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I've owned this house for about 10 years now. Maybe 5 years ago, water started backing up into the basement and it turned out that some sort of roots were invading our main sewer line in the front yard where it goes to the street. Plumber snaked it out and the problem was solved. Over time, the problem has resurfaced a bit more frequently each time until this last time - I had the line snaked out in August, and they said they didn't know what was blocking it, that they made it all the way through but never felt the cutter snag on anything so they weren't sure what the deal was. I paid the extra to have them cam it out, and they found the roots in the middle of my front yard.  The line appears to have clogged up again a week ago. It was snowy and wet (around 32F, the heavy wet snows), then it rained for a day, then it cratered to below 0F and has held there. It was shortly after cratering to 0F that the line clogged; I can't help but wonder if something in the line outside froze. Of course, that also doesn't answer why it didn't freeze a year or two ago when it was like -23F.  Because the boneheads that had this house before me made some . . . questionable . . . decisions, the cleanout on my stack has never been accessible. (The water heater is literally touching the plug, so I could never even hope to get it out without removing the water heater, and gently caress that). This means all the historical snaking has been done by pulling the toilet in the basement, which restricts the cutter size. My dad and I decided to put a new PVC cleanout into the copper stack last night, so we used some rubber boots, cut a section out, and put it in at a much more accessible location. We added the new cleanout in anticipation of having it snaked out again, but . . . I called 4 places yesterday, and nobody has yet called back or responded to my emails. In the meantime, after not using water for 8-10 hours or so, I dumped a gallon of Instant Power Main Line Cleaner into the basement drain where the water backs up into. It took the whole gallon easily this morning, so the next step will be pouring a stock pot full of boiling water down the drain in about 4 hours. If it takes all that, I'll run hot water for 5+ minutes to see if I get anything backing up. If it's STILL clear, then it'll be time to flush everything, start a load of dishes and a load of laundry I guess. I'm not sure why I posted this long and very boring story. I guess if anyone has any clever ideas that I haven't tried yet, or wants to tell me exactly how and why I'm a giant dipshit, I'll take either form of feedback! 
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Feb 14, 2021 20:55
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 08:41 |
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devicenull posted:Once you get it cleared, have you tried root killer? I actually just saw "foaming root killer" on the shelf the other night, so I will be! B-Nasty posted:Why can't you snake it yourself? If you installed a cleanout, you have enough general knowledge to do it. Hmm, maybe I need to check out Home Depot then! I saw a 50' powered snake at Lowe's, but it was almost $300 and 1). I made the mistake of getting a house without a garage so I don't really have a good place to keep tools and 2). I think I'm moving soon. I didn't see anything available for rent at Lowe's; Home Depot isn't much further away, so good tip!
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Feb 15, 2021 04:53
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cakesmith handyman posted:If there are roots in your pipes cutting them doesn't solve the problem, which is that there's places/breaks in your pipes for roots to get in (and your waste to get out). Yeah, I figure I'll have to do something about that eventually . . . decided to go back to school after moving in and that did a number on the finances. Only now starting to get stabilized after all that. As for an update, the first gallon of cleaner may have opened things up a little, but not much. Going to try the second gallon here in an hour or so. Then adding boiling water 8 hours after that. Might try and look up snake rental (although I don't have a truck, neither does my dad, and I can't imagine I'd want a snake machine in my trunk) but I've got a lot of work to do today/this week, so if some place calls me back I might take them up on it if the rates are reasonable. 
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Feb 15, 2021 12:19
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PainterofCrap posted:I am suddenly craving Park's breakfast sausage. What a post/name combo here. Just awe-inspiring. Am I allowed to  heh shitpost in the plumbing thread?
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Mar 18, 2021 03:08
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zenintrude posted:So apparently I have a root invasion in PVC pipe that’s under my back patio slab... I've battled roots almost the entire time I've owned this home, and yeah - you can call a RotoRooter or someone else out to snake it out. A foaming root killer is probably something I should have been more on about over the years, but yeah, treating it once or twice a year after it's been mechanically cleared should help as well. My dad swears by this place: https://awrusa.com/ He had a sewer backup issue and because he was paying the $13/month or whatever they had a crew come out, tear up the yard, lay all new sewer pipe, and put it all back. Didn't cost him anything other than the monthly. I haven't used 'em myself yet but that's because I suck and only just started paying into it.
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Mar 24, 2021 03:29
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Stupid question maybe, but: In looking at all these "home plumbing" valves, it seems like ball valves are pretty rare. Which I find odd, because in my stint I did as an industrial maintenance mechanic, the only valves we used were ball valves and they seemed pretty drat reliable. So . . . why don't I see more of them in home plumbing?
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Mar 30, 2021 02:45
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Clearly, the correct option is simply good ol' black iron pipe I haven't done much plumbing in the house; most of my experience is with industrial hydraulics. And even then, it wasn't much experience overall. Edit for content: Is there any system for household water that uses screw-together pipe fittings? I feel like I'd trust the joints on that the most, but I'm not sure if copper is durable enough for that, and I can't think of what other material would actually be good for it.
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Mar 31, 2021 14:52
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SourKraut posted:Copper also has the benefit that it typically doesn't catastrophically fail like plastic piping does, but instead develops pinholes/etc. So you're trading significant house flooding usually for localized water damage and need to remediate mold/etc. Pick your poison I guess? I feel like the correct answer here is to figure out how to plumb a place where all the plumbing is routed behind easily-removable panels for maintenance access. I feel the same about electrical, as well. Of course, I don't know what the right answer for any of this is! But I do know I find "bury the stuff in the walls and hope it doesn't fail in my lifetime" makes the maintenance guy in me want to scream endlessly haha.
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Mar 31, 2021 18:26
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Motronic posted:Swedes have very nice chrome pipes and pipe hangers and simply don't bother burying all of that in the walls at least for like, bathrooms. Oh, interesting! I was thinking something like an accent strip along the wall that was easy to take on/off that covered up the lines, but then that doesn't solve the issue of how you reconcile that with stuff run through holes drilled in studs or something. Yeah, probably just leaving it tasteful and in the open is probably the best idea for everything, to be honest - not only would it be easy to work on, but then any issues should hopefully be spotted more quickly. Although you could probably try and run everything up at the ceiling/wall joint or something, and just have EXTRA LARGE trim that acts as both a cover for that, and to hide the joint. On the floor, that'd be wasted space where you can't get anything up next to the wall, but at the ceiling . . . hmm . . .
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Mar 31, 2021 18:48
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Speaking of P-Traps, the P-traps in both my upstairs and downstairs bathroom sinks smell . . . musty, for lack of a better word . . . when I run water in them. Should I just dump a half/gallon of vinegar in there overnight? Or is there a product anyone swears by for killing whatever's in there?
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Apr 7, 2021 03:46
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H110Hawk posted:You're going to be better off just taking them off straight into a bucket, taking them outside, and cleaning them there. If they smell like sewer gas and not just funk then you probably have a clogged vent stack? (Guessing.) Not sewer gas; more like a musty/mildew smell.
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Apr 7, 2021 14:47
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melon cat posted:Flooding problem. At noon today our local city authority ran an annual "hydrant flushing" maintenance. All residents were advised that "this may cause discoloured water temporarily" and to run "the lowest tap in your home for 10-30 minutes ... to clear anything that that has dislodged." Well, I didn't have a hydrant flush in the area, but I'm in the same boat - the sewer pipe out of the house randomly backed up this morning and all the water from the laundry that was supposed to go out of the house backed up through the floor drain instead. I've had this problem before, and I usually had an idea why it happened when it did. This time I'm at a complete loss though.
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Apr 8, 2021 18:53
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tater_salad posted:If they were doing Supply line based stuff (hydrant flush possibly getting old rusty hydrant water back into the supply) it's supply based. Other poster here; I dealt with a tree root intrusion for years but as those trees died and got cut down, that seemed to lessen. Back in maybe October or November I had a backup; they didn't think it was roots but weren't sure. Then in February we had a backup during a hard freeze; I figured maybe the two were related, but now I'm not so sure. I'm submitting this one through a subscription-based claims service, so we'll see how it goes!
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Apr 8, 2021 20:15
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Zarin posted:Other poster here; I dealt with a tree root intrusion for years but as those trees died and got cut down, that seemed to lessen. Back in maybe October or November I had a backup; they didn't think it was roots but weren't sure. Update: They got out here fast and did good work. It was a root ball at the end of my yard, apparently. Going to need to go pick up some foaming root killer and start using that pretty liberally. Otherwise they said the sewer pipe looks to be in really good condition overall, so that's good! Tipped 'em each what I hope was a pretty reasonable amount for their trouble.
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Apr 8, 2021 22:11
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melon cat posted:Yeah I think that's exactly what happened. We're usually very light on water usage so for the first time we had multiple fixtures running at full to drain the lines during the hydrant flush, which meant bigger strain on our drainage system. I hate to say it, but my Shop Vac is probably the gift that has seen the most use at my place. I'm not sure any other gift has come close. With enough pipes, it's pretty great for cleaning the gutters too.
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Apr 8, 2021 23:12
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I have a strange issue with my upstairs toilet - it basically just flushes slow. Even with clear water, it'll sometimes hesitate like it's trying to decide if it wants to back up or not. Sometimes yeah, sometimes nah. Every other drain in the house, including the downstairs toilet, are fine. We had a plumber out last week because of a sewer issue, and they ran a hand auger in the upstairs toilet, which seemed to help a bit. They said they felt "something hard" in there, but couldn't explain beyond that. I'm not sure if that means a calcium buildup or what. They didn't pull the stool or anything, because running the hand auger seemed to help well enough. Any idea what could be causing this? I wouldn't think there's an object in there, because they didn't have any issue getting the auger to go the full extension. If it's just a mineral buildup, is there anything I can use in a toilet that will help? Every chemical that seems like it might be worth something says "don't use this in toilets" so I'm at a bit of a loss. I'd rather not have to go through the hassle of a toilet replacement this close to selling the house, but I don't know what else to do.
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Apr 13, 2021 20:32
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sharkytm posted:Um... nothing? You're selling, it's the new owner's problem. I'm just afraid if someone on a showing tests the toilet and it chooses THAT empty flush to overflow . . . I have so much else to do that I haven't pulled the stool yet to look, but I suppose maybe if I'm gonna do it anyway I can wait until the painter is ready to paint the bathroom.
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Apr 13, 2021 23:11
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Motronic posted:I'm going to plug my favorite plumbing substance: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Oatey-Liquilock-6-oz-Toilet-Water-Solidifier-Gel-31419/202882917 Interesting! Never seen that before. devicenull posted:If you're going to pull the toilet to check, you might as well replace it. It's maybe ~10 mins of extra effort and $100 to put in a new one. If that prevents your closing from being delayed, sounds completely worth it to me. You're probably right. I'll give it some empty test flushes after the house is emptied and if I'm even a little iffy on it I'll just pull it and chuck it.
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Apr 14, 2021 03:12
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Motronic posted:This is probably the most correct answer. I want to believe that, but I don't trust my sleepy little town Peoria, IL to be that good. Especially because I am not in the most desirable neighborhood. It's not a great neighborhood, not terrible. All the surrounding villages are considered "the good schools" now, so that doesn't help. I'll call it a win if I can get exactly what I paid for the house 12 years ago (April 2009, which I thought was the bottom of the market but maybe it wasn't) back out of it. Maybe I'll be surprised and luck into a bit more, but I'm not ready to count on that just yet. Edit for plumbing thread: I did go flush it, and it never hesitated like it was going to come back up; it just took forever to complete the flush. Maybe it's fine now. I'll keep an eye on it. I'm doing so much else with the house, I'm not sure I feel like loving with a toilet I've managed to ignore for a year+ at this point. Zarin fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Apr 14, 2021 |
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Apr 14, 2021 04:51
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Bob Shadycharacter posted:Thank you FISHMANPET and PainterofCrap! I found the reducing adaptor thing and got everything hooked up and it's working without leaking!!! The ice is taking forever to fill up but it's definitely going. Yeah, I think I must have used vinyl tubing for my fridge and it sprung a leak in spots where it looks like it must have gotten pinched or something. Luckily it was out in the open and we noticed it immediately. Note to self that I'm going to just disconnect the fridge from the lines entirely before selling the house; the new owner can gently caress around with running a proper line I guess!
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May 21, 2021 02:30
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I am thrilled.
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H110Hawk posted:See if they come back in a week. Also stop using drano. Next time it slows down do what you just did and it will be solved immediately. If you have more metal flakes then Maybe a bit off-topic, but I've gotten the impression from this thread that Drano is . . . overall bad, I guess? Is that the case? And if so, why?
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May 28, 2021 16:29
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figure out what's upstream and grinding itself to flakes.
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H110Hawk posted:I learned it right now in life. Who knew? I've never plunged a sink. When I learned it a couple years ago, I felt VERY betrayed by the fact that I'm pretty sure I was lied to about this by the Super Mario Bros. live-action show/cartoon combo from the late '80s or early '90s. Life hasn't been the same since. I learned something, but I also lost something that day.
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May 28, 2021 23:16
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alnilam posted:One of our toilets randomly triggers a partial refill sometimes. It's rare enough that it's hard to pick out a pattern, like it's a couple times a day. But it's not a consistent duration of time after the last flush. It might be 10 pm or 2 am, with the last time that particular toilet was used being 8 pm, and suddenly psshhhhhhh until the tank is filled, as if it had lost some water slowly and reached the refill level. Just now it did it again after having done it an hour ago already, but other times it will go all day with no such events. If I had to guess - which I am doing, just guessing that is - I'd figure that the flapper is starting to go and is sometimes not seating correctly. It probably takes a bit before the water gets low enough that the float falls far enough to trigger. Edit: float also might be sticking slightly, holding it up for awhile before it gives and falls down to the water level. Any idea how old the flapper is? Were it my toilet and I was cheap/lazy, I'd probably drain the tank (shut the water off and flush the toilet) and see about wiping the flapper/flapper seal ring with some vinegar to see if maybe a tiny bit of mineral deposit is causing an inconsistent seal. That'd also be a good time to see how pliable the flapper still is; if it's hard as a rock, maybe it's time to replace. If it still feels good, then maybe a quick wipe-down will get you another few years. Also I'm a huge dumbass and an actual plumber might roll in 5 minutes from now to say that there's never saving those things and it's $5, just replace it.
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Jan 11, 2022 07:24
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Bobulus posted:Hopefully quick plumbing question: Have you found something to get yet, or no? While the one I have in my apartment doesn't sound exactly like what you want, it also doesn't have the issue where you have to pass through Cold to get to Hot. If you want, I can take a picture of it and see if I can't find some manufacturer markings.
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Feb 20, 2022 06:05
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B-Nasty posted:I think you can chill at that level. It's more likely that amount is in the water from your WaterCo, not coming from solder joints in your house. If you haven't, you can probably find the water quality reports for your supply system and see an average level tested over a bunch of houses. What suppliers would you recommend? I think last time I went with WaterFilters.net but I don't know if they would have the same problem as Amazon or not.
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Apr 12, 2022 04:31
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 08:41 |
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devicenull posted:New theory: It can't leak if it's one solid piece of PVC. I don't know precisely what I'm looking at, but I love it 
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Aug 4, 2022 04:38
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