OT? - Blocked drains

[missingitch]

Hi,

I have a problem with a blocked drain in an upstairs toilet. The toilet was put in a part of an attic conversion and the down pipe is blocked. A toilet on the floor below which shares the same pipe is working properly, so I assume the blockage is between the two. I can't reach it with rods from the ground and am considering hiring a pressure washer and one of those attachments that travel in the pipe and clear the blockage by a jet of water.

What I want to know is can I put the jet down the actual toilet and if so would it be able to cut through all the all the crap that might be there before it reaches the blockage. (There is about 20ft of pipe between the two toilets).

To further complicate matters, the house was empty for about six months so this blockage could be there a while, would this make things worse if the stuff in the pipe has "dried out"? I have tried drain unblockers that you pour down the toilet with out sucess.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

John

[Bill]

In message , " [e-mail]" writes

Best of luck with what ever you do but be wary of what may now be in the pipe. How many different drain unblockers have you put down there? Could be quite a nasty cocktail of chemicals sat there waiting to do you harm.

[Dave Jones]

Would it not be possible to disconnect the toilet from the soil pipe and then use the rods to unblock the pipe?

or could one of these do the job?

get things moving!

[Andy Hall]

Hard to say. It might.

For it to work, you would have to be able to get the jet to a point just in fron of the blockage. It's no good just stuffing it down the loo and pressing the trigger. All that will happen is a lot of water and mess.

Do you have females in the house?

If so, common blocking items are cotton buds which can get stuck at a pipe joint and collect other material behind them, and of course, vampire's teabags.

Other than this, the most likely culprit is excessive toilet paper which has swelled and blocked. Of course, if the toilet has been out of use for six months, then this could have solidified.

If there is some flow, you can try putting bowls of hot water down the loo or trickling hot water from a shower. This may make paper disintegrate. Adding washing powder helps as well.

Otherwise, rather than going to the expense of a pressure washer rental, I would remove the loo and gain access to the pipe that way. It is fairly likely that the blockage is in or quite close to the pan anyway. You can have fixed the problem and have the loo back in place before you get to the rental shop and back.

.andy

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[G&M]

Before you use a high power jet, try a gentle prod with a garden hose with the end almost turned off. Almost as effective and free.

[d]

John, I've got exactly the same problem as you. I've tried one of those flexible rods to try and clear it but either I can't get enough push on it or it's in the soil stack and I can't reach it. Anyone know if theres and inspection plate on the pipe between the bog and the soil stack? John, if you find a solution can you post it here and I'll do the same.

Cheers

Dave

[Michael Mcneil]

No one mentioned Caustic Soda?

Five hundred, thousand, billion, million posts!!!! on this *@*##=! newsgroup about the bloody!!! stuff!!! and it doesn't work???????

[stuart noble]

Course it doesn't. It slightly accelerates the decomposition of organic material over time but there's no substitute for shoving something down the pipe. As already mentioned, a garden hose is soft, flexible and delivers sufficient water to impact the blockage without flooding the place. If the blockage really is in the downpipe between the 2 outlets (unusual IME) it would be best to put it down from the top of the soil pipe if you can. Years ago I remember drilling a 1" hole in my soil pipe in sheer desperation after DynoRod had given up on the job. You can imagine what happened, but it allowed me to get a hose in there and break up the bird's nest that had caused the problem. Then I was able to use it to hose myself down.

[The Natural Philosopher]

You may be able to.

How fast is the loo actually draining - is there any flow at all?

I would definitely start with pure solid caustic soda Xtals pushed up as far back as possible and left to fester for a while with hot water pored on top.

Yes, I know its definitely a Bad Thing and may boil in the pan spurting hot caustic everywhere.

However apart from eyes, the stuff ain't that dangerous if you wash it off immediately

If that does not work, pour a gallon of brick acid down the thing: Sometimes you get limsecale/turd/urine blocks which are calciferous. If you get a lot of fizzing from the brick acid its a sure sign that scale has built up.

In general provided there is modest flow through the blockage, one or the other of these will normally work.

After that its time to try feeding a garden hose down the toilet and U bend...thats a good trick.

Or simply remove the toilet and poke with a stick...

[missingitch]

Hi,

Many thanks for all replies. I think disconnecting the toilet may be the best bet but I have never attempted it before. Is there much involved?

Thanks again,

John.

[Dave Stanton]

You can alwways saw through the soil pipe like the ' Proff Plumbers ' on that tv programm a while ago.

Dave

[GB]

My 2p-worth: You can estimate where the blockage is by flushing the toilet. That's assuming that the bowl is not already full at the time!!!!

Assuming there is a small amount of drainage, the level in the pan should be the 'normal level'. Flush the toilet. Does the level of the water rise a lot - maybe almost to the rim? In that case, the blockage is at the U-bend or very close after. The U-bend is the most likely. You just need a short flexible doobry to unblock it. It's worth trying one of those suction caps on a handle first.

OTOH, if the water level does not rise a lot, the blockage is well down the pipe. This is because the pipe is empty and it has a large diameter, so there's room for the water in the flush to accumulate in the pipe.

Of course, this only works if the water drains away, however slowly. I think most blockages fit this category, at least I've never come across one that does not.

Most blockages are in the u-bend, and it's worth being absolutely sure this is not the case before getting at all excited.

[Andy Hall]

Not really.

The steps are to

- turn off and disconnect the water supply and overflow.

- If it's a close coupled cistern and pan then you will normally find two wing nuts underneath. Undo these. Undo any screws holding the cistern to the wall and lift off the cistern

- If it is a separate cistern with flush pipe, simply disconnect the flush pipe.

- Unscrew any screw fixings attaching the pan to the floor and lift the pan away with a gentle rocking motion.

Make sure that you have a supply of old towels, newspaper old rags etc. to mop up.

Reassembly is the reverse. A few hints.

- A smear of washing up liquid around the male part of the pan and the seal gasket into the soil pipe will aid re-insertion.

- When you refit the water supply, loosen the nut holding the ball valve in place. Screw on the connector carefully if the ball valve is plastic to avoid cross threading it. Tighten gently. Then tighten the nut of the ballvalve onto the cistern. You might need to replace the fibre washer in the connector.

- If you have any screws against porcelain, put a plastic washer under them as a cushion. B&Q and others sell kits of these.

.andy

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[G&M]

You beat me to it. One of the funniest things on TV in years !

[G&M]

Nope - disconnecting is a doddle.

But reconnecting it without any leaks is the skilful bit :-) Please try poking a hose from both ends before you get to this extreme.

[Tim Mitchell]

Blimey... caustic soda crystals followed by brick acid??? there's no doubt you'll get a lot of fizzing. I think that might be what my chemistry teacher used to call a "violent reaction".

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not followed immediately. The crystals will normally have dissolved by then anyway, and adding dilute acid to dilute alkali whilst exothermic IIRC is not as violent as the hydration of the alkali in the first place.

PS I discovered that large quantities of wild plum juice (Bullace) seem to make an excellent substitute for litmus...