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well this is a lousy situation

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
Went downstairs to do laundry, smelled like sewer, open up the sump pit cover... great. The drain is clogged. Any water that goes down any drain in the house is making that go higher. Main line is plugged. This happened to me a few years ago but I managed to clear it with enough elbow greese and the plunger, but the laundry tub was also full so I could plunge from there. The pit never got this full when it happened. All this shit (literally) is now going into my new weeping tiles.

I put some drain cleaner in there and I'll give it time. Chances are I'll have to pump it out and snake the drain. Does not help that I'm sick with strep throat and now I have to play with sewage. 😵 Might have to call a plumber on this one. Too bad it's the weekend so I'd have to wait till Monday. I'm curious to open the cleanout that does a Y to the city drain, but I'm also not brave enough to do so.

Just glad I caught this in time.
 
Well I took the chance and opened up the one that goes to the city, it makes a Y to the house, one end is to a cleanout and the other to the main drain, so unbolted it slowly with the alan key as if there was pressure it would at least start to leak. That drain is clear. I was able to pour a full bucket of water into it. So at least I know the clog is from the main stack to the end of the Y. Unless it does anything else creative that I'm not aware of. I'm just guessing where the pipes go by looking inside the cleanout and location of drains. 😛

I have a plumbing company on the way to snake it out. I don't have that kind of equipment unfortunately. Suppose it's something worth getting as it was hard to find a plumbing company that does drains. $170/h because it's the weekend, but it would be $100/h during the week, so figured what the hell. I need to shower tomorrow and Monday so can't really wait till then. Toilet is not the end of the world, I could go to the telco office near my house or to the church. Done it before when I had plumbing issues lol.
 
No Harbor Freight here. We do have Home Depot and Canadian Tire but they're closed anyway given it's late weekend. Most of those places close at like 3-4 on the weekend.
 
Giant truck rolling in as I speak. They'll try to blast with high pressure.

This aint gonna be cheap! Hopefully there wont be a mess...
 
And it's unblocked with high pressure! It was kinda neat to see the whole process. It turned out to be tissue paper. I guess I wont be flushing that down the toilet anymore, at least not a lot of it. I've been sick so been going through a box+ per day. Pipes look clean and no damage otherwise. Though they're all cast iron which is kinda rough. Before I redo the basement I'll probably want to redo all that with ABS. I'm just glad it was not pipe damage outside the house. That would cost a fortune.
 
I had a problem with a clogged main a couple years ago and the sewer guy said I should not use the Premium toilet paper anymore. You know the stuff that's really soft and squishy? So now I get Scott's septic safe...it's like a thousand sheets per roll. It's a little rougher on the old anus, but I don't want to risk plugging the ancient drainpipes again.
 
Red Squirrel said:
And it's unblocked with high pressure! It was kinda neat to see the whole process. It turned out to be tissue paper. I guess I wont be flushing that down the toilet anymore, at least not a lot of it. I've been sick so been going through a box+ per day. Pipes look clean and no damage otherwise. Though they're all cast iron which is kinda rough. Before I redo the basement I'll probably want to redo all that with ABS. I'm just glad it was not pipe damage outside the house. That would cost a fortune.
Click to expand...

fuck bro, learn things about life.
 
Both toilet paper and facial tissue are made with a short-term wet strength additive. This lets the paper keep some of its physical strength for a short time while it is being used, but it will get soft and break down after a short time. Facial tissue has more of this, so it holds its strength a bit longer.

But other tissues, especially paper towels, have a different wet strength chemical additive and they will NOT soften and break down in any reasonable time, so they should never go down a drain. Even newspaper does not break down rapidly - it does not have wet strength additives, but it does often have a modest amount of water-repellant property that makes softening slow.
 
Red Squirrel said:
And it's unblocked with high pressure! It was kinda neat to see the whole process. It turned out to be tissue paper. I guess I wont be flushing that down the toilet anymore, at least not a lot of it. I've been sick so been going through a box+ per day. Pipes look clean and no damage otherwise. Though they're all cast iron which is kinda rough. Before I redo the basement I'll probably want to redo all that with ABS. I'm just glad it was not pipe damage outside the house. That would cost a fortune.
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with cast iron pipes if they're not cracked or leaking from joints. They're generally a larger diameter than ABS. Also, they tend to be quieter.
 
Got the bill today, not as bad as I thought, around $350. Considering they were 3 guys had to go back for more equipment a couple times, and it was a weekend callout, it's not too bad.
 
Papa Hogan said:
I had a problem with a clogged main a couple years ago and the sewer guy said I should not use the Premium toilet paper anymore. You know the stuff that's really soft and squishy? So now I get Scott's septic safe...it's like a thousand sheets per roll. It's a little rougher on the old anus, but I don't want to risk plugging the ancient drainpipes again.
Click to expand...

as long as you put only toilet paper and turds in a toilet eventually it will clear itself. kleenex, papertowels, tampons, and dental floss should never be put in the toilet. liquid plummer should never be put in a plugged toilet. dats ma esperiense
 
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Couple bottles of Liquid plumber + balls of foil to the rim, duct tape toilet seat shut and get out of the room.

Guarantee way to get rid of a clog. Not that I've ever tried it, but in principle, it should work. You may have to replace the toilet and other bathroom fixtures after, though. In this case, I count drywall and even structural supports as a fixture.
 
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