Too much paper down the pipe...
It must have been last year when I flushed too much paper (among other things) down the toilet and clogged the entire sewer pipe. I bought a 50 foot plumbing snake and lots of drain cleaning chemicals to get the pipe open again. Doing the work manually took a few hours but the job was done. A few weeks ago the plumbing back-up happened again. I tried for 30 minutes with the snake. Having no luck and not wanting to fight with it, we left Miami for the condo and put off the project for the following weekend.I decided to rent a 75 foot power feed unit from Home Depot. This thing was pathetically slow and I got about 60 feet into the drain line and it was still clogged. Setting the power feed to retract the coil jammed the mechanism and it would not retract. A call to Home Depot and they told me to wrap the coil as best as I can. I had to pull the coil out by hand (with rubberized gloves) and at the end of the snake was a chunk of 'something' that I originally thought was a clog of hair! Close observation revealed it was thin long roots. There are no trees in the area where the underground pipes travel. I know the old drain pipes are made from clay/pottery in sections about 6 feet long and the joints were sealed with tar. Over the years, the ground settles and water seeps into the soil. That's what attracts roots to grown to the water source and enter the pipes usually cracking them if this goes on for any length of time. So, I knew the reason as the paper (and poo) snagged on it's way to Washington D.C.
Using a few feet of copper wire wrapping I was able to get the coil around the outside of the machine and back to the store. They were nice to allow more time for the rental and gave me another machine that had a power feed at least 10 times faster than the broken one. We got back to the project and this time I added a cutter head attachment that's designed to shave off roots inside the pipe. The company who hires out to clean drains with a drain auger is Roto-Rooter. This is similar only cheaper as I'm doing it myself.
Less than 30 minutes with the new machine cleaned the clog. I ran it back and forth several times to be sure to scrape away as much of the roots as possible.
This weekend I gave it the ultimate 'poo down the pipe' test and all went well.
No worries!
Comments (10)
In your last visit my blogs were boring.
Now you're sickened.
I've evoked 2 emotions from one of the most valuable commenters CS has witnessed!
The house is 60+ years old and the septic tank remains 10 feet from the house.
Somewhere in the 60's the city converted to sewer and did some upgrades in the street where it connects to main lines.
The first 50 feet is original pipe that runs over the septic tank is the part that is problematic.
It could be a few thousand to repair, but since the backup only happens every few years and the maintenance is less than $100 I don't plan to change things.
Anyone who buys my place would pay for a home inspection.
Should they ask me about upgrades, I'll tell them exactly what is underground.
All the houses in this neighborhood have the same type of sewer connections, so it should be of no surprise.