At a residence we were tasked with clearing a cap out of the main line. The cap in question is apparently one that would normally go onto a mouth wash bottle. At a guess from what I witnessed on sea snake cam is that the diameter of cap is 2". Naturally the main in this case is 3".

The first attempt involved using plastic tie-wraps to attach rigid 3100 jetter to sea snake and using this set-up to find cap and blow it out to the end of main. It did not budge much after many bursts of water.

Second plan was to lift man hole cover in street to phish the jetter in by using the sea snake from pulled WC in home. This was to allow for a back jetting of the cap into city main.
We tried with the "phished" components still attached and then with jetter free of sea snake.

Cap moved but, not by much. My guess would be that the cap has another 10 to 15 feet to go before the cap goes into city mains.

I am under impression that on a previous call for same problem that a less than 1500 was used to no avail.

I am wandering if this calls for a the 1500 to be used to simply push the cap out or if a specific attachment would produce a completed call instead of another call back.

Some are speaking of digging up front yard and getting into pipes but, I think thats a bit much over a cap.

Has anyone tried simply cabling the line? I can almost guarantee that running plenty of water and cabling the drain will remove the cap.

You never mentioned whether or not the cap has resulted in a stopped main.

Yes.

I was wondering if simply running every fixture in the home simultaneously would do the trick but, I agree with response one.

Yes.

It has been creating at least a nasty partial blockage. Possibly a nearly full blockage.

I was playing the helper role to a more seasoned plumber so, I did not pay strong attention to the history when he rattled it off.

Wow plumbers... you are lightning fast on the responses!

I would agree with KC (whom I'm sure is an elated Royals fan whilst I remain a dazed Orioles fan) that a strong flush of the house fixtures while cabling the main from the manhole would coax the cap out. Fill all the tubs, sinks, washer, etc. and drain them simultaneously. The action of the snake will keep the cap in suspension and allow it to 'surf' the wave on out.

That sounds promising. Not just running water "just from one lavatory" but, filling and dumping in concert with pushing with snake.

A proper sized snake with the proper head would not leave any room in the pipe for the obstruction to do anything BUT move ahead of it regardless of any water flow.

Ok.

That makes perfect and efficient sense.



Edited 1 times.

Went back out to this today.

Came with jetter, seesnake, and 1500.

We used 1500 first. Followed with cam to find how distant cap was. Put 1500 back in with one more length to push cap to main.

Thanks for sound advice.