A 6ft toilet auger doesn't reach blockage. Soil stack is a further 6ft away. From manhole to soil stack is clear and can't rod out blockage from that end. What's the best tool/procedure.
Thanks in advance, Cheers, Alan
Do you have a high pressure washer? You can buy a drain jet attachment for these that can be fairly effective.
A Jet Blaster - a device that uses pumped cmopressed air to blow obstructions out of drains. Just make sure you hold it very firmly in place when firing it.
Colin Bignell
There is also a version which employs a pressurised can of compressed gas as a charge. It fits tightly to the waterline and when triggered vents the gas content instantly into the pipe. Make sure your joints are secure! I saw one demonstrated and it blasted the stoppage plug a considerable distance from the end of the pipe. If its sh-t you are clearing dont get in the way or you will suffer the effects
Sink plunger?
Flush the toilet to fill the pipe to the blockage and then attempt to get a pressure surge travelling down the pipe?
I suppose rodding down from the top of the soil stack isn't on?
regards
On Wed, 2 Feb 2011 14:19:30 -0000, "Alan" gently dipped his quill in the best Quink that money could buy:
A running flexible hosepipe ?
Mike P the 1st
I'd try a drain rod with a circular rubber disc on the end (a pretty standard accessory for rods). Fill the WC pan with water (enough to cover the disc) and push the disc down to the bottom of the pan and then push back and forth sharply and repeatedly (trying not to get splashed with sh*tty water!) You're generating hydraulic pulses through the water to try to dislodge the blockage. A standard stereotypical plumbing drain plunger is similar but less rigid so I don't think you can generate such strong pulses, but more importantly it has a shorter handle than a drain rod so you can't stand so far away from the sh*tty water!
Having tried a waterblaster and plungers without success, I made a plug to fit inside the drain, using a sheet of rubber with a large metal washer on each side and a handle several feet long to hold the plug in place. I put a hose fitting in the plug and connected a hosepipe to it from the mains water supply which happens to be 110 psi. After a few minutes the drain was clear. I would hope so with 1500 pounds pushing against the blockage.
YAPH ( snipped-for-privacy@yaph.co.uk) wibbled on Wednesday 02 February 2011 21:49:
If the water goes down eventually, ie there is leakage, I've found that dosing a moderate quantity of caustic soda down, flush and then leave so the caustic "plug" travels to the blockage, then leave overnight can break the blockage up anough to shift.
2 things: Adding a lot (1kg) of caustic to water is dangerous as dissolving is an exothermic reaction. If the water gets warm, the caustic dissoves fastr, more heat, hot water, faster, more heat, water boils, you get faceful of boiling caustic water. I nearly had that happen in a bucket once - I added it too fast - go slowly.The other, if you dump a pile of c.soda granuals in the pan and leave them there, if they don't dissolve, they are apt to form a solid mass like cement.
So I would add warm water to the loo, and add the caustic slowly whilst stirring with an old stick.
It's hit and miss but it fixed a blockage I had 12 feet away once (there turned out to be an inspection cover at the blockage but buried so no one knew it was there).
Failing caustic, you (OP) could try an entire bottle, or two bottles of bleach - that can sometimes loosen things enough. Same theory - one flush and try to get it to travel en-bloc to the blockage and leave it alone for as long as poss. Bleach is alkaline and an oxidiser and will attack some elements of s**te (fats mostly) which may be just enough - depending on how the blockage has arisen.
Under no circumstances follow up with any kind of acid - or you risk gassing the house out with pure chlorine!
It's a long shot, but it's something that can be worth a 10:1 punt as it doesn't make matters any worse.
Matty F ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.nz) wibbled on Wednesday 02 February 2011
22:00:
I was too late with the bleach idea - but well done you.
Might be worth investigating that one now and see why it blocked.
Better make sure you've got someone rolling the video camera. Sounds like it could be quite entertaining on youtube afterwards, even if not at the time...
American toilet plungers are rather different from the common UK variety and are generally much more efficient because they make a better seal. Granted they need to use them very frequently indeed there as blockages in American toilets are an everyday affair, but it's well worthwhile picking up a good one on your next trip to the US :-)
Alternatively use the circular rubber disc on the rods from downstream of the blockage. Push up the pipe as far as possible & pull out rapidly
- the suction this causes often shifts the blockage.
Thanks for all the replies. Further investigation revealed that the although the water was draining out of the toilet it wasn't making it to the soil pipe - there must be a leak somewhere which explains why pressure methods didn't work. The local plumber is coming in tomorrow to try and sort it. Will let you know how he gets on. Fortunately the wc hasn't been used seriously for several months :-)
Cheers, Alan.
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