Electric Snake stuck in pipe

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WackaWacka

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Hello, I need some help. I've rented yesterday from HD a 75ft 1/2 in power snake. It feeds and retrieves the cable by itself, all I had to do is hold the guide pipe down. I struggled for a bit to insert the cable into the pipe through the clean out( located outside next to my kitchen pipe) because of a 90degree elbow that I could not bend the snake through. I took the arrow head off and succeeded to insert the cable with no head in the pipe. By my estimate I went 30-40 feet in. I retracted it and put a spring head on. Again could not get the cable past the elbow, so I took the spring head off. I managed to insert the cable again with no head in. I think I went about 40-50 feet and the cable went no more.I reversed and tried again with no success. I decided to retrieve it. No go! It's stuck in there. The machine has no power to pull it back. I tried reverse..... I tried forward and backwards..... I tried pulling it with my hands. Nothing! HELP!
I've read in some forum about powder soap to lubricate the pipe. True?
 

WackaWacka

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I've posted a pic so you can see the machine and where I went in from

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WV Bob

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Got a come-along and a secure place to pull against?

Just the other day I read a post here mentioning running a snake through mud and maybe needing a truck to pull it back out once it's stuck. I hope it's not that bad in your case.
 

DonL

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I would hope it is out by now.

You need to be careful with what you put your snake in, and be able to pull it out quick.
 

Plumber69

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Hello, I need some help. I've rented yesterday from HD a 75ft 1/2 in power snake. It feeds and retrieves the cable by itself, all I had to do is hold the guide pipe down. I struggled for a bit to insert the cable into the pipe through the clean out( located outside next to my kitchen pipe) because of a 90degree elbow that I could not bend the snake through. I took the arrow head off and succeeded to insert the cable with no head in the pipe. By my estimate I went 30-40 feet in. I retracted it and put a spring head on. Again could not get the cable past the elbow, so I took the spring head off. I managed to insert the cable again with no head in. I think I went about 40-50 feet and the cable went no more.I reversed and tried again with no success. I decided to retrieve it. No go! It's stuck in there. The machine has no power to pull it back. I tried reverse..... I tried forward and backwards..... I tried pulling it with my hands. Nothing! HELP!
I've read in some forum about powder soap to lubricate the pipe. True?
This happend to me before, what I did was hook the end of the snake to a power drill and reversed it out, slowly lots of torque in the drill
 
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