Hello all,

About 6 years ago, I had a video inspection showing small tree roots, beginning to enter drain line, about 45' down the line, toward city connection. I THOUGHT, I had cleared it with rented snake using an attachment similar to the Side Cutter, in pic. No issues, for a while but now I have another blockage.

This time, I hired a licensed plumber, to come out and clear, the tree roots, professionally. Quoted $200, the tech/plumber came out and used a snake with an end similar to the Straight Boring Head, in pic. TBH, it didn't look like an attachment but rather the end, of the snake with nothing on it. I could be wrong...

He ran the snake, through the line 2x and about 45' down he hit the tree roots, but couldn't clear the blockage. I asked him about using cutters and he refused, saying they would just ruin the cast iron. Now, he's talking about $475 video, to see what's going on and "detect" the exact location, of tree roots, then dig down, to repair cast iron where damaged.

What is the correct snake attachment(s), to try and clear tree root blockages, from cast iron pipe?
What would be your next step?

I appreicate your feedback.

fed forward very very very slowly

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



Edited 1 times.

THAT looks about right...What's that bad-boy called?

Still can't figure out, why he wouldn't use it, unless he's not confident, in his ability, to do so without ruining the pipe, But still cost me $200 for nothing...

What would be your next move??



Edited 1 times.

call a plumber who knows how to clear a drain with the proper equipment

If you had some roots in your lines even if they were cleared out perfectly the odds of the roots returning was almost 100% unless you killed the trees, shrubs or whatever was sending its roots into the pipe through the weak areas in the first place.

By sending a camera down hopefully you will learn the exact location and condition of the pipes where the roots are entering and ideally you will then be able to correct the cause so that it won't happen again.

quote; unless you killed the trees, shrubs or whatever was sending its roots into the pipe

I have still had roots entering the sewer, YEARS, (like 30 years later), after the culprit is long gone and the area is grown over.

Spiral Cutter

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

There are different wall thicknesses of Cast Iron. Extra Heavy is used mostly for commercial applications, but because of the age of your system I would not spend good dollars to repair it. Dig it up and replace it with ABS. I may also remove the tree and replace it with a younger tree.

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hj
call a plumber who knows how to clear a drain with the proper equipment

That's what I thought I was doing, by calling a licensed plumber. That said, how can a consumer know, which plumber knows how to clear a drain with the proper equipment?



Edited 1 times.

I realize that not all homeowners are aware of this. There are Plumbers and Drain Cleaners. Some are good at both. Your responsibility is to ask questions to determine if you have the right guy. Recommended Plumbers are usually better than just calling from an Ad. Good luck.

I agree with Vic. If you find the perfect plumber for this job, you'll be on a first name basis before too long. If replacement is too difficult, look into a liner.

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vic
If you had some roots in your lines even if they were cleared out perfectly the odds of the roots returning was almost 100% unless you killed the trees, shrubs or whatever was sending its roots into the pipe through the weak areas in the first place.

By sending a camera down hopefully you will learn the exact location and condition of the pipes where the roots are entering and ideally you will then be able to correct the cause so that it won't happen again.

Thanks!
Yeah, I figured as much...Hopefully, I can find a plumber, who knows how to clear a drain with the proper equipment; even if odds of roots returning are almost 100%. That may buy me time, to rent out the house and deal with later, and/or sell house, which I'm also considering.

Tech said, other than condition of the pipes, he wants to video, so he can use like a metal "detector", from above, to pin point the location, where the camera gets stopped by the roots, so they would know where to dig and repair.

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hj
I have still had roots entering the sewer, YEARS, (like 30 years later), after the culprit is long gone and the area is grown over.

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bernabeu
Spiral Cutter

Thanks, for the info!

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srloren
There are different wall thicknesses of Cast Iron. Extra Heavy is used mostly for commercial applications, but because of the age of your system I would not spend good dollars to repair it. Dig it up and replace it with ABS. I may also remove the tree and replace it with a younger tree...

ABS not PVC?

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I realize that not all homeowners are aware of this. There are Plumbers and Drain Cleaners. Some are good at both. Your responsibility is to ask questions to determine if you have the right guy. Recommended Plumbers are usually better than just calling from an Ad. Good luck.

In my situation, what questions would you ask and what answers would you be looking for, to determine if you have the right guy?

? do you use a spiral cutter to remove tree root blockages ?



==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

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bernabeu
? do you use a spiral cutter to remove tree root blockages ?

Thanks!
That makes sense.

ABS vs PVC is a regional thing. West Coast(CA anyways) is predominantly ABS.

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steve
ABS vs PVC is a regional thing. West Coast(CA anyways) is predominantly ABS.

FWIW: This is definitely, NOT a straight run. I did get the county, to send me some sewer maps, that I tie into but I'll have to follow up with them, to help me decipher. That said: The original video, should be helpful figuring out, where the roots are but obviously NOT current conditions.

What about renting a drain camera, to DIY video inspection?

'feel good' money wasted

UNLESS

you can physically locate ABOVE GROUND where the 'head' is when it meets the roots

for 'future' digging purposes

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

I agree with Bern but as I said, put this to sleep by replacing the pipe if you can afford it. It is the best long term fix or remedy. All the best

Check pipe lining. It will be a more economical, long-term fix.

you need to locate the intrusion to either repair or replace. However a drain camera may not tell you precisely where if there is a current blockage. The root intrusion would cause a blockage and take a while before you notice the blockage. The drain cleaner has kind of cleared a path there, but when you send down a camera it may show you images for a while before it becomes immersed in dirty dark water filled with chewed up toilet paper and other debris. This tells you where that blocked area is possibly but the intrusion location is further downstream. Some snake can have an attachment where they can ping for location from above.

The problem will be about 45' from where you were snaking, and there will be a tree there. Unless it's dense vegetation it shouldn't be too hard to puzzle out.

My answer would be NO! The reason being that a spiral cutter just "tangles" the roots and tears them loose, but does NOT cut them off at the pipe wall where they are entering.

it all depends on the tree itself. The tree in my front yard has a canopy of 30', and a tree's root system is usually as wide as the canopy. If the pipe goes through roots of big trees, it could be very hard digging if you don't have a more precise location.

Last year Irma tore through Florida my big trees were uprooted completely, I saw so many fallen trees and a lot of them when you walked by the roots that were pulled up you see PVC pipes torn off deeply embedded and strangled in roots.