[geeks] Help... Pipe rescue

[Andrew Weiss]

On Tuesday, May 7, 2002, at 10:12 AM, Kurt Huhn wrote:

>> Has anyone had a similar clog and gotten it out... I'm trying to avoid
>> either a plumber's visit or a messy turn at the pipes myself.
>>
> <snip>

> I doubt that's you problem, though - since you specify wax.  However, to
> clog a 4" main would require a *lot* of wax.  I suspect the clog is
> actually still in a section of 1.5" or 2" pipe somewhere just before the
> main.  The toilet will usually go directly to the main, so if that still
> works, your clog isn't in the main.

It was about a 1/8 th of a cup of wax or a touch more... not much at 
all... I had boiled the bottom of a large candle in the hopes of 
straightening it so it would sit upright... (It had melted on the heat 
register and tilted over), and without thinking dumped the boiled water 
which had a bit of wax scum and coloring on top.

The drain is clogged in the smaller pipe... The toilet works fine.  The 
wax wasn't in the trap, but in the sink elbow.... I pushed it with 
boiling water to a space in the horizontal where it turns to go 
downwards thus clogging the tub.  The sink if left running will fill the 
tub at that point slowly.

After my original doctoring, the whole thing drains excruciatingly 
slowly.  I basically stoppered the sink and the tub and using boiling 
water today in several loads managed to plunger the sink and get all the 
kereosene and everything else out of the system including rust chips 
hair etc...... so it blows clean now.  I also managed to unclog the 
drain enough that running the water in the sink doesn't fill the tub 
anymore.... The tub drains twice as fast now, but still excruciatingly 
slow.  I have one thing left to try tomorrow before calling Rooter... 
(the acid based drain cleaner)  I would have tried snaking the drain, 
but the tub has the drain occluded by a metal bar to which the grate for 
the drain screws into... I'd have to bust the caulking job to get the 
drain assembly out.  I tried to spiral my closet auger around it, but no 
dice... I have a smaller snake that may be available tomorrow barring 
that.

Andrew
>
> How to fix?  You'll probably need a pipe snake.  It's an odd piece of
> equipment that has a  corkscrew looking thing on the end, a flexible
> length of metal tubing (like steel braided line), and a crank (either
> human or motor powered).  Essentially it bores out a hole in the clog,
> and transports the gunk back to the sink/tub/touilet/whatever for
> removal.  These are fairly inexpensive, and you can even rent powered
> ones at your local equipment rental place.
>
Yep have one... like I said ... metal thingy in the way.

Andrew