A handle to turn drain rods?

[Keefiedee]

In the process of clearing the bottom half of the outflow pipe of my septic tank, I am aware that although drain rods pass through it, and water drains through it - slowly - there is still an awful lot of sludge in it. I can't use a plunger on my drain rods because the outflow consists of loose laid clay pipes, some of which have moved a bit over the years, so a standard plunger gets stuck very easily. I am planning on cutting one down to a smaller diameter to try, but it also occurs to me that some sort of handle one could put on the top end of one's drain rods to rotate it (clockwise of course) with a screw end on the bottom would be very helpful. Does such a thing exist, and if so, where from?

Keith

[RobertL]

if it exists it should have a ratchet so it's impossible to unscrew the rods when they are down in the drain :-)

BTW, have you considered attaching a hosepipe to the rods and pumping water in down there to free up the sludge?

R

[Keefiedee]

Yes, had one try at that - will have another shot at it soon. The trouble is, I think there's an awful lot of sludge in there.

K

[Stephen Howard]

I have much the same problem and I use a rod with a brass cone on the end. I think it used to have a brush or a disc on it at one time - now long since fallen off. The cone is about a couple of inches in diameter at its widest point. Being able to turn the rods is useful, and I've found that an old wooden rod with a bit of a bend in it has been sufficient. It's not terribly sophisticated, and you can't on any account turn the rod anti-clockwise ( obviously ), but it works well enough for the couple of times a year I have to rod out the pipes.

Regards,

[Huge]

Yes, but you don't want to do that. If you screw the end of your rods into an obstruction and you cannot free it, the only solution is to turn it anticlockwise, which will unscrew the rods ...

The correct solution is to buy some professional steel rods, which bolt together, can be safely rotated in either direction, and can be fitted with a "corkscrew" at one end and a carepenters brace at the other end; although I just put a screwdriver through the coupling to rotate mine. I have a set of these;

broken or lost several sets of plastic ones, I'd never use anything else but the steel ones.

[Mark]

Toolstation.com ptno 65925

should really only use this if you have locking drain rods

I have no idea if this will fit the threads on your rods.

-

[Dave Liquorice]

[Bill]

In message , RobertL writes

The sort of yellow fibre glass rods that the likes of BT use commonly have a spring loaded catch as well as the screw thread, so that once locked you can rotate them either way without them coming apart. I've never seen this on drain rods but it does seem a good idea. Any one seen this on drain rods?

[BigWallop]

I got a cheap set of rods years ago, and drilled the ends to fit split pins through. They still work fine, and it was a good fix for a cheap but strong set of rods.

[Huge]

I can't recall, to be honest, but if pressed I'd say 6 x 2m rods, a "corkscrew" and a 4" rubber plunger was about GBP70.

[Huge]

[Dave Liquorice]

Not bad a cheapy plastic set from a shed will be 10 to 20.