Rate my sewer lateral [video]

[slowdrip]

Hi guys, long time lurker and first time poster. This forum has come up several times when I've researched DIY plumbing tasks so I thought it would be a good place to ask.

I recently had a 2 way cleanout installed and then the plumber performed a camera inspection of the sewer lateral. The video is here: https://tinyurl.com/2urbxtrm

He is concerned about the "valley" in the middle where the water pools rather than draining. The sewer pipe is old metal and he said the standing water will accelerate corrosion.

Any thoughts on how serious this is and what I should be paying in the SF Bay Area to fix it? Would it make more sense to wait until I have issues with slow drains?

 

[John Gayewski]

This is totally up to you. I doubt anyone is gonna comment on price as it's too variable, but since you now have a two way cleanout it's serviceable. It's up to you if you want a possible service call once or twice a year (possibly) to clear it, or if you'd rather have it corrected and never think about it again. There's also a possibility that the dip won't cause many issues. It depends on conditions in your sewer. If you were to regularly dump large-ish amounts of water, to help carry away solids that might settle in this area, down to the street then you could be fine. It may be hard to do as even dumping a bathtub full of water is only gonna dump at the rate of 5 to 7gpm anyway. This may not be enough to get the good speed it'll need to carry them out. You could get a little hose jetter and clean it once and a while yourself.

It all depends how much you wanna think about your plumbing, I personally don't want my sewer maintenanced as I think it should be a self sustaining system.

As for premature wear, I don't think that's really at issue. The bottom of your sewer line is gonna have water in it at all times. I don't see the amount being cause for wear.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Sylvan]

Before the plumber is "Concerned" about corrosion they should water Jet the line to get more insight what is really going on as far as corrosion

 

[Fxsrider]

You could do some adjustments. Pooling water in those old metal pipes can definitely lead to faster deterioration. If you're considering documenting your DIY plumbing to help others, I've been doing something similar but haven't quite had the courage to post my videos online yet. For editing, I use tools from movavi.com, which are really user-friendly and make the footage look professional. Maybe soon I'll share my projects too.