waste pipe

[Gary]

Hi Is there a simple way of clearing out the sludge in a shallow drop wast pipe from my bath. It is almost horizontal droping about 1 inch over 10 foot

I have a drain clearing spring thing but it just runs over the top of the sludge, so I have a very slow pipe with a couple of bends in it that i cannot easily clear.

I have tried sulphuric acid but that was dangerous and did not work. Any suggestions welcomed.

Gary

[Frank Erskine]

Caustic soda would be better at dissolving organic matter.

[the_constructor]

Really it is no good just to pour stuff down the pipe and hope that it will move. In my experience of this type of problem, it is best to disconnect pipe on outside of house or if possible pit a stopend on the pipe and then fill it from inside with the cleaning agent and allow it to sit in the pipe overnight. Copme the following morning, remove stopend, being very carefuil indeed not to get the cleaning agent on you and all should be well again, until next time you wish to clean it.......

Jim

[Tim Watts]

Gary ( [e-mail]) wibbled on Tuesday 08 February 2011 21:11:

IME that sort of sluge shifts better with an alkali. But it is getting it in contact which is difficult.

Method 1: Put a bucket of really hot water in the bth with plug - 1/4 bottle bleach, pull plug and leave overnight. Repeat 2-4 times for a major buildup then once every so often.

That carries strong bleach over all the crap and allows it time to work - both the germ killing and the alkali action server to break up the crap so it can be flushed away. Fill bath 2" with hot water and flush so there is a prolongued hot flush.

Method 2: If possible, block the pipe at the other end and fill it with hot string bleach or hot caustic soda. Leave overnight at a minimum then flush with a part bath of hot water.

2 ought to manage it in one application. Once you break up any fats a bit and break down any organic strands, the crap tends to break up and fall away without much trouble.

Any idea what you are doing to the bath to cause this? Or has it just been left a long time? I get that problem on kitchen sinks mostly due to the food matter that goes down that both sticks and feeds the bugs which then form some sort of bugslime. Do you use a lot of traditional soap? We don't - all bath salts and bubble bath.

My bath has the minimum fall ( about the same grdient as yours) for about 6m (exceeds building regs limits) but is done in 50mm pipe. I make a habit of checking the pipe though one of my tees with a rodding cap on and I just checked mine right now out of interest - 18 months of heavy use from new.

The bottom of the inside of the horizontal run is clean to the plastic. There is about 1mm thick of some creamy coating up both sides to the halfway mark which is the tide mark for when the bath empties (which is why I didn't put an AAV on that branch - always an air gap on top of the water)

Hmm - perhaps I should give mine a soaking with bleach too... I expect mine will clear out using method 1 in one application, maybe two - but I can block the pipe outfall if required and give it a good soaking.

If you can crack the problem, it would be worth certainly in treating it once a year just to keep it under control.

HTH

Tim

Cheers

Tim

[Gary]

27 years of use. problem became apparent last year.

[Tim Watts]

Gary ( [e-mail]) wibbled on Tuesday 08 February 2011 23:49:

Ah. Best block it on the outfall and go for a damn good soaking in hot caustic and another in bleach (or a good couple of sessions with bleach alone might do it) with some heavy duty flushing with hot bathwater in between.

Does a washing machine run into this pipe? That *can* sometimes leave another deposit that is better cleared with acid - but obviously keep the acid and bleach well apart.

[Gary]

Typical .the pipe runs into what i was alwasy told was the stink pipe. The pipe is boxed for the last 4 foot. so not an easy job. Thanks for the info.

Gary

[Bob]

What do you wash with then, soapless washes, gels, and cakes?

[Tim Watts]

Bob ( [e-mail]) wibbled on Saturday 12 February 2011 07:36:

Read the second bit ^^^^ soapless detergent aka bubblebath.

I hate soap - scums everything up :(