Low flush toilets and your sewer line

[Ed Pawlowski]

My sewer line has a gap where the cast iron and AC pipe join together. The pipe dropped a bit so I had roots in the pipe and blocked it. I had a guy come out and he cleared the line and cut the roots out with a water jet. He located the spot, not far from the house and about a foot from the edge of the asphalt driveway. He also ran his camera down the entore length of my pipe and it is clear and in good shape.

As an aside, I asked him what he thought of the low flow toilets that are now mandatory. He said he get some added business from them. In many cases, the toilet works very well and clears everything. The problem is down the line if there is not enough water to float everything down.

He tells customers to give an extra flush, especially if you use a lot of paper. He also said the best paper to use is the Scott with 1,000 sheets per roll. It breaks down better an gets carried away easier than other brands.Of course, feminine products should not be flushed.

Meantime, I have to decide what to do with my line. It works OK , but the roots will come back. He estimates about $2500 to dig in the dirt, tunnel about a foot to do the repair.

[Thomas]

Buy the line insurance. I pay 8 a month. Need to wait 90 days for it to kick in, in 18702. Suffer for a bit.

[Buzz Saugh]

Neighbor had the same tree root problem...until he got out the Stihl. No more tree - no more roots. Problem solved

[gfretwell]

The guest bathroom sink is up stream of the toilet and I tell everyone to be sure they wash their hands ;-)

[Ed Pawlowski]

Oh, that is a good idea. I get mailings every couple of months. I'll have to see what the cost is.

[bob haller]

my line, terracta pipe has been bad for perhaps 15 to 20 years. tree roots......

max tree root growth is in the spring right before the leaves open....

what i do is buy rock salt in late winter, put it in basement wash tub, add very hot water and mix with a shovel.

i leave some rocksalt in the washtub, as laundry is done, the salt kills the roots but not the trees....

i havent had the bucks to replace the line.. avoid running water for the day your doing this. lik i do it after everyone leaves for work. its so cheap it might as well be free, works fast too

[CRNG]

On Sat, 8 Jul 2017 19:58:35 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote in

Good advice.

[Pat]

Once per year? Once per day? Always flush twice?

[Leigh A. Logg]

I go by inches of poop. If it's less than six inches, one flush will suffice. Otoh, if it's six to twelve inches I flush twice. Twelve and over gets a triple flush.

[Cindy Hamilton]

My toilets are downstream of everything else: dishwasher, clothes washer, etc. It's all PVC right out to the municipal sewer.

Cindy Hamilton

[CRNG]

On Sun, 09 Jul 2017 08:58:26 -0400, Pat wrote in

I generally flush twice several times a day, but the second flush is a partial flush; i.e. I only wait about 10 seconds before doing the second flush.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Once per load of solids. Liquid make no difference but when you have a couple of logs and wads of paper, you want to be sure there is enough water to float it down the line.

[thekmanrocks]

Ed Pawlowski wrote: "My sewer line has a gap where the cast iron and AC pipe join together. The pipe dropped a bit so I had roots in the pipe and blocked it. I had a guy come out and he cleared the line and cut the roots out with a water jet. He located the spot, not far from the house and about a foot from the edge of the asphalt driveway. He also ran his camera down the entore length of my pipe and it is clear and in good shape.

As an aside, I asked him what he thought of the low flow toilets that are now mandatory. He said he get some added business from them. In many cases, the toilet works very well and clears everything. The problem is down the line if there is not enough water to float everything down.

He tells customers to give an extra flush, especially if you use a lot of paper. He also said the best paper to use is the Scott with 1,000 sheets per roll. It breaks down better an gets carried away easier than other brands.Of course, feminine products should not be flushed.

Meantime, I have to decide what to do with my line. It works OK , but the roots will come back. He estimates about $2500 to dig in the dirt, tunnel about a foot to do the repair. "

I always KNEW 'low-flush' toilets were a scam!

Going from typical 3gal flush to 1.6 was too ambitious of a reduction. Should havd gone to 2.0gallons, and that would have been a fine compromise.

As it is, we now have a bunch of double- flushers consuming 3.2 instead of 3 gallons per visit to the facilities, and the water utilities and manufacurers of these 'water saver' toilets are laughing all the way to the BANK!

Unfrickn believsble.

[Ed Pawlowski]

There are some dual flush. They vary but can be 10.0/1.6. Better would be 1.0/2.0 That would probably work better and truly save water.

[thekmanrocks]

Ed Pawlowsky wrote: "There are some dual flush. They vary but can be 10.0/1.6."

10.0 - as in GALLONS? Geeezesss!

"Better would be 1.0/2.0 That would probably work better and truly save water. "

If 1.6gal requires a high incidence of double flushes, what's more for 1.0gal??

2.0gallons it should be.

[Ed Pawlowski]

1.0 is plenty for urine.

[thekmanrocks]

Ed Pawlowski: "1.0 urine"

OH! You refer to those newer models with the nested flush buttons(urine vs solid).

Yeah, those are cool. But 10 gallons? Trying to flush Godzilla's poop? lololol

[Stormin' Norman]

+1, you are absolutely correct!

As for double flushing, unless these guys are disposing of elephant manure down their toilets, this is ridiculous advice. People use far more water in their houses than just the toilet. Hopefully they shower, wash their hands, wash dishes, etc.

If for some ridiculous reason they are concerned about the toilet not providing enough water to get the solid waste out to the sewer line or septic tank, they need to consider the other water use on the property and the fact that having some solid waste in the sewer lateral line is almost unavoidable and completely normal.

Now, if they only evacuate their bowels once a month and use no other water and if their feces has the chemical composition of mortar or Roman concrete, then they might have an issue. However, if any of that is the case, their sewer lateral is the last thing they should be worrying about.

The first low flow toilet I installed was in the head out in the barn, it was an inexpensive American Standard toilet and it worked better than any other toilet on the property. I then went ahead and replaced the other seven toilets on the property with esthetically nicer looking American Standard units and they all work great and have, for the past decade, since being installed.

No one should let the BS about "not using enough water", influence their switching over.

[thekmanrocks]

Stormin' Norman:

I'm not convinced. Use enough water in the first place, and you will conserve in the long run. Or, install combo high-low volume flushers, with a button for liquid waste and one for solid.

[Stormin' Norman]

Apparently, the old aphorism about leading a horse to water is still relevant in the 21st century.

Now, if you could actually provide some empirical evidence to substantiate your doubts.......