# Croquet ball in house drain



## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Got a call at a Amish house basement floor drain stopped up where laundry area is,got there it's a 3" line, ran my 3/8" cable no head on it in my 3800,got thru trap and hit something solid,finally got it to move further down the line but nothing after that,tried my 1/2" cable to push it more and it did,now both drains are backed up,asked the kids if they where missing any toys and yes a orange ball is missing at same time drain backed up,come to find out it's a hard as rock croquet ball,any ideas on how to get it out??I have no camera and no way to get one,would air help any you think??!I think I've got ball pushed into the main since both drains are stopped up now,gonna go back with big machine and go in from other end of line,but first I'm gonna plug it off fill line with as much water as possible and see if it will wash out,any ideas are welcomed,and no I don't have pictures haven't mastered that yet either sorry


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

sparky said:


> .............. it's a hard as rock croquet ball,any ideas on how to get it out??I have no camera and no way to get one,would air help any you think??...........


Well that's a dilly of a pickle! I'd say do what you're planning, run your largest machine and see if you can push it farther. Otherwise they better break out the pilgrim tools.

Is it by any chance a dirt floor? You did say they were amish.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

skoronesa said:


> Well that's a dilly of a pickle! I'd say do what you're planning, run your largest machine and see if you can push it farther. Otherwise they better break out the pilgrim tools.
> 
> Is it by any chance a dirt floor? You did say they were amish.


Concrete


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

sparky said:


> Concrete



WOW, I am jealous of the amish. I have a dirt floor  

I've been getting old bricks from the dump and slowly paving where I Park the work van. Maybe I will give up for now on the idea of digging out the basment and just put down pavers.


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Water ram? Crank it to 100psi? If not locate and break concrete. Might be better just to break concrete right now because the ball might end up outside and you might need an excavator.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

If it is a wooden croquet ball, 
wont a high pressure jetter eat that ball up after a while???


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Tango said:


> Water ram? Crank it to 100psi? If not locate and break concrete. Might be better just to break concrete right now because the ball might end up outside and you might need an excavator.



This right here is the best advice^^^ Get at it while the gettin's good.

Unless Mark is correct and a jetter will eat it. Could test that out with another one of the balls above ground.


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

A jetter? Croquet balls are tough as steel plus it's the circumference that's stuck on every side. The jetter would need extreme pressure with piercing capability??


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

@Master Mark, your avatar is this close to being Gandalph the White!


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## Logtec (Jun 3, 2018)

Locate the ball in the drain, tell them to dig it up, once they expose the drain, you charge them for the removal of the ball and repair to the drain, and they can do the backfilling.. win win


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Tango said:


> A jetter? Croquet balls are tough as steel plus it's the circumference that's stuck on every side. The jetter would need extreme pressure with piercing capability??


They probably made it themselves from hard rock maple or the like. As mark just said, probably wood and should break up from the jetter nozzle.


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## Nazareth (Sep 30, 2017)

skoronesa said:


> They probably made it themselves from hard rock maple or the like. As mark just said, probably wood and should break up from the jetter nozzle.


Just throw one of them warthog heads on the jetter. Give that thing an involuntary enema


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## Nazareth (Sep 30, 2017)

Its probably better the Amish guy lost his balls, they reproduce like rabbits


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Tango said:


> A jetter? Croquet balls are tough as steel plus it's the circumference that's stuck on every side. The jetter would need extreme pressure with piercing capability??


Yes exactly,I don't think a jester would do it,if it would eat a croquet ball up the pvc
Ipedont stand a chance


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

skoronesa said:


> They probably made it themselves from hard rock maple or the like. As mark just said, probably wood and should break up from the jetter nozzle.


Aren't they kinda marble like??they looked to see if they had anymore but no luck,just the one,if the ice storm misses us I will go back tomorrow and try try again lololol


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

sparky said:


> Yes exactly,I don't think a jester would do it,if it would eat a croquet ball up the pvc
> Ipedont stand a chance





sparky said:


> Aren't they kinda marble like??they looked to see if they had anymore but no luck,just the one,if the ice storm misses us I will go back tomorrow and try try again lololol


My guess is the pipe is cast iron. 

And yeah, cheap ones can be pressed powdered material stuck together with epoxy but I don't think the amish shop at wally world.


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## hewhodigsholes (Oct 28, 2020)

If it is wooden, could you chew at it with a spiral saw? Might even get lucky and it gets stuck on the end and you can just pull it out.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

skoronesa said:


> My guess is the pipe is cast iron.
> 
> And yeah, cheap ones can be pressed powdered material stuck together with epoxy but I don't think the amish shop at wally world.


No it’s Pvc supposedly installed by a licensed plumber 15yrs ago but the floor drains have no vents on them


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

If a jetter would cut through roots , I think it should do some damage to the ball...
you need to ask some sewer guys about this.... I know you dont want the jet spray 
off one of those things to touch skin.....


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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

The Jetter will destroy the place before you get through the ball.. but if you can hit it back wards then id say go for it.. but I think your best option would be adapt a Milwaukee hole hawg 2" bit to a cable and drill and attack it.. or just try and force it out with your mainline machine... 3" cutter and push it along till it gets to tank or to road


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## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

Here's a possible alternative.


https://www.hunker.com/13415321/how-to-dissolve-wood


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Plumbus said:


> Here's a possible alternative.
> 
> 
> https://www.hunker.com/13415321/how-to-dissolve-wood


OR....he could pour some nitric acid down. Just don't light a match, or make any sudden movements


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

hewhodigsholes said:


> If it is wooden, could you chew at it with a spiral saw? Might even get lucky and it gets stuck on the end and you can just pull it out.


I may take my electric eel model c machine and 7/8” cable and try to chew the ball up also,it’s hard to get a bigger cable thru a 3” trap


Venomthirst said:


> The Jetter will destroy the place before you get through the ball.. but if you can hit it back wards then id say go for it.. but I think your best option would be adapt a Milwaukee hole hawg 2" bit to a cable and drill and attack it.. or just try and force it out with your mainline machine... 3" cutter and push it along till it gets to tank or to road


my drain equipment is not much,I have a model c electric eel with 11/4"&7/8" cables and I have a ridgid 3800 ridgid k400 and ridgid small drill snake pistol style and a Marco LT-90 mainline machine with 3/4" cable,problem with this job I can only get my 1/2 cable to go thru the 3" pvc ptraps and that is without any head on it,it just doesn't have enough power to do anything,just got back again and no luck will be cutting the floor up and digging it out,we plugged the end of pipe off and put blow ups in fds and I put a metal twistup in 3"or with garden hose on it trying to flood the pipe and wash it out but pipe was broken out in yard never would fill up so concrete will be cut


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Without seeing the situation kinda hard to say. If you can cable upstream, can you blow bag upstream. I’d plug the floor drain, cut the stack and pray.

My money is on a bust up.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

OpenSights said:


> Without seeing the situation kinda hard to say. If you can cable upstream, can you blow bag upstream. I’d plug the floor drain, cut the stack and pray.
> 
> My money is on a bust up.


cut the stack and pray.... very wise


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Master Mark said:


> cut the stack and pray.... very wise


Long shot at best! Around here the Amish and Mennonite make big bucks on their woodworking, and deserve every penny! Amazing quality workmanship! I’d give the bag a shot. They will probably expose the line and backfill to cut costs. Cool in my book!
Charge accordingly.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Or barter for a cool ass bed frame or some furniture, cabinets, whatever. They like barter!


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Master Mark said:


> cut the stack and pray.... very wise


No stack to cut


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Floor will be cut just waiting to see if he wants us to do it or him,at this point I don't care either way lolololololo


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

sparky said:


> Floor will be cut just waiting to see if he wants us to do it or him,at this point I don't care either way lolololololo


Lots of times we spay paint where the HO needs to cut. They can save a good amount of $ by busting up, hauling and re cement! I prefer they do the physical work anyway.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

OpenSights said:


> Lots of times we spay paint where the HO needs to cut. They can save a good amount of $ by busting up, hauling and re cement! I prefer they do the physical work anyway.


Us also


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