Re: Sewer line to street clogged again

Posted by hj on November 26, 2001 at 19:32:24:
In response to Re: Sewer line to street clogged again
The plumber's buddy is not a professional tool, and is usually ineffective as any thing other than a short term solution. If he had used an auger, or preferably a saw blade, first, then the sewer would have been full of water and when the obstruction was removed the force of the water draining would have carried it away into the city's main. By draining the water first, he did two things. First he eliminated the flushing action that would have taken place so any major obstruction that was removed could have stayed in the pipe where it was. Second, without the water and the draining action that would have occurred when the obstruction was removed he could not have been sure if he even reached the point of the stoppage. : : I do not think he unplugged it properly the first time. He should have used the auger to unplug the line first. I do not know what a Plumbers Buddy is, but I suspect it is a water injector balloon to flush the lines. : : Yes, it was a water injector balloon he used (I've seen them sold in stores as "plumber's buddy") Then he used the auger afterwards. Why would it make a difference to use the auger first? Point taken though that maybe it wasn't really fully cleared up last time. So maybe I should have him check it with the fiber optics to make sure it is really clean when I have him out again? And just in case there is some other problem like a big crack that stuff can start to clump up in or similar? I'd just like to avoid spending $175 on the fiber optics check if it isn't necessary, but I guess in the long run that's cheaper than having him come over and over again

Posted by hj on November 26, 2001 at 19:32:24:

In response to Re: Sewer line to street clogged again

The plumber's buddy is not a professional tool, and is usually ineffective as any thing other than a short term solution. If he had used an auger, or preferably a saw blade, first, then the sewer would have been full of water and when the obstruction was removed the force of the water draining would have carried it away into the city's main. By draining the water first, he did two things. First he eliminated the flushing action that would have taken place so any major obstruction that was removed could have stayed in the pipe where it was. Second, without the water and the draining action that would have occurred when the obstruction was removed he could not have been sure if he even reached the point of the stoppage.
: : I do not think he unplugged it properly the first time. He should have used the auger to unplug the line first. I do not know what a Plumbers Buddy is, but I suspect it is a water injector balloon to flush the lines.

:
: Yes, it was a water injector balloon he used (I've seen them sold in stores as "plumber's buddy") Then he used the auger afterwards. Why would it make a difference to use the auger first? Point taken though that maybe it wasn't really fully cleared up last time. So maybe I should have him check it with the fiber optics to make sure it is really clean when I have him out again? And just in case there is some other problem like a big crack that stuff can start to clump up in or similar? I'd just like to avoid spending $175 on the fiber optics check if it isn't necessary, but I guess in the long run that's cheaper than having him come over and over again

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