What is that you ask? Its a very expensive and disruptive project. This is the pipe in the ground that connects your waste water line to the main sewer line in the street. The house is 8 years old with all pvc sewer line going out to the street. The distance is about 160 feet. House is set back on property. Hair salon on the 1st floor and we live in the 2 stories above it. Had a problem about a month ago, an older woman flushed something down the toilet in the salon and blocked the toilet. Got that cleared out with an auger. 3 weeks later the main drain is blocked. Called the plumber and he came out and cleared the clog. Ok fine less than 1 week later main line is clogged again. Call him again and he comes out and his auger gets stuck in the line, finally manages to get it back out and it is covered in tree roots. ??? Called waste management services and they come out and a takes a look. He says to save me some money they will bring the camera out on Monday and scope the pipe. Well it will save me $400.00 for this, I had asked the plumber how much to scope the pipe. Also asked the plumber how far the clog was and he estimated around 160 ft. So that puts it at the interceptor. The waste water company will absorb the cost of digging up the street and repairing the pipe and repave the hole. If I hired a contractor to do this we are looking at 10-12 thousand to fix this. We have had a lot of vibrations because of a new parkway entrance is being constructed across the street. Don't know if all this made the pipe sink and crack or has come off and tree roots are getting in. So we shall see Monday how this all works out.
Interceptor problems
- Thread starter retro-man
- Start date
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Oy Vey am I sorry for you.
whirlcool
Well-known member
We have the same thing going on here but with the water supply line to the house. They are converting the road behind my house from a 2 lane to a 4 lane road. They first removed all the existing pavement before starting the new road. They were using these huge trucks that kind of drop down on the old concrete to break it up.
Whenever they would do that the entire house would shake. And they did it for 12 hours a day two weeks over and over again.
One Sat morning my neighbor wakes us up to tell us we have a geyser in our front yard. Sure enough, in the middle of the front yard was a plume of water shooting up about 10 feet in the air. The supply line to the house is PVC. And it cracked right at a fitting where it connects to the metal valve on the house and then about 12 feet downline it cracked again. The plumber wanted $2,500 to fix it. A neighbor and myself fixed it ourselves in about 5 hours and about $24.00 in parts. I was surprised to find out that the plumbing underground was PVC cause the water pipes in the house are copper. The house was built in 94'.
I think the road construction company had something to do with it, but they said if they were we'd have busted pipes all up and down my street, and mine is the only one that broke, so it couldn't have been them.
Whenever they would do that the entire house would shake. And they did it for 12 hours a day two weeks over and over again.
One Sat morning my neighbor wakes us up to tell us we have a geyser in our front yard. Sure enough, in the middle of the front yard was a plume of water shooting up about 10 feet in the air. The supply line to the house is PVC. And it cracked right at a fitting where it connects to the metal valve on the house and then about 12 feet downline it cracked again. The plumber wanted $2,500 to fix it. A neighbor and myself fixed it ourselves in about 5 hours and about $24.00 in parts. I was surprised to find out that the plumbing underground was PVC cause the water pipes in the house are copper. The house was built in 94'.
I think the road construction company had something to do with it, but they said if they were we'd have busted pipes all up and down my street, and mine is the only one that broke, so it couldn't have been them.
One of my neighbors was having repeated problems with the drains backing up into their bathtub and toilet (house has a basement, but those drains go to another line that goes to creek). This occured over a period of 4-5 years, and they had to have plumber clean it out at least 3 times each year. A couple months ago the plumbers snake got caught up, and they had to dig in the yard. Problem was found to be on the city's section out by the street, so city was called and they dug down and replaced their section to the main sewer line in the street. They've had no more trouble with it.
My niece owns a nearly 150 year old historic home in Portland. Everything has been upgraded except the old cast iron waste going to the municipal system at the street. Recently when visiting her, during a major rain event, she went to the basement to transfer wash into the dryer. I heard this screem and ran down and clear water was overflowing out of her washer drain. Noticing her outside gutters drain into the sewer, I guessed to quickly run outside and pull that gutter pipe out. Thankfully it stopped the overflowing. Her plumbing contractor had to jackhammer up all the pipe in the concrete and found a cast iron trap, plugged with 150 years of crap. Trap removed, everything is fine.
My Dad had this issue at one of his stores
To where the sewer would back up on a regular basis. The problem turned out to be a pile of roots and construction debris in the city sewer.
I also dealt with a similar issue @ the entry mat laundry I ran. At least 4 times a year the sewer would back up and the clog would be in the stupid tee the city put on the end of the line.
After so many service calls our sewer guy climbed down the manhole with a sledgehammer and broke the silly thing off.
Of course the city blew a gasket when they found out but did put a 45 degree elbow on instead of that stupid tee that kept backing up.
WK78
To where the sewer would back up on a regular basis. The problem turned out to be a pile of roots and construction debris in the city sewer.
I also dealt with a similar issue @ the entry mat laundry I ran. At least 4 times a year the sewer would back up and the clog would be in the stupid tee the city put on the end of the line.
After so many service calls our sewer guy climbed down the manhole with a sledgehammer and broke the silly thing off.
Of course the city blew a gasket when they found out but did put a 45 degree elbow on instead of that stupid tee that kept backing up.
WK78
Out west here I believe the "interceptor" is referred to as a "lateral".
It's also my understanding that the city won't pay for replacing a broken lateral... it's the homeowner's responsibility.
It's also my understanding that the city won't pay for replacing a broken lateral... it's the homeowner's responsibility.
wayupnorth . . .
Is your niece's local water and sewer department aware that her gutters drain into the sanitary sewer? Normally this is a big no-no, if everyone's gutters were connected this way a major storm could easily cause the total flow to exceed the input capacity of the sewage treatment plant. When that happens some of the raw sewage will have to bypass the plant and go straight to the ocean/river/lake or wherever treated effluent normally goes. I'm not suggesting that the water and sewer department is likely to send people around to look for this, but if she ever has any work done at the house requiring City inspections it would be a good idea to fix the problem beforehand.
Is your niece's local water and sewer department aware that her gutters drain into the sanitary sewer? Normally this is a big no-no, if everyone's gutters were connected this way a major storm could easily cause the total flow to exceed the input capacity of the sewage treatment plant. When that happens some of the raw sewage will have to bypass the plant and go straight to the ocean/river/lake or wherever treated effluent normally goes. I'm not suggesting that the water and sewer department is likely to send people around to look for this, but if she ever has any work done at the house requiring City inspections it would be a good idea to fix the problem beforehand.
hydralique, because her house is supposidly historic, she can not change anything from what it was originally. City knows many of the gutters in that neighborhood go into the municipal system but they just charge an extra storm water fee regardless. I think that is dumb. She wants to replace her old drafty single pain windows, but is not allowed to. I think their hysterical society way oversteps their bounds.
hydralique...
Portland Maine has a combined sewer system that carries both storm water and waste water. So does New York City.
bangordailynews.com
Portland Maine has a combined sewer system that carries both storm water and waste water. So does New York City.
Portland’s bottomless pit: The hefty price of keeping sewage out of our water
PORTLAND, Maine — On April 23, heavy rains pounded Portland. The next day, many of the city’s most recognizable water bodies were the color of sewage. “I
bangordailynews.com
suburbanmd . . .
That’s an interesting Portland newspaper article you linked, what it describes is exactly what happens after storms in many places where too much stormwater gets into the sanitary sewer: gross pollution of the ocean, and now there are lawsuits to force improvements at a huge price. Plenty of builders and handymen throughout the country have sneaked a line from gutters or lawn drains to the sewer, in particular on downslope lots where the sewer lateral may be deep enough to tap into whereas doing it the proper way would require a pricey sump pump to lift stormwater up to the street level. Homeowners are often unaware of the whole problem but can face fines in some locales if caught.
We have our own ocean pollution problems here in LA: at present a lawsuit is forcing Malibu to finally install a sewage treatment facility after over 20 years of foot dragging and refusal. Malibu incorporated as a city in the early ‘90s to foil attempts by LA County to install proper sewers to serve the community, as an incorporated city they became responsible for their own sewage and could in theory stick with their septic tanks indefinintely. Problem is, during the rainy season the ground gets saturated and those beachfront tanks can’t discharge like they should and bacteria counts in the ocean go sky-high. Predictably there has been a huge amount of angst over the cost but in this case they can afford it.
That’s an interesting Portland newspaper article you linked, what it describes is exactly what happens after storms in many places where too much stormwater gets into the sanitary sewer: gross pollution of the ocean, and now there are lawsuits to force improvements at a huge price. Plenty of builders and handymen throughout the country have sneaked a line from gutters or lawn drains to the sewer, in particular on downslope lots where the sewer lateral may be deep enough to tap into whereas doing it the proper way would require a pricey sump pump to lift stormwater up to the street level. Homeowners are often unaware of the whole problem but can face fines in some locales if caught.
We have our own ocean pollution problems here in LA: at present a lawsuit is forcing Malibu to finally install a sewage treatment facility after over 20 years of foot dragging and refusal. Malibu incorporated as a city in the early ‘90s to foil attempts by LA County to install proper sewers to serve the community, as an incorporated city they became responsible for their own sewage and could in theory stick with their septic tanks indefinintely. Problem is, during the rainy season the ground gets saturated and those beachfront tanks can’t discharge like they should and bacteria counts in the ocean go sky-high. Predictably there has been a huge amount of angst over the cost but in this case they can afford it.
Had a meeting with city engineers and now they say we own the property into the middle of the street with an easement to the city for the road. ?? Since the sewer line is 2 or 3 feet out in the street we own it. Had the waste water division come out and scope the pipe with their camera. They only had 120 ft of cable for it. Not far enough to find the blockage. Waste of time on my part. I have hired a private contractor who is coming out this morning to look at the property. The nice guy Ken is going to meet him here with pictures and layout drawings. The contractor is scheduled to do the dig on Monday. Have taken steps to not use as much water as possible. Have a Maytag top loader in the salon which dumps 70 to 80 gallons of water within 15 minutes into the system. That has been taken out of service and I am doing the towels upstairs in the Duets which can hold a lot more and uses a lot less water. This seems to have made a big difference now, we can still use the shampoo sinks and flush toilets regularly with not too much of a backup. Hopefully we can make it through the rest of today and the weekend. More to come on Monday.
Jon
Jon
cornutt
Well-known member
Retro, you might want to pull out the deed to your property and see what it says. Of course, you never know what you'll find on an old deed, but I've not seen a deed for a property in a platted neighborhood where you own property out into the street.
We have LOTS of trees where I live! Mostly Sycamores, which have a very distructive root system.I am the pres. of our HOA and I asked the plumber what we could do tho prevent future backups in the house. He recommened that we put Pop Up sewer line covers on all the units sewer clean out connections. We did this on all 20 units last year. Now when there is a blockage from roots instead of the backup happening in the house, therby causing lots of water damage, instead the Pop Up valve opens and the water flows out of the sewer clean out line. We already paid for this retro fit when my next door neighbors line clogged with roots in August. When she was doing laundry and the machine drained the overflow happened outside. We had the plumber come out, route out the roots, problem solved. While this isn't a permanent fix for the blocked line, it sure prevents water damage in the homes. These are really easy to install. You just unscrew the cover on the clean out line and screw on the new Pop Up cover. Check online for Jones Stephens Corp. PlumBest Amazing Sewer Popper, part # S62-304.
Finally back in service. Yesterday was interesting. We have gas, water and sewerage very close together entering the property. All utilities were out and marked their lines then dig safe came out and did them again. Cutting through tar and backhoes digging through the dirt. Started by the street then backwards toward the building. Within 10 feet found the problem. Tree roots had gotten into the connection between the pvc and old clay pipe. They replace about 14 feet of clay pipe with pvc and installed a clean out port near the street. Still have a few roots farther down the line under the street. They are coming back today to blast those out. Have no idea how this will be done. Possibly in the spring they will come back and replace those other pieces prior to the road being redone. So $8,000.00 later we are back online. The joint where they got in was just about totally clogged. Silver maples they said are just as bad as willows with their root systems looking for water. Contractor was great, told me to hold out $1500 on the payment to keep his interest to come back in the spring to complete the job. He will have to take up the temporary pavement that was put down. Its just a hot patch mixture, since it is late in the season here for paving.
Jon
Jon
