Know Your System
Supply Lines and Drain Lines Are Two Different Systems
The two phrases get used interchangeably, but the systems are opposites with opposite jobs — and confusing them books the wrong service call.
Water supply lines — this page — bring clean, pressurized water intothe building: from the town main, through the meter, along your private line, and through the pipes inside your walls to every faucet and fixture. Trouble here shows up as leaks, pressure loss, discolored water, or a water bill that spikes with no explanation.
Drain and sewer lines move wastewater out of the building on gravity alone. Trouble there shows up as slow drains, gurgling, and backups instead. Seeing that picture? Your page is sewer line repair or drain cleaning — not this one.
The practical test is simple to remember: if water is coming out where it should not — a leak, a wet patch, a pipe that hisses — you are in supply-line territory. If water will not go away where it should — a drain that will not empty — you are in drainage territory. Describing it in those terms on the call shortens the road to the right diagnosis.