Never stuff a rag into plumbing drain!
I’ts a bit funny now but not too humerous yesterday when it happened….I was just finishing up a basement remodel; which included a full bathroom. This house had no floor drains and so a sewage sump pump system was installed. This pump was installed in a closet with “false walls so as to hide from view. Everything in this remodel was 99.9% complete; including the new carpet. Tile work in shower had just been finished a few days ago and toilet was also installed. Prior to these installations, sump sytem was “manually” tested by pouring buckets of water down the new drain lines. System worked flawlessly….always evacuating said contents when supposed to.
Now having toilet installed, we occaisionally used it when the need arose. Only problem was, our needs weren’t the only thing rising. Soon thereafter we discovered the sump pump was totally full and the system was not evacuating. The motor kept humming as though trying to kick on, but couldn’t/wouldn’t do so.
HORROR! we had to disassemble sump pump and pull motor from sump housing! A month earlier. I told the owner that should this sump pump system ever fail, he had better call a plumbing service; cause I certainly didn’t want to have to “open it up.” Well, true to my word, since it was my problem, and not yet in the hands of the owner, I called my local plumber…only the plumber said he didn’t work on sump systems…and gave me the name of the nearest plumber who would….this guy would be over an hours’ drive away…sooooo, long story longer, I bit the bullet and my helper and I worked on the system instead.
Mess was kept to very, very minimal……but I definately found this work to be a sh-tty job!
Guess what we found? A rag that had been stuffed inside either the “P” trap of the shower stall or inside the toilet flange hook-up ( we don’t know which for certain as we had rags in both of them before and thought we had removed both of them prior to final work) was found wrapped tightly around the sump motor’s impeller! Evidently, the rag somehow found its way down through the drain line and ended up inside the sump pump.
Moral of the story….put duct tape over the drain lines rather than stuffing rags. because…..”Rag in pipe, will surely come back to bite!….”
Hope y’all find this story humorous…as for me…I’m still finding it a bit hard to laugh at. But, at least I conquered my fear of sewage sump pumps…if there is ever a “next” time, ( God forbid) I’ll know how to better handle the situation……heh, heh, found me a phone number of a different plumber! heh! heh!
Davo
Edited 6/6/2004 3:01 am ET by Davo
Replies
Some time ago I had a similar job. Found a reasonably good way of making it less a horror. I took apart the flexible coupling above the pump and used a wet vacuum to empty the pit. Pit was small and the vacuum a fairly large one so it only took one vac load to drain it. The vac was emptied and I repeated this three times with fresh water added twice. I added a cup of bleach the second time.
When I opened the pit it was relatively clean. No smell either. Only took a few minutes and it made the repair go much more quickly and pleasantly. Sewage systems are not my first choice for mechanical systems to play with. My trusty wet vac came through again. Like what Homer said of doughnuts: 'Is there anything they can't do?'
Although my sump system is capable of handling "solids" up to 2 inch diameter, there wasn't really any solids to contend with yet...mostly just water mixed with urine. I rented a small submersible pump...the kind used in draining swimming pools; attached with a garden hose that ran to daylight. It worked really well.
The cup of bleach you mention is definately a good tip; especially when any kind of sanitizing is needed.
Davo
Oh! Lordy!!
I used the rag in the waste stack too, in the past, and always worried because after I opened the stack the tilers would come in, etc, before I could replace the toilet.
Now, since I know I'm going to replace the bolts anyway, I install new bolts and put a square of plywood over the hole. When I come back, nothing is in the stackd & I can re-do the connection easily.
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada