Plumbing & Sewer and Drain Professionals

[seweranddrain]

I wanted to let all of you professionals know of a free listing service, where you can enter your companies information into our online directory.

We offer other services as well, which you can view at your leisure.

The goal is to get every plumbing, sewer and drain professional listed in our online directory.

Again, this is free - it will not cost anything to list your company. It's a great way to gain exposure and have an additional link pointing to your own website which will increase your sites overall visibility.

Simply go to http://www.seweranddrain.com to add your company or for more information.

 

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Tanks but I gots more drain cleaning calls than I can handle. I'm sitting here wandering why I do it to begin with.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Rancher]

I'm sitting here wandering why I do it to begin with.

Cuz you spend too much time on the computer answering everyone else's problem, you could be out there cleaning out nice clean drains

Rancher

 

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Well, I fought one for 2 hours yesterday.....almost didn't get a chance to vote.....and today my hands are like claws from running my small machine. Time for a self-feed attachment for $300 to save my hands.

Oh.....I smelled like a sewer rat at the courthouse in a line full of people.

This rat had a fist full of 100's though. $$$

 

[SumppumpPimp]

Well, I fought one for 2 hours yesterday.....almost didn't get a chance to vote.....and today my hands are like claws from running my small machine. Time for a self-feed attachment for $300 to save my hands.

Oh.....I smelled like a sewer rat at the courthouse in a line full of people.

This rat had a fist full of 100's though. $$$

That $300.00 is chump change for a guy like you! Think about it, if you go ahead and get the self feed attachment you need, that means more time on the internet for you!

 

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Wait till you read this one ZP.


This job I'm talking of, I was there last year to do 2 things; replace a section of 4" cast-iron and replace a sewage ejector pump. (Zoeller of course)

When I cut out that section of cast, it is a 32' foot run that is pratically laying flat following the wall and making two turns before it goes out highwall. When I replaced that small piece of piping, it was a wye. The inside of the piping was filled halfway with solid sediment and I told the homeowner that you need to get it thoroughly cleaned and possibly jetted..it was that bad. You can use large cutters but you start compiling all of that waste and you'll be fighting a lost cause if you cannot get that out to the main.

One side of the house (1 bathroom) the DWV stack goes into the basement floor and leads to the sewage ejector pit. The other stack for some unknown reason runs 32' pratically flat to the high wall sewer line with the sewage ejector pit dumping into this same connection.

Kitchen sink is clogged......my first intuition was that my recommendation of that long drain line is backed up and slowing the entire system down.

Told the customer to run hot water only down the kitchen sink so I can see which pipe is the kitchen sink drain line. The pipe I "thought" was the kitchen sink line didn't get warm but the vertical 1.5" copper pipe in the laundry room did. The way it was piped, it was wet vented (I thought) over the laundry tub which isn't uncommon in Kentucky on the older homes. That pipe got extremely hot and decided that is our trouble pipe; the drain was a slow drain.....not stopped.

I rodded that kitchen sink twice, no result.....thought I had a hairball that was stuck in a tee since the homeowner stated the wife has been washing her hair in the kitchen sink for 30 years. I was getting hair back on the cable as well.

Now, that pipe getting hot that I "thought" was the drain....wasn't. I ran that cable up that pipe and to no luck, no open drain.

After two hours of relentless efforts and running out of troubleshooting ideas.....the homeowner opens the ceiling below the kitchen sink. He didn't even make me aware I had access to it. Turns out there is a 3' dead end in the kitchen sink drain line, a tee laid on its back which is a drain cleaners nightmare and that first pipe that stayed cold that leads to the 32' foot run..........is actually the kitchen sink drain line.

I filled the sink up, told the customer to flush the second floor toilet at the same time and sure enough......backing up into the kitchen sink. And people wander why Air Gaps even exist. This sink has no Air Gap and it's following right into a $1000 dishwasher. An unlicensed plumber installed that dishwasher and didn't have the tools to drill the granite or stainless. What a dumbass.

My first notion when I got there was that 32' line has everything to do with that kitchen sink backing up but I had no access to see the piping under that kitchen sink floor. I told that customer that I would of saved myself some time if I could of seen that piping layout BEFORE I started spinning my wheels.

The reason I replied in length to your reply (along with my 110wpm typing skills) that I replaced that sewage ejector pump with a 2" cast iron check valve from Zoeller.

If you can clearly understand that piping system I just described above.......you'll know that the 2" check valve is holding back impending disaster in that home if it suddenly fails. It's holding pratically (I'm guessing) 54' of 4" piping worth of effluent. I'd love to know what downforce that equates to on that check valve.


But what is amazing is that the sewage ejector pump still has the force to open that check valve and pump more into an already clogged main sewer line. It just backflows up the 2nd floor main stack.....a 90 turning up to that 2nd floor is showing signs that the lead pour is leaking under pressure.

I for one am thankful I have Zoeller components in that system right now; otherwise I think product failure would be part of the equation above.

I'm long overdue to buy a self-feed attachment; probably going to buy one from Mytana if I can figure how to build brackets off my Spartan 81. The self-feed for Spartan doesn't hold up..and it is $500.

Also to add:

That pipe that was initially hot was a true vent for the laundry tub, not a wet vent. The sink was fill to the flood level rim and obviously the drainage crested the tee in the vent and dropping down the path of least resistance where the two connect and go up as one to the roof.

I referred this job to another drain cleaning company...the guy I send all my work to heard of the scenario and wanted no part of it. I just talked to the homeowner and he told me that the guy has been there for an hour....he is going to disconnect the wye connection in the ceiling in order to run a cable down that 1.5" opening. LMFAO!

Two things are going to happen and that will be that he's going to get drowned by all that reverses out of that pipe.....and two he's throwing a hot dog down a hallway trying to clean it because you cannot get the properly sized cleaning attachment through a 1.5" opening...PERIOD!! Both him and the homeowner are only trying to accomplish one thing though; get it open so I can come in in the spring and replace that entire 32' run of cast iron drain line. $$$$

He's going to run the camera through that pipe as well IF he gets it open...and they've already knocked down the idea of going to the second floor to remove a toilet to run a full size head down the 4"; back to back toilets and that forces you to use a drop-head auger which you can only go so large on those....and you are taking some serious chances of having difficulty pushing forward. I feel so sorry for that guy I referred to this situation. He's not getting anywhere and drain cleaning above his head.

Now you know why I sit here typing freely knowing that I could of gotten myself into a huge catastrophe of a drain cleaning nightmare. Experience gave me the tools to back away from the table, put the fork and knife down and let someone else eat the steak for a change.

 

[SumppumpPimp]

Whewww, can someone get me the cliff notes on this novel??

What I need to know for your question is, just how much of the pipe is vertical after the check valve? Meaning you have 54' feet of 4" pipe after the check valve, if there is only 5' of vertical pipe right off of the check and then there is 49' of horizontal, it is the 5' that is going to matter the most and the 49' is going to have a minimum affect on the application.


ZP

 

[Dunbar Plumbing]

7 vertical feet but if you count where the backup is climbing up the 4" stack heading towards the 2nd floor, you can add more to that vertical distance.

I didn't hear back from the customer yesterday to know the final outcome. I'm sure it wasn't a pleasant day.

 

[SumppumpPimp]

Let's just take that 7' of pipe for reference. You would have about 38 lbs of water sitting in that 4" pipe on top of that check valve. Pressure wise, it would be about 3 - 3.5 psi on the check.

Is this what you were looking for? I hope!


ZP

 

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Here's the verdict

Customer called today, here's what unfolded:


Where I cut and replaced that section of piping here I told this customer that the piping needed to be drain cleaned thoroughly since almost half of it was caked sediment in the pipe. Which also meant that the new piping I installed will create a shoulder in the bottom of the piping.

He said he would call the guy I referred him to and didn't hear of him till tuesday. He then told me he never had my guys come in and clean that piping.

The drain cleaner yesterday spent almost 6 hours and $512 later got it open.

Turns out the clog was right at that new piping I installed, the main was clear and they had to run the cable backwards to my new piping.

When they did this, if you look really close to the right of the new piping you'll see that the cast iron is cancering out at the bottom in a straight line. This is an old picture but fast forward to today and that piping is really start to show signs of needing replacement.

That 3 foot section of bad cast iron blew apart when the cable attachment went across, dumping sewage all over a finished basement and part of the garage. The customer told me that it filled an entire garbage can using a shop vac.

All is open now, the guy went ahead and replaced that 3 foot piece and all is clear now.

Now you can see why I wanted no part of this task. The cleanup alone was enough to run, not walk away from this job.


If only he would of taken my advice initially...