I had a backed up laundry drain in my home, I hired a plumber to clear the drain but his drain snake got stuck in the pipes.  He is saying that he believes there is broken pipe or fittings and that he will have to charge me to repair the pipe.  He said that a concrete guy will need to cut and remove the concrete and that before that can happen the drain needs to be scoped and located. Am I the one responsible for having to pay for the repair when it was his drain snake that caused the damage?

Looking back it appears that you should have used the camera first. I think that he is responsible for the snake being stuck because he gambled that he would not need to see what was happening before he proceeded. Was this something that has been slowly happening or did it just show up one day? The answer to this is what the Insurance company will want to know so they know who to bill. Whatever happens be sure you are present and can see what the plumber is doing so you can answer any questions the Insurane Adjuster has.



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The plumber did not "cause the damage", he just discovered it, but, there are more possibilities than a broken pipe. Actually, almost nothing can be done until the snake is removed and you determine WHERE the problem is. I had a friend who had a clogged sink. He called a local plumber and his snake got stuck. He told my friend that HE had to get the snake out or he would be charged for it. I opened the outside cleanout, removed the incredibly twisted up snake from the line, (and threw it on the ground where the plumber could retrieve it), and unplugged the line..

HJ: that's a funny story.

I worked for a lot of plumbing companies and never did I see the drain techs camera any 2" and smaller drains.
Not once. But I agree with LorenSr - might not be a bad idea if the drain is located in a slab.

Forget for a second the broken cable. If this plumber is correct that the drain or fittings are compromised well then all this extra expense to make the repair would have been needed anyway.

If his drain snake is just caught up in there for no good reason - well then camera scope and concrete costs are his.

If the drain is rotted out or another issue like non-code fittings well then IMO this is your problem and any expenses in making this repair are yours. It might actually be necessary to replace the entire drain.

I had the exact same problem once, I was the home owner and the plumber lost his snake.

He claimed my pipe was totally rotten and my pipe was the reason for his losing the "expensive" snake head. He would not take any responsibility for the repair/extraction. I think I started a thread here about this, probably 10/12 years ago.

I had already traced the pipe myself, kind of know where it runs, then I knew how far into the pipe his fed his snake. I cut the concrete up and replaced the pipe. Pipe was not broken. It was old cast iron, he has the snake coiled and double back in an elbow.

We moved into the home about two months ago. We haven’t had any issues until one day water started coming out of the laundry stand pipe. The piping above the floor is all new, but the plumber said the piping in the concrete floor is cast iron and likely as old as the house which was built in 1922. The drain has not backed up since the plumber was last here, but his cable is still stuck in there. Do you think a camera can be ran down the drain with the cable stuck in there? At this point we’re unsure of what to do, but will be calling our insurance agent. Thank you for the advice!

The camera will not determine anything if the pipe is clogged and full of water and sewage you will not be able to see anything

therefor, a camera inspection prior to snaking is most often a waste of money.

I agree completely. Snake the drain clean, then camera the cleaned line to either locate or verify the line is clear and problem free. If I do a camera inspection I always order the snaking prior to ensure the camera inspection will inspect all the way to the city connection.

I do not have much experience with snaking other than watching others do it, but it seems to me (and I may be totally off base here), that when a snake get twisted and binds itself, it is usually because a less than full size head is used, so that it can get jammed into a figure 8 around an elbow. Is this true? Assuming the pipe is still sound and the snake didn't run out a hole in a pipe.

...... or the cable used is 'under diamater' for either (or both) the length of run or pipe size


the size of the head itself is 'almost' academic

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