# broke one off today.....



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

this was a first for me and I was shocked and suprised..

went to a second story old farm house with a double lav
bowl and a tub on the same line.... all three slow... .... there was probably a cross in the wall... and it had only a 1 inch black vent going straight out the roof..

I decided to attempt to clean out the drain and hope that my small general wire mini v with a 1/4 cable in it would make the bend and go over to the toilet and clean out ... 

I grind on it for about 20 minutes and it appears that I 
went the down the pipe... Then I get a phone call from my helper telling me that I have gone over to the toilet and up the 2 inch vent behind the toilet and straight out the roof.... Ok great... I have hit a home run... real simple and fairley easy.....

I begin to attempt to pull that small cable back and it comes back about 8 foot and the head gets jammed or stuck and wont come any further.... we had 2 guys pulling on the cable with me working the drill.. and finally the cable snapped off on me with about 24 inches hanging out the arm....

their was no way in hell to get that out of the line, so I 
finally had to just pull it out as far as I could and use some bolt cutters on the end of it...


so anyway the drain runs out great but now the home has a small cable stuck in the line....I told the home owner that the line can never be cleaned out again...

it was not my best day


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## user2090 (Sep 26, 2009)

That really sucks, and I for one am sorry to hear it. I guess its like they say "If it were easy everyone would do it." Not much consolation there, but I feel ya.


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## PlungerJockey (Feb 19, 2010)

Bummer, but atleast it was a small cable


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## Mississippiplum (Sep 30, 2011)

Shiot happens, atleast you got the drain running again :laughing:

sent from the jobsite porta-potty


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## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

You should have chucked the thing into a 1/2 drill before cutting. It doesn't always work but sometimes. Or does your machine spin the same rpm?


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

DesertOkie said:


> You should have chucked the thing into a 1/2 drill before cutting. It doesn't always work but sometimes. Or does your machine spin the same rpm?


thanks
that drill idea is a good one, I am pretty sure it was 
hopeless
it was probably 18 feet over in the drain and stuck up
the 2 inch vent ...

I hope that it lasts a few decades before anyone has
to mess with it again.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

When I get an easy stoppage, I jump up and click my heels together. When I get a pain in the a$$ stoppage, I'm huffing and puffing and cussing under my breath. I hate those PITA stoppages. 

Did you give customer option of you opening up the wall? Obviously something is not right in that 2" line.


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## MarkToo (Dec 17, 2011)

*Broke one off today...*

*"Broke one off today"...*

Honestly. Not what I expected...


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## Epox (Sep 19, 2010)

Not sure bout the decade thing. I tell people this is what happens when standards are ignored. It will require surgery most likely when it stops up (within a year) is my guess. Man that sux.


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

Maybe you could get an old, sacraficial 1/4" cable and open up the bulb to make a retriever. Get up on the roof and go down the vent it came up. Maybe you can get the heads to wrap up and pull the whole mess out the roof? If it fails, you're no worse off than you are now. Just snip it off with some more bolt cutters and there's 8' more cable in the vent. If it works, you're a HERO!




Paul


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## Epox (Sep 19, 2010)

rocksteady said:


> Maybe you could get an old, sacraficial 1/4" cable and open up the bulb to make a retriever. Get up on the roof and go down the vent it came up. Maybe you can get the heads to wrap up and pull the whole mess out the roof? If it fails, you're no worse off than you are now. Just snip it off with some more bolt cutters and there's 8' more cable in the vent. If it works, you're a HERO!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


He came up a 2" vent, wouldn't a 1/2" cable do the trick, heck even a 3/4 with a fashioned retreiver would probably do it. If not run it in reverse and let it go. But don't let it go below the vent so It doesn't get hung up below floor.


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

Yeah, any cable would work I guess. I was just thinking of something that would be disposable. Heck, if you don't have anything on hand you can get a cheap General 1/4" hand spun cable at HD for less than 10 bucks. Put it in the drill snake or just chuck it up in a cordless drill. I wouldn't spend too much time or money on it but it might come out in 5 minutes and only cost a couple bucks.





Paul


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*let sleeping dogs lie....*

thanks for all the ideas, the problem is the 2 inch vent 
is about 3 stories in the air and about 5 inches from the gutters edje.... it is not very safe to mess with 

I was really suprised that the smallest cabel I own with a very small head on it got stuck in this one... and I am very leerey about trying to mess with something that will probably lsast another 40 years if left alone....

the drain works like gangbusters... best to leave it alone...I have seen cables lay in drains for decades and that is what this one is gonna do


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