I have been fighting a clogged drain from a bathroom sink at work for the last few days. All CI DWV in the building, and all over 25 years old.
This puppy was packed so solid, we broke two drain snakes trying to get through it, and tied a larger snake in a couple of knots.
Cut a access hole in a tile/block wall this morning and took out pipe to where it went through the slab. The bolckage was in a ell about 16″ underground. No luck agian with the snakes and new cutter heads .
Had to admit defeat to my boss. That sucked! He calls in a large blumbing contractor to bail us out. (I hate outside contractors coming on my turf to do work we can do, but thats another story)
Guy shows up and looks at what we have done.
Says pour a gallon of bleach in there, wait an hour and water jet it. If that doesn’t work, I’ll bring a crew in Monday and see if we can get it cleared.
IT WORKED! The bleach soften the packed scale inside that pipe enough to blast it out with the water jet.
We had poured Draino Gel in it the previous two nights and did not budge it.
So, you guys that run into old stopped up cast iron pipes keep that in mind. A shot of cheap azz bleach will soften the scale inside those old pipes better than the higher priced plumbers liquids out there.
Dave
Replies
That is interesting. I have never heard of that before. I typically use sulphuric acid drain cleaner in those situations but thanks for the tip. DanT
Bleach would be preferable to that stuff in the red bottle.
"A hard head makes for a sore a$$."
I was as surprized as you.
We use to use the stronger acid drain cleaners also, but when that smell escaped into an office building of 500+ people....it's not a good thing (g).
Dave
Dave, are you sure it's scale that blocked the drain? Sulphuric acid would dissolve the scale.
In your case I think it's something organic that clotted it up, bleach dissolves organic matter.
Thanks for the tip, I sure will remember to try it next time.
We do not use the acid type drain cleaners anymore. The stinch from those cleaners will give a lot of people the excuses to go home. The next level of complaints come from supervisors and managers about making thier empoyees sick. Neither is good for a guy as far down the food chain as I am :)
If it was an organic clog, it was the hardest one I have ever hit, short of tree roots.
This one was only 16 to 18" below the slab the pipe went through. I wet vaced the sludge out of the pipe and tried to dig/lossen it with a 1/8" steel rod, bent to go into the ell for the horizintal run. No luck. I even bent a small hook on the rod and tried to fish something up, just to identify the culprit. Couldn't even penetrate the blockage enough for that. Course I was working through a 16x16" access hole in one side of a 12" chase wall. Not a lot of options in there for maneuvering things around.
We snapped a 3/8" snake cable for a Kollman/Rigid K-40 sewer machine, as well as a 5/16 cable for the same machine. We moved up to our K-50 tripod model with a 5/8" line and twisted some knots and kinks in a section of cable. At that point I was thinking M-80 or a jackhammer to open everything up. Boss nixed both those suggestions. He called the plumbing contractor.
I was as suprized as my coworker that bleach did the trick. Even though it was the contractors idea, we got to salvage some face by getting the job done without thier intervention. I'll take taht over a flat failure, any day.
Dave
Thanks, Dave. This is one to remember.
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
hard to credit that a gallon of bleach worked where those big snakes couldn't....
I've always used bleach to clear clogs.
It dissolves hair, grease, even washcloths and "other" cotton things...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
Just because people in this thread are bouncing back and forther between discussing bleach and acids, just remember not to put the two together. That makes for chlorine gas, which is extremely dangerous.
And, in the safety vein, if you've been using Drano (caustic) get it removed or diluted before adding acid. Handling either is not without risk, especially to one's eyes.
But chlorien gas is worse.David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
I have had the unfortunate experience of taking traps off of sinks and feeling that slick, slimmy stuff on my hands. You should see the look on a HO face, when I turn and plung my hands into thier toilet bowl.
If I know what the job is before I get there, I take rubber gloves and a plastic bucket to catch the trap waste, and always use eye protection. Some HO seem to think they should not tell you if they have been trying to fix it themselves.
Another caution for anyone that ever rents or uses a large sewer cleaning machine. Rent or buy the special gloves to handle the spinning cable. They ussualy have metal taps embedded in the palm and face of the mitten style glove. They will save you a sprained or broken wrist by not allowing the cable to grab hold of a cotton, rubber, or standard leather glove. The safest way to operate the larger machines is with two people, and a healthy dose of caution. After 20 years of using these things, I know I am not quick enough or strong enough to win in a battle with one of them.
Dave
Dave
After 20 years of using these things, I know I am not quick enough or strong enough to win in a battle with one of them.
Dave, ever tried deep sea fishing? :)
Dave,
Just a thought...
What if there is still something in there ?
Something that would still tie your snake in knots. But which is allowing the drain to operate because the organic material caught on it has been disolved.
A fork.
A knife.
A dropped metal rule that someone didn't want to fish for.
Whatever.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
Or what if the CI is broken, and that is what your snake, and the organic matter was catching on ?Can you rent a borescope ?
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow