How to use root killer?

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rckowal

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How Do I Use RootX?

I've read a lot about RootX, but I never seen much said about exactly how to introduce it into the pipe where the roots are.

The reason I ask is that anything that foams has to be applied in the right place or it may not move through the sewer line to the roots. For instance, if I were to put it into a floor drain with a trap - when it foams I would think that it would just foam back up & out of the drain. In a case like this, it would never get to the roots.

The other case is where there is an 8 - 10 foot run of floor drain without a trap. If I pour RootX in the drain opening, how does it know it's supposed to flow through the pipe to where the roots are? Again, I would think that a lot of it would just foam back up & out of the drain.

Maybe I'm wrong or missing some thing. A chat with RootX Tech Support was a waste of time. They just tell you to pour it in the pipe. That's why I'm here asking those of you who use the stuff professionally how it should be done. Replies will be much appreciated.

Richard
 

Dunbar Plumbing

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Whatever you do, absolutely DO NOT mix water and RootX outside the piping system.


You're whole basement will be full of foaming root killer.


You want to hit a floor drain or pull a toilet to hit where the root intrusions were likely found.


If roots were found inside the structure, in the piping, you need to access the furthest distance inside the house and apply it from there.


Dumping RootX in a toilet will also have foaming root killer everywhere in the home.


A floor drain is the best bet or cleanout, just have a bucket of water behind it, absolutely no urinating in toilets, no water at all in the drains for 6 hours.


Just leave the house completely to keep from pushing that foam down the line where it serves no purpose.


The most effective way to use this product:


Very aggressive drain cleaning/root cutting and THEN apply RootX.

This will minimize the work the foaming agent has to do and this kills the roots, but they die off months later and fall off, float away in the drain.



I had a dream one night and I thought I was a root cutting blade, and saw all this in the drain until my wife took a dump and her morning pile came and flooded me out to sewer. That one is going to require counseling for sure. :(
 

rckowal

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Hi Rugged, Thanks for your very helpful reply. I have a few questions

"You want to hit a floor drain or pull a toilet to hit where the root intrusions were likely found. If roots were found inside the structure, in the piping, you need to access the furthest distance inside the house and apply it from there."

The known root activity was found in the end of the storm sewer, at the house cleanout, where some weep tiles drain into the main sewer line. This is right near an exterior wall where the main goes off to the street sewer. This is about 8 feet from either of two floor drains. Should I put the RootX in one of those drains?

"Dumping RootX in a toilet will also have foaming root killer everywhere in the home."

Please clarify. Are you warning that the foam will back up (unwanted) into the house? Or, introduce it into a toilet to get it into all of the lines?

A floor drain is the best bet or cleanout, just have a bucket of water behind it, absolutely no urinating in toilets, no water at all in the drains for 6 hours.

I assume the bucket of water is to be poured into the same drain/clean out where the RootX was introduced - to activate it?

The most effective way to use this product: Very aggressive drain cleaning/root cutting and THEN apply RootX.

The roots were first cleaned out two years ago. They could actually be seen from the clean out. It was like a small birds nest of fine hair like roots. Sand from the weep tiles had built up in the birds nest - eventually blocking the storm sewer drain. Drain cleaner guy ran the end of his snake into the nest then reached in & removed it by hand.

As a preventive action, that line was snaked again about 9 months ago. I have also been putting a bottle of (blue-copper sulphate) root killer in the floor drain near there. I check that spot every fall to see if any new roots have formed.

A great concern however is whether there is root growth in the weep tiles around the exterior of the basement walls. Is there some way RootX could be used to kill those roots as well?

Richard
 
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Last Person

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Nobody ever said they were on the outside! I said they were on the top. I had no idea someone would actually think I was talking about the "outside" of the pipe. LOL.

To be fair to HJ, I thought the same thing and thought you were on crack or something for saying it.

I just had Rotorooter come out and clear my lines. I just got a house built in 1946 and it still has the original clay (terracota?) pipes and there were two or three spots where roots had grown through. I know I am going to have to replace the entire line at some point, but I am hoping to stave that off for a bit, so I was looking at the Root-X stuff as a stop-gap until I have the money to get the line cleared. I was thinking about getting bottle and running it down ever 3 or 4 months. I was looking at the Zep Root Killer. It is pretty inexpensive and is a foaming kind.
 

Bill Shack

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We have the same problem with roots in quebec with clay pipe. I have found that if the joints do not leak then there are no roots However if the joints leak then the roots will sense this nutrient rich water and then grow in to the pipe. a lot of plumbers are suggesting to their customers to have the drain pipe lined with a epoxy membrane. much cheaper than digging up the pipe and redoing it.
 
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