Drain Cleaning in Loma, CO

Loma homes and their sewer lines

Loma is mostly farmhouses, ranch homes, manufactured homes and newer houses on acreage, spread along US 6, the county roads and the irrigation canals rather than packed on a town grid.

Ute Water serves Loma for drinking water, but there is no town government and many Loma homes are on septic. Ask the seller or Mesa County which system serves a property.

Older farmhouses may have cast iron and clay drains; houses built since the 1980s are usually PVC.

Loma drain problems

In Loma, the drain line between the house and the septic tank is where most trouble starts. Irrigation keeps the ground damp in summer, roots move in, and farm dirt and grease settle in long runs of pipe.

Loma drain cleaning cost ranges

A small hill on the railroad

Loma's name is the Spanish word for a small hill. The Denver and Rio Grande built a narrow-gauge line through in 1882 and converted it to standard gauge in 1890, homesteaders followed in the late 1880s, and the Loma post office opened in 1905. Sugar beets were the main crop for decades until the sugar beet factory in Delta closed in the 1970s. Along the way the area also had a uranium mine and mill in the 1940s and, in the 1950s, a refinery fed by a gilsonite slurry pipeline from Bonanza, Utah.

Today Loma is an unincorporated community of about 1,310 people, with cattle, hay, row crops and small acreage homes. Mack is about 3.5 miles northwest, Fruita about 5 miles southeast, and Grand Junction about 18 miles away. US 6 runs through the middle, I-70 runs along the south edge at exit 15, and Highway 139 heads north toward Douglas Pass and Rangely.

Canals that made the farms

Loma's farms depend on irrigation. The Kiefer Extension canal was finished in 1899, and the Highline Canal came through Loma in 1917, putting water on ground that had been sagebrush. Water that soaks into fields and leaks from ditches raises the water table in summer, and some of it returns to the Colorado River through drains like the Loma Drain. For homeowners, that seasonal rise affects septic leach fields, which absorb water more slowly when the soil is already wet, and it keeps tree roots near canals active all summer.

Septic, not a town sewer

Loma has no town government and no town sewer plant. Ute Water provides drinking water to Loma, but many homes treat their own wastewater with a septic tank and leach field. That changes what a drain call looks like. The line from the house to the tank is often long, sometimes running past trees and under a driveway, and the tank's location may not be obvious. A plumber can clear the line and use a camera and locator to find where it goes; a septic contractor pumps the tank and repairs the field. Mesa County keeps a list of licensed septic installers and handles septic permits.

Roots near ditches and canals

Cottonwoods, willows, Russian olives and tamarisk grow along canals and ditches around Loma, and yard trees here get plenty of irrigation water. Roots follow moisture into any crack in a drain line or septic pipe. A line that slows down over weeks, then backs up into a shower or toilet, often has roots. Cutting them clears the line, and a camera shows whether the pipe is broken. If a tree is close to the line or tank, think about moving the line or removing the tree before the problem returns every year.

Older farmhouses and newer homes

Loma's older farmhouses may have cast iron drains inside and clay or even concrete pipe out to the tank, and some have had additions with new plumbing tied into old. Newer homes on acreage and manufactured homes usually have PVC throughout. Old lines fail at joints and where materials change; new ones fail where backfill settled. Manufactured homes have their own weak spot: drain pipe under the floor, protected only by skirting.

Farm dirt and grease

In farm households, laundry and mudroom drains carry dirt, chaff and seeds, and kitchen drains carry grease from big family meals. Over a long, flat line to a septic tank, that buildup adds up. Use a lint trap on the washer, wipe grease out of pans before washing, and don't use the garbage disposal for anything but small scraps. Grease is especially hard on septic systems because it floats in the tank and can clog the outlet.

Cold nights in the Grand Valley

Winter in the Grand Valley is mild by Colorado standards, but cold air pools on the valley floor and nights below zero happen. Drains under manufactured homes, in crawlspaces and on outside walls freeze first. Keep skirting tight, close vents in winter and keep heat in rooms with plumbing.

When a Loma drain backs up

1. 01

   Stop using water

   In a Loma house on septic, more water just fills the tank or backs up at the lowest drain.

2. 02

   Think about the tank

   If it hasn't been pumped in years, a full tank could be the problem.

3. 03

   Find the cleanout

   Look along the line between the house and the tank.

4. 04

   Ask about locating

   If you don't know where the tank is, ask the plumber about camera locating.

Loma warning signs

• Slow drains throughout a Loma house on septic
• Gurgling toilets
• Wet ground or a smell over the leach field
• Roots on the cable after clearing
• Drains that slow every summer during irrigation