4" Pipe blocked

[HERTS P&D]

What's wrong with calling someone out to jet it for you? Get a fixed price and not an 1/2 hourly rate and you will be fine.

Andy

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Doesn't look to me like the roads are touching the brush? Seem to be jamming on something just before the target. My money is on that is a lump of fat behind the brush, chemicals wont do much if they aren't in contact with it, there's space for flow to get past so they wont achieve much.

I'm with Andy, get it jetted. Jetter should firstly pull or push the brush to a point where it can be removed, and secondly, scour the walls of the pipe to remove any build up of deposits. Jetting something up there to retrieve the brush is one thing, but removing the crud behind it satisfactorily is another, given the layout of the drain, you wont do it with rods.

 

[sotal]

Had another quick look today.

Today I attached the wheel and the camera and went from the other end under the man hole cover. I used an extension to allow me to use the camera for further. I used the full set of rods, which gave me about 30 ft. Using the camera I was able to see there was a Y junction about 2m up from the cover. Once I had ascertained which the correct route was, I continued.

A few more meters up I can across a white blockage, I ran water and kept poking until it shifted. That helped things and water flowed a lot better. I carried on and the water carried on being grey for a while as all the crud cleared through. I continued until I ran out of rod, which I imagine was close to the brush but not quite there! (Even with the extension, I had to unplug the camera before it got there as I ran out of cable, it wasn't much use by that point anyway as it was covered in gunk! I had another go from the other end and it looked exactly the same water is now flowing the best it ever has but the brush is still jammed.

Contacted a local jetting company who said they charged a fixed price of £55. That includes one of hour of jetting but they basically said if it could be sorted with jetting then it would be done within an hour.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Contacted a local jetting company who said they charged a fixed price of £55. That includes one of hour of jetting but they basically said if it could be sorted with jetting then it would be done within an hour.

Not in London then!



Andy

 

[sotal]

No, not in London. Is that an ok price then?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Yes, very cheap. Just make sure there are no other charges like machinery use.

Andy

 

[sotal]

Doesn't look to me like the roads are touching the brush? Seem to be jamming on something just before the target. My money is on that is a lump of fat behind the brush, chemicals wont do much if they aren't in contact with it, there's space for flow to get past so they wont achieve much.

I'm with Andy, get it jetted. Jetter should firstly pull or push the brush to a point where it can be removed, and secondly, scour the walls of the pipe to remove any build up of deposits. Jetting something up there to retrieve the brush is one thing, but removing the crud behind it satisfactorily is another, given the layout of the drain, you wont do it with rods.

I thought that too, but at one point the wheel lifts off the side of the pipe but carries on turning as it is pushed so I presume it must be riding up the brush.

I agree though that the layout of the pipes means that I will struggle to ever rod right through.

Will get the jetters in and see if they can shift it back up.

 

[sotal]

Yes, very cheap. Just make sure there are no other charges like machinery use.

Andy

No other charges. They said they will try their best for an hour, if they can't fix it then I guess they'll give prices for other work to sort it.

 

[ianmcd]

No other charges. They said they will try their best for an hour, if they can't fix it then I guess they'll give prices for other work to sort it.

I have already told you what to do, Homeserve £9 for first 11 months and up to 4 calls, then just cancel it !!!!!

 

[sotal]

I have already told you what to do, Homeserve £9 for first 11 months and up to 4 calls, then just cancel it !!!!!

I realise that, that would be the cheapest option, but it would feel kind of fraudulent to say it hadn't happened before registering. Also I don't really want to wait for 28 days. Would rather get it sorted quickly.

 

[ianmcd]

it is a sink drain is it not ? totally your choice

 

[sotal]

it is a sink drain is it not ? totally your choice

Yes it is a sink drain. Whilst blocked it means that we can't use the kitchen sink or dishwasher without them flowing down the path instead. We have been using the utility room sink and I've been using the plunger to clear the drain every few days. So it isn't critical but still a nuisance.

 

[sotal]

Oh, one more related question. I noticed whilst looking in the inspection chamber today that water was pouring in from the side. This is a shared pipe that runs from up the road, down the drive, under the garage and across the garden. It is where my blocked pipe ends up running to. I presume given the heavy rain in the last 24 hours that it is rain water, but there is a constant flow of this clear water coming in from the side where the pipe from the road is joined to the inspection chamber. It shoots out a little bit like a mini fountain then flows down the drain. Is this normal / acceptable or should I be reporting it?

I guess at the moment it means the garden gets additional drainage and the pipe gets additional water to wash any crap down.

 

[gasbanni]

That looks like a flue brush and should never have been used in your drains .......thats what it looks like to me.

Have you got access both ends of the blockage ? If you have I'd try and pull it back from the direction it went in if you can.

Try and get a line past it and then draw a thicker line through until it's thick enough to tie something to it that will not go past the brush nor break and pull like hell.

It's a solid object, chemicals won't do it bit of lateral thinking on this one.

 

[sotal]

That looks like a flue brush and should never have been used in your drains .......thats what it looks like to me.

Have you got access both ends of the blockage ? If you have I'd try and pull it back from the direction it went in if you can.

Try and get a line past it and then draw a thicker line through until it's thick enough to tie something to it that will not go past the brush nor break and pull like hell.

It's a solid object, chemicals won't do it bit of lateral thinking on this one.

Possibly the wrong kind of brush, but I'd used it previously to clean the gunk from the sides with good effect.

As above I can follow it down the pipe so I'm behind it, but that is about 5m down the pipe. From the other end I can get about 9m up the pipe (that is how long the rods are) but I don't think it would get round the bends to it. It is stuck approximately where the drain used to be sited at which point there is a right angle bend (if not 2 right angle bends).

Following it, I can only get round the right angle bend with the wheel attachment on, with anything else on the end I simply can't get round to the blockage.

Chemicals were used to try to shift the blockage on the other side of the brush, not to remove the solid object. They partially work and get water flowing again but only in a small portion at the bottom, as once it clears a little, the chemicals just wash away.