Slip couplings/rodding access

[cdbe]

Bit of advice and sanity check please.

I replaced rest bend and disintegrated pipe as pictured below, rodded further downstream until I thought it was clear, left a few weeks before reinstating but it's now backing up a bit with heavy rain so obviously still something in there.

The second picture is above ground (the missing bit between the two is a short straight coupling with an inspection hatch similar to the one pictured).

To me, as a very amateur drainage engineer, the hatch looks far too small to get my rods in and down the pipe - after the rubber connector it goes downhill a bit steeper. I'm wondering if I should make the section with the bosses removable with slip couplings above and below (I think I need 2? the stack above can't really be lifted up) to make the rodding access easier?.

The blockage is related to the dreaded baby wipes, maybe with a lump of broken pipe in front of them - when I rodded it before (down from the rubber coupling before fitting the new section), I was literally drilling into them with my curly pig tail and pulling out clumps of them so I'm not sure I'd get them out of the hatch if it's more of the same.

I've also bought one of these (4th picture) for my pressure washer. This would fit in the little hatch, would it be worth a try with this before any chopping, I think the blockage starts about 3-4m down the pipe. I haven't investigated the downstream end yet but I think there's a IC off the property (a rectangle of terraces with a communal courtyard).

Thanks.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Rods will struggle to get round the rest bend I think, so the jetting attachment might be your only option. Whether your machine will be powerful enough to get through the blockage is another matter, wipes don't disintegrate, hence why they are such a menace in drains. If there's a piece of broken pipe in there too, that really needs getting out, as it'll only continue to cause issues going forward.

Are you able to access that run from the downstream chamber? In any event, if wipes and/or a bit of broken pipe are the issue, I'd want to pull them down towards me and remove from the system, (block outgoing pipe from chamber with a suitable object to prevent and large pieces of debris getting past.)

 

[cdbe]

Thanks. I'll see if I can find the other end and try rodding up and jetting down.

 

[cdbe]

Just to update, I don't know what the drainage layout is but I've drawn a plan:

IC1 is scary deep (3m), at the bottom there's a pipe running through and above it about a meter down a 6" pipe running in.

I'm guessing all the houses in the square run into one or the other, and (if it's the normal way it's done) at 45°.

The access hatch was completely seized and the slip coupling would not go on that grey pipe so I used a rubber connector in the end and was able to move the top of the stack sideways to get the rods down. I have thick rods and thin rods - the thin ones went down the rest bend with the wheel on the end and I got all 7m in - and think I either cleared something at two points (or got round two tight bends - I guess a professional would know the difference by feel) so I must have got into the main run (about 3-5m from the stack if my drawing is accurate).

Went from the bottom of the stack overflowing to running the kitchen tap at full blast for 20 minutes and all going down - but obviously I don't know whether I've cleaned the blockage or just poked a hole through it. Suppose it's a case of waiting to see if solids build up!

The drain jetter thing for the jet wash was useless but I think my jet wash itself is faulty so that's a separate issue.