Well, my new plumbing is no longer virign to clogs...

[pulsator]

It's happened already! I was expecting it to take a few years for the lint to collect but perhaps it has collected enough already... I was test draining my Lady Kenmore portable after FINALLY gettin the timer contacts cleaned and then all of the sudden, all (I think) 10 stand pipes started overflowing with water! Thank god it was clear cleanish water! I just poured a pint of Sulfuric Acid down them once the water level went down a bit, so we'll see if that does the trick!

 

[appnut]

Oh Jamie, that's aweful!! Sorry it happened so quickly.

 

[frigilux]

Oy vey! Jamie, I can't imagine what it must have looked like to see water backing up out of TEN standing pipes! Hopefully the sulfuric acid will take care of it.

 

[cleanteamofny]

Jamie, when using that magic stuff, do it before going to bed so it will have time to really work and flush the system with very hot water.

I hope all things get cleared up!!!

 

[toggleswitch]

Also heard:

Use two cups of bleach now-and-then to keep the plumbing going. The BOL cheap stuff will suffice.

 

[sudsmaster]

The normal pipe unclogging treatment is sodium hydroxide, which is the polar opposite of sulfuric acid. I would be very careful with the acid, as it can quickly eat through metal pipes. Make sure you flush it down with plenty of water.

Why not stick to the tried and true commercial remedies, like Draino?

And I'm a big proponent of drain snakes, myself. Especially if it's hair that is clogging up the drain - seems to me that only a drain snake will get such clogs out reliably.

 

[neptunebob]

I also hope that the plumbing is plastic and not cast iron. Once I worked in the maintainence department of a fashion department store. We had a whole case of "Scram!!" a sulfuric acid drain cleaner that gave off the worst rotten egg smell if you used it in the older cast iron pipes. After it was used once we were never allowed to use it again and were stuck with the whole case. Once somebody got fired and guess what the last thing they did was! For days we could not find which drain had the Scram!! to rinse it out, and the whole store smelled. Hope that didn't happen with you. Rich, speaking of hair, one nasty job we had was cleaning out the drain traps to the shampoo sinks in the salon. These were special traps that were a canister that contained a screen cylinder that trapped the hair, which was partially decomposed from the shampoos and perms they used. PeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuU!

 

[pulsator]

Well, I don't know what the hell happened, but it seems to be all better now... When we moved into this house like 4-5 years ago, we had a new water main installed and during the installation, they crushed the sewer line coming from our house, they hastily repaired it and accidentally filled it with rocks. We spent LOTS and LOTS of time and money trying to stop the constant flooding it caused. After almost 3 years of this flooding problem, we finally found someone who knew what the hell they were doing and they were able to flush out the lines completely and they also discovered a dead baby squirrel that had fallen down one of the toilet vents. (We had also gottten a new roof and they forgot to put the vent covers back on.) Anyway, after sitting over night the lines seems totally clear, I wonder if it takes it a while longer to eat through a squirrel than a gob of hair. But everything seems fine, for now at least, I'm still banning all laundry activites until further notice (like when mom finally calls a plumber to fix some other things anyway.)
-Jamie

 

[retroguy]

Plumbers and snakes.

I had my kitchen sink back up on me last summer. I tired everything from Drano to vinegar and baking soda, to a small plunger, all to no avail. After waiting 24 hrs for the Drano to do its job I decide its time to call a plumber. (I shouldn't have had to pay him either since he was too big to squeeze into the kitchen cabinet under the sink, and between the garbage disposal and the wall, so I had to do it, but I'll save that story for later) The plumber arrives with the biggest longest widest snake thingy I could have ever imagined, and he (we) start working. After attatching 7 snake extensions onto this thing, and shoving it a mile through the pipes, he decides that he (we) are finished and we can take it out, and put my pipes back together. Long story short...It was a success. Or so I thought, when he left. The drain worked! I was happy. So...I start the dishwasher, collect my laundry, and head downstairs to the laundry room. On the way through the basement to the laundry room, I feel rain falling. I look up....my once pristine white ceiling is bulging toward my head, and kind of a dark grey color. I cut a hole in the ceiling (after poking one to drain the water) and find that the lovely snake had broken my kitchen drain pipe at a T connection. (Another reason the snake job should have been free.) A bit of purple primer, and smelly cement later, I was back in business. And I was greatful that the snake actually did free up the clog. (after seeing the pipe just hanging there I was afraid that was why the drain worked, and I'd still have a clog.) Luckily all was well. With the possible exception of my basement ceiling. Anyone good at drywall? )

 

[neptunebob]

Well actually, I've been pretty good with drywall but working with it at the department store and in my mother's house, I wonder how anyone could stand to do it for a living. Then I asked my cousin David who has several rental properties and he says professional drywallers are "All a bunch of drunks" and so that is how they cope with it. As for the drains, I have a hint. When a kitchen sink drain is clogged, I have had better luck with drain cleaners if you do the following: Get a big bucket, and place under the trap. Undo the trap and remove it, there will be a lot of dirty water in the bucket that you will have to dispose of somewhere else. If you already used a drain cleaner be sure to wear sturdy rubber gloves, old clothes and eye protection. The trap is in the form of a P and loosen the elbow that goes into the wall. Turn this elbow, which normally points down, upward and retighten. Then pour the product into the upturned elbow. I find that this works every time! You will have to reassemble the plumbing and it is messier, but like I said it really does work.

Pulsator, I feel bad over what happened with your plumbing, it is possible you may need a new sewer line. This happened in our neighborhood too.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Were the ten fountains in anyway in sync with music or did they have ever-changing color, you should pardon the expression, "flood" lights like at Longwood Gardens each evening in the Summer?

GE undercounter combos actually had a drain hose that clamped OVER the standpipe since it was lower than the sink so that a backup would not find the path of least resistance or you thought that your sink was draining properly until your feet were wet. Don't ask what would happen if you opened the combo.

 

[steved]

Longwood Gardens

worth the 5 hr drive from upstate NY just for the 9PM fountain show...... SteveD

 

[westytoploader]

Jamie, glad to see things are back in order again. How's the Lady K doing?

Tom, interesting bit of information...and gross as well, especially the thought of food remnants backing up into the machine. I can only imagine what happened if there was a clog and the machine was run...since the GE drain pump isn't exactly weak, I can only imagine what sort of sink fountain resulted when the machine pumped out!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Steve, Good to see your post. Best wishes, Tom