Valley
  • Mosley Park
  • Farningham Ridge
  • Mariannhill
  • Kloof
  • Westville
  • Hillcrest
  • Queensburgh