Metex Rat Blockers – not only for proofing against rodents!

There are several ways that unwanted visitors can get into your home. Rats can squeeze in through cracks in the walls, holes around windows, or even come down the chimney. Another popular route is to make their way through drains, via the drainage chamber and up through the U-bend in your toilet. 

In the UK we are lucky enough to have a limited number of unwanted visitors that can enter properties through the drain system. However, other countries are known to have various rodents, frogs, and even snakes travel through a home’s plumbing. 

Stories of snakes navigating domestic plumbing are quite common, says Geoff Jacobs at Queensland Wildlife Solutions in Australia, who has run a snake-catching business in Brisbane for 20 years, in this article by the BBC.

“The snakes just follow the trail of the rats,” he says, “All over the world rats go down in sewers and the snakes go in there after them. And from there they can find your bathroom.” 

“There’s only a small amount of water in the bottom of your toilet bowl. They come up through a dry pipe and there’s a small bit of water in the U-bend – he’s only got to go down an inch-and-a-half or two inches and straight back up, so it’s quite easy once they learn how to do it,” says Jacobs. 

 

How do I stop a snake coming up through the drain / sewer pipes? 

As snakes tend to follow the trail of rats into sewers then stopping the entry of their food source is key. Metex Rat Blockers are designed to stop unwanted visitors travelling through a drain system and into a property. They do this by allowing waste and water to pass freely downstream but protect property by preventing movement upstream.  

Drainage systems flow from A to B – inherent to all drainage networks is a gradient to achieve this. This flow of water therefore carries momentum and it is this momentum that lifts a valve flap – gravity then closes it. 

The blockers are designed so the flap will only lift in one direction – in the direction of flow. As rats live in sewers, and drains flow to sewers, then rat valves stop rat traffic traveling up from the sewers (i.e. against the direction of flow). 

 

Metex Blockers 

There are lots of different blockers out there but fitting the wrong rat blocker to the wrong scenario can result in the blocker sticking open or the blocker affecting/clogging the drainage system. 

However, Metex blockers have been used within the industry for decades and have the 3rd party approval and testing to ensure exceptional quality and performance. You can find out more in our Pest Control Knowledge Base!

Ratwall 

Metex Ratwall is a cost effective and robust stainless-steel blocker that is ideal for installation into underground drain and sewer pipes.  

• Easy to install from street level into the main drainage outlet between the property and the main sewer. 
• Suitable for use in 4-inch (Ø100mm) & 6-inch (Ø150mm) drainage systems in PVC, clay and cast-iron materials.   

• Has a unique external hinge allowing maximum waste flow.  
• The external hinge block ensures that the unit cannot become dislodged and lost into the sewer pipe. 

Metex Ratwall is the ideal drain protection as it allows the full capacity of the pipe to be employed and ensures that unwanted visitors cannot invade your home or property through the drainage system. 

 

Nordisk TX11 

Metex Nordisk TX11 blockers are the most advanced and reliable unit available, with a world leading 100,000 installations Globally.  

Metex Nordisk are the only blocker to achieve Water Research Centre (WRc) Approval in the UK. WRc Approval is the benchmark within the UK Water Industry and entirely sets the Metex Nordisk range apart from all other blockers. It ensures recognition in the UK as a product that offers exceptional quality and performance. It is: 

• Easy to install into underground drains by hand or from street level using the separately provided installation pole 

• Made from marine grade stainless steel (316) and is suitable for industrial or domestic use with a wide range of sizes from Ø82 mm to Ø350mm 
• Complete with double, serrated flaps to ensure there is no chance of unwanted visitors getting past them

Metex Nordisk TX11 is already the benchmark blocker, with stringent VA Approval issued by the Danish certification body, ETA-Denmark, and inspected by the Danish Technological Institute.  

• The TX11 passed a two weeklong test with live rats. Food was placed on one side of the Blocker and rats on the other with a fan to push the food smell towards the rats. No rats were able to pass the unit. 

• The TX11 successfully passed a high-pressure water test and remained intact and operational. 
• The TX11 has been proven to be self-cleaning in normal use, no snagging! 

With many thousands of TX11 units installed and working in the field for more than a decade and a legislative requirement in Denmark, this blocker has been developed and comprehensively tested.

For more detail on the Metex Nordisk TX11, you will find helpful tips and datasheets on our Knowledge Base Nordisk page, or you can call 0800 130 3646 for further technical assistance.