# Snake in a drain



## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

Customer called saying they have a slow kitchen drain. Open up the outside clean out cap and see a cable coming down from the vent. I grabbed a ladder to check the roof and see the last guy got stuck and left his cable. I asked the homeowner about it and he said the guy burnt out his motor trying to get unstuck and said he’d be back never to be heard from again. 

I’m thinking if I pull my cable out of my Spartan 100 bail and feed this in my machine to see if I can pull it out. What do you guys think?

Here’s what I have to work with.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

I'd tell the customer that you'll give it the old college try; either man-handle it by trying to tug it out by hand or like you say, use your machine, but tell the customer no guarantees and you should charge for your time. 

Now speaking of time, I'd waste no more than half an hour tops on that before telling customer that we shall be moving to plan B. Plan B is of course excavate and repair.


I wish you all the best Debo. You're an experienced guy, go get it.


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Sure why not try it. Put lots of dishsoap. If you know how long the cable is you would have an idea where it's stuck inside the house and cut the pipe to relieve the head.

Another idea if you can't spin it out I would try a hi lift jack.

Just make sure to tell him it's not going to be cheap and it may take a long time. Make him prepare mentally he's going to get a heavy bill.


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

hell just tie it to the back of your truck and floor it..somethings gona give...either way its a repair job for you...lol


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Now that the weather is starting to get milder I will be making a cable clamp to use with a jack or come along.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Half hour tops, charge. I’ve come across those. Sucks!


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

Tango said:


> Now that the weather is starting to get milder I will be making a cable clamp to use with a jack or come along.



nothing much to make, I would weld a chain to top of U bolt or body of clamp then make a chain loop and use a come along to pull old snake cable...you can bolt several the the old cable if just one slips..


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> nothing much to make, I would weld a chain to top of U bolt or body of clamp then make a chain loop and use a come along to pull old snake cable...you can bolt several the the old cable if just one slips..


Wouldn't the saddle in your picture crush and permanently deform the spirals around the drain cable? Even with 2 or 3 in series I think it will crush too much.

I was thinking about a clamp like this so it spreads the load not damaging the cable as much.

.


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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

If you can get access to c.o down below id straighten out cable pull it through c.o then spool it onto yourr machine.. probably stuck on roots or bad joint or something.. id work it till it comes free if you can.. charge by the hour... to attempt to free and if its right stuck then obviously dig er..


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

Tango said:


> Wouldn't the saddle in your picture crush and permanently deform the spirals around the drain cable? Even with 2 or 3 in series I think it will crush too much.
> 
> I was thinking about a clamp like this so it spreads the load not damaging the cable as much.
> 
> .



you didnt say if you wanted to save the stuck cable, but how much can you pull one of those drain cables before you stretch it beyond use?
if you want to clamp without distorting the cable, then I would think about cutting a 2ft length of steel pipe in half long ways , either 1/2 , 3/4 or 1 inch inch depending on cable size and then lining it with a hard plastic or rubber and weld tabs on it every 3 inches to bolt it over the cable so the plastic bites into the cable but doesnt deform it and weld a loop onto the steel casing to then pull on it..since its going to only be used as an emergency to save your cable and get it un stuck thats the way I would do it, even that small clamp you posted would end up digging in and possibly damaging the cable..


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> you didnt say if you wanted to save the stuck cable, but how much can you pull one of those drain cables before you stretch it beyond use?
> if you want to clamp without distorting the cable, then I would think about cutting a 2ft length of steel pipe in half long ways , either 1/2 , 3/4 or 1 inch inch depending on cable size and then lining it with a hard plastic or rubber and weld tabs on it every 3 inches to bolt it over the cable so the plastic bites into the cable but doesnt deform it and weld a loop onto the steel casing to then pull on it..since its going to only be used as an emergency to save your cable and get it un stuck thats the way I would do it, even that small clamp you posted would end up digging in and possibly damaging the cable..


It's exactly what I was thinking of but I didn't want to write it all down so I looked up a picture for the idea.


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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

Is that half inch or 5/8" if its 5/8" hes probably in the street with the amount of cable in there.... is there other cleanouts other than just kitchen... open mainline. C.o and see if it's there... my personal opinion it's either too far or theres a ball of something on end sometimes if there is too much I go back in and spin it till something falls off.. 

p.s I wouldn't use anything more than what one or two people can exert if cable breaks off it could be a bigger pickle or sling shot the cable down the main making it harder to retrieve... you can always get a locate company or yourself if you got the equipment..to hook up to your cables and use the cable to locate the drain.. comes in handy especially when you can't get camera all the way through


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

Venomthirst said:


> If you can get access to c.o down below id straighten out cable pull it through c.o then spool it onto yourr machine.. probably stuck on roots or bad joint or something.. id work it till it comes free if you can.. charge by the hour... to attempt to free and if its right stuck then obviously dig er..


There’s a 2” clean out at ground level, so I’m not sure why this guy dragged his machine up on the roof to go through an 1 1/2” vent. I was figuring it would be tough to pull the slack out sideways through the clean out is why I was going to try to pull it out through the vent. 

I’m trying to make time on Friday to swing by there and give it the ol’ gundy and try to get it out.


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

Venomthirst said:


> Is that half inch or 5/8" if its 5/8" hes probably in the street with the amount of cable in there.... is there other cleanouts other than just kitchen... open mainline. C.o and see if it's there... my personal opinion it's either too far or theres a ball of something on end sometimes if there is too much I go back in and spin it till something falls off..
> 
> p.s I wouldn't use anything more than what one or two people can exert if cable breaks off it could be a bigger pickle or sling shot the cable down the main making it harder to retrieve... you can always get a locate company or yourself if you got the equipment..to hook up to your cables and use the cable to locate the drain.. comes in handy especially when you can't get camera all the way through


There’s a main line clean out about 20’ from the kitchen sink. Kitchen line runs right through the middle of the floor, picks up the laundry, then there’s a bathroom where it ties in. 

Here’s a picture of a spot repair I did at a different house with the same floor plan. Removed rotten cast iron from 1963 when these houses were built.


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## Standard Drain (Feb 17, 2016)

In my experience; if you cant pull t out by hand dig it. Ive seen it whip out when tugged with a truck and do some damage. 

Are you able to stick the camera down there and see what its stuck on?


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

Standard Drain said:


> In my experience; if you cant pull t out by hand dig it. Ive seen it whip out when tugged with a truck and do some damage.
> 
> Are you able to stick the camera down there and see what its stuck on?


I’ll bring my camera when I go back. I don’t carry my camera as an everyday tool. Call came in as a slow drain and water heater pilot won’t stay lit. When I saw the cable stuck I tried to pull it by hand, no go so I moved on to check the water heater. Sold him and installed new heater and told him I’ll try to return Friday to get the cable out.


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

I went there today. I put the cable in my machine, let it spin until it was starting to bind and started tugging. It came free so I reeled it in. No head and straight piece of cable. Went down and put my camera down the clean out and saw the rest of the cable still in the line. It turns out this thing was in the line for 2 years so it was rusted and weak. I ran my cable with the “Redwood bend” on the end to clear the line so I could see the condition of it and where the end of his cable was.

Here’s a picture of my camera screen (a little blurry) bottom of the cast iron is on the right hand side. There’s nothing left on the bottom. He’s going to need a bust up. Good thing he just remodeled the kitchen with new floors within the last year or two.


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## Stratocaster626 (Feb 11, 2017)

Gotta love getting other people's cables out of lines.


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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

Nice you got the cable out... definitely looks like trenching on the bottom... like you said before if all the houses in area have same floor plan everything then everyones kitchen stack lower ends will be on thier way out.. matter of time

Congrats on good work keep it up.. and hopefully the job will pay off


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## Standard Drain (Feb 17, 2016)

Wow nice work!


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