OT/saved some work

rrlund · Oct 15, 2008

I layed awake half the night thinking I was going to have to unbolt the toilet from the floor today. My brother is in the excavating business and said he'd had two lately that acted just like mine was and he couldn't get them unclogged from the outside. I went to the hardware store anyway and bought a rubber outfit that goes on the end of a garden hose. You shove it in the pipe,then turn the water on and it expands to form a seal then uses water pressure to blast out the clog. I stuck it in the cleanout outside,tried it 3 times and BAWOOSH,it cut loose. $32 for it,but well worth not having to get down on a tile floor and take that miserable messy thing out of there.

ken in texas · Oct 15, 2008

Had a problem with a toilet a few weeks ago.Would not flush right.Tried to run acleanout fishing tool through it ,wouldnot go.Finaly gave up pulled toilet and tried cleanout opsite way but still wouldnot go.Then with more effort tool went through ,tied a big knot of bailing wire on it and gave a hard pull,and out it came.Guess what ,it was a plastic eye guard my wife accidently droped in with out knowing it. Boy was she embarrised.Knew she had lost it but dident know where. Saved a big plumbing bill

rrlund · Oct 15, 2008

I can top that. We put this whole new septic system in about 10 years ago because it wouldn't flush. With the whole thing new from where the pipe went in to the old tank on out,it still wouldn't. I rented a drain snake and ran it from the cleanout back up toward the house and pulled out the shredded remains of a small plastic baseball bat. One of the kids had dropped it down the vent pipe next to the house. Now THAT was an expensive repair. The vent is a lot higher now with some angles in it to keep THAT kind of thing from happening again. I happened to mention it to the neighbor when he said he was having trouble with his. It activated something in his memory. He had a small hole drilled in the PVC just before it went out of the basement and had a piece of copper tubing in it for some other "add on" drain. That copper had worked its way in and was stopping the paper and such. He pulled it out a little and solved the problem. Simple sometimes ain't it?

in-too-deep · Oct 15, 2008

I'm glad you didn't have to deal with that sealing wax. Yuck!! That's about the most vile substance you can find when working on a house (besides sewage of course.) That old wax sticks to everything and is just about impossible to remove.

dave guest · Oct 15, 2008

Go on the roof and stick your snake down the pipe(vent). Not half bad unless you slip off the roof! Assuming clog is in line and not toilet. Usually around here open clean out in basement and flood everything. Just my preference.

OT/saved some work

rrlund

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ken in texas

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rrlund

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in-too-deep

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dave guest

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