Plumber In Da House?? Got Questions

[ramprat]

Got home from work Sunday night & had not even had the chance to take a load of my mind & the sewer backed up flooding part of the basement

1 of the kids was sick & while the drain was slowly going down ifin the terlet is flushed it backs up.

Called a 24 hour guy & he was here in around 45 min

Plumber guy ran out 105 feet of 3 inch snake pipe to the city connection and it took forever & he had to use a couple different cutters till he finally broke free the plug.

He said we have 3 inch pipe out to the city sewer & that while there were some roots in the pipe the end had slipped to an offset instead of straight on so it's not the full 3 inches.

Had to put on some kind of spring cutter instead of the H cutter to get through the end into the city pipe.

Had about 3 feet of roots on the end of the pipe when the snake was finally pulled free.

He recommended the sewer line be snaked every 6 months

He did not have a wax ring so thankfully Lowe's is not far and Monday I got a new wax right with a plastic funnel on it to seal things back up again & make that terlet usable. Also got a bottle of stuff that ya dump in the crapper & flush before it over flows the terlet with foam.

This stuff is reported to kill roots & clean out roots in your pipes.

Was told that this foamy stuff works just as good as having a plummer come over and clean the sewer pipe once a year, just use it twice a year & it will keep your pipes clean of any roots.

Figured it can't hurt

Now the toilet that is upstairs is flushing slower than normal is this due to cleaning out the pipes, or something else??

Is it normal to snake your pipes every 6 months, or is this just a scam

Any other maitanace the sewer system needs to help keep it running without clogging up with tree roots again???

 

[jvencius]

I'm no plumber but I do work cheap so here's my 2 cents. Are the sinks/showers draining normally or are they running slowly as well? If everything is draining slow, I'd take a look at the vent pipe to see if it's clogged or blocked (leaves, bird's nest, etc...) since that would affect how all the plumbing in the house drains.

Is the gun safe alright or was it in the flooded part of the basement?

The snaking every 6 months thing isn't much of a scam. Once the sewer drain line has an opening in it, tree roots, seeing as they'll grow towards water, will keep trying to re-grow themselves into that opening vs. going outward and looking for other water sources.

 

[ramprat]

Everything else seems to be draining fine. Will have to climb up on the roof & try to find the vent pipe. Figure I could stick a garden hose in it like a sewer snake and and flush away anything that's possibly plugging it up.

Only got part of the downstairs bathroom floor wet and the laundry room where the floor drain is. Was a pain in the azz to clean up, but nothing was damaged by the water.

 

[fordtrucker4life!]

I am a sewer cleaner and most of the stuff he said is correct. Once roots have infiltrated the line they will grow at a steady rate and you will need to have it cleaned on a preventative maintenance program. 6 months is a very reasonable amount of time between cleanings, but you can try to push it longer to a year, but if you have problems again shorten the schedual. In Michigan usually the line to the main will increase in size from 4 inch to 6 inch so you can't get all the roots out with out larger clean outs. To be sure he got all the roots out you should have it televised and located to help identify the issue even more. The sping thing you talk of would be a retriever cutter used to bring back something stuck in the line. I rarely use it unless the cable breaks or I am at Pepsi bottling, OMG that is a story in itself. Balls of roots can be pushed to the main which will get pushed by the flow to the treatment plant.

 

[ktpauley]

Here is my $.02. xhit flows downhill if gravity flow, and payday is Friday. J/K couldn't resist. Keith

 

[Crumm]

How in the heck to roots get inside the pipe? Sounds like the pipe must be broken.

 

[the cable guy]

rent a machine yourself and do it once a year, buy the safe pipe program from the water company and let them fix it from now on.


Roots infiltrate the joints in search of water, they also enter the cracks if the ground moves and cracks the pipe.

 

[Sandman]

Here is my $.02. xhit flows downhill if gravity flow, and payday is Friday. J/K couldn't resist. Keith

Three answers on the Master Plumbers test..

1. xhit flows down hill
2. Pay day is Friday
3. Don't bite your fingernails

Everything sounds tight.. Grandmother had the tree root problem.. has to snake the pipes regularly..

There are only a handfull of trees in Wyoming.. you are the lucky one..

 

[fordtrucker4life!]

rent a machine yourself and do it once a year, buy the safe pipe program from the water company and let them fix it from now on.


Roots infiltrate the joints in search of water, they also enter the cracks if the ground moves and cracks the pipe.

I always love the people that try do do it on their own with a rental machine. I have pulled out a few broken cables from home owners who think they can do it to save some money. You can really get hurt if you don't know what you are doing. It does not feel good when you wrap a cable around your arm.

 

[Crumm]

It does not feel good when you wrap a cable around your arm.

Experience talking?