# Need help here guys



## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Hey fellas,we service a busy rest area out on a major interstate (I65) and the piss from the urinals petrifys in the pipes and in the fixtures themselves,I’m trying to come up with a way to clean the urinal traps and behind them without pulling them off the wall,any ideas?.??

Ps,chemicals won’t work as they are never shut down at all,they run 24-7 365 days a year

These are American standard urinals from back around 2002


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

Urinal auger?


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

*N*



dhal22 said:


> Urinal auger?


I never used one,do they work at all??


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

Probably not in this application, depends on how bad the crystallization is but better than pulling the urinal. Not a fun job either way.


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

I clear urinals with the Supervee. Take a 12”-18” piece of 3/4” pvc and slide your cable through it to protect from scratching the porcelain.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Debo22 said:


> I clear urinals with the Supervee. Take a 12”-18” piece of 3/4” pvc and slide your cable through it to protect from scratching the porcelain.


That won’t break the urinal will it??? All I have is a 5/16” cable from ridgid that I use in the k-39,I have always been scared of using electric snake on a urinal


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

sparky said:


> That won’t break the urinal will it??? All I have is a 5/16” cable from ridgid that I use in the k-39,I have always been scared of using electric snake on a urinal


I don’t deal with a lot of urinals thankfully, but I’ve never broken one with my 5/16” cable in the Supervee. 
It’s not going to clear the 2” line as well as pulling the urinal and using your kitchen line snake but I try to avoid removing a urinal as much as possible. I don’t like getting up close and personal with them removing the nuts at the bottom of it.
Milwaukee makes an m12 urinal snake but it’s only 4 feet long.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Urnals and grease traps....

I’ve never bought a urnal auger, or even used one. Anyone I know who’s used one tell me they’re junk and kink easily, but that’s just what I’ve heard, so...

If you’re company has a jetter what I would do is offer a preventative maintenance schedule. 

Another way of to look at the issue it the cause itself. Urine and small amounts of water, if any, moving it through the line.

I might be wrong on this, maybe it was something I dreamed one night, but doesn’t Sloan, or the like make those auto flushers that flush once an hour or so needed or not?

For the bars I take care of I tell them to fill each urinal with ice at closing. Usually the closing employee won’t, but for the bars that have taken my advice, my calls have dwindled. Less money, but worth it. But that won’t help in your situation.

IMHO code needs to change on urnals. Porcelain traps should be illegal and replaced with tubular encased in a removable protective box or something.


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

OpenSights said:


> Urnals and grease traps....
> 
> I’ve never bought a urnal auger, or even used one. Anyone I know who’s used one tell me they’re junk and kink easily, but that’s just what I’ve heard, so...
> 
> ...


What does ice do to crystallization? It would be great if urinals came with an accessible trap for cleaning the line.

Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

The Dane said:


> What does ice do to crystallization? It would be great if urinals came with an accessible trap for cleaning the line.
> 
> Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


As the ice melts there’s a constant slow flow of water moving through the line keeping un-crystallization slightly at bay. The one bar that’s doing it went from a couple of months to between 4-6. Not a cure all, but better.


Another idea is to upsell to waterless urinals. I’ve only installed one, about a year and a half ago. Not one call. There’s a major rest stop here in MI on the way north that use them. Apparently they’re doing the job quite well.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Every urinal I have ever installed I installed a clean out tee with a plug in it about a foot above the sloan valve.. the next guy thanks me and I thank myself if I am the next guy to come along....

fix the problem before you ever have one.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

OpenSights said:


> Urnals and grease traps....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I agteee,I think urinals should be outlawed unless they can come up with a way to clean them out without pulling off the wall


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Master Mark said:


> Every urinal I have ever installed I installed a clean out tee with a plug in it about a foot above the sloan valve.. the next guy thanks me and I thank myself if I am the next guy to come along....
> 
> fix the problem before you ever have one.


Won’t do me a bit of good as my problems are I need the urinal itself and the short piece of drain from urinal to vent,a tee in the place you say wouldn’t help me at all,I have access to the vents and drains in the utility chase hall but still that doesn’t help me clean out that urinal and short section between trap to vent


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## exclamation (Mar 11, 2013)

Well if you need to clear trap/arm and can’t use chems your only option is either a urinal auger/super vee or pull/reset I think


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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

Urinals are the most vile disgusting drains to deal with nothing like crystalized pubic hair to make you gag.. 

I usually pull them off use a small bucket and a urinal auger bust up crystals in urinal with auger flush em out with bucket and snake out the outlet to main with branch machine.. k50, k3800 whatever suits your fancy.

pee Crystal's are minerals which acids break up I never recommend chemical unless all options have been exhausted some urinals you can't get the auger around then you use chems.. 

Sometimes a shop vac can come in handy too after the urinal auger but usually you have to take the sucker off and snake both front and back to clean it right out. And flush with bucket..

I usually make a large mess when dealing with a urinal if theres a floor drain I'll do it in bathroom if not I take it outside depending on circumstances of course


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

OpenSights said:


> I might be wrong on this, maybe it was something I dreamed one night, but doesn’t Sloan, or the like make those auto flushers that flush once an hour or so needed or not?


In our code it is not allowed because if the urinal clogs the automatic flush will flood the place.

Also in the code a clean out are to be installed.


When I was a second year apprentice my mechanic would make me vacuum the urinal traps every 2 weeks at the casino and have me scrub with a tooth brush under the stainless grill. Do you know how many urinals there were!!!!!
Made me gag every single time. The stench when the trap was empty , the freaking vacuum pushed out hell smells. God damn terrible stench every time I had to use it for something else. NEVER AGAIN WILL I TOUCH A URINAL!!!!

Hindsight I would of told him to F off.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Tango said:


> In our code it is not allowed because if the urinal clogs the automatic flush will flood the place.
> 
> Also in the code a clean out are to be installed.
> 
> ...



Charge for it and don’t be a P word! If someone will pay you $800 to pull and cable a urinal would you do it? 

Look at your business this way. What is someone willing to pay for someone else to do the work they know they’ll screw up anyway.

You are in a jam my friend! I’ve been to East Timor, Okinawa, the Philippine’s and Mexico... just not Canada.

Look at a different province (?).


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

OpenSights said:


> You are in a jam my friend! I’ve been to East Timor, Okinawa, the Philippine’s and Mexico... just not Canada.
> 
> Look at a different province (?).



What do you mean here, I just don't understand?

I'm safe not doing urinals since I do residential 99% of the time. I don't even get calls for drain cleaning for commercial places.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Tango said:


> What do you mean here, I just don't understand?
> 
> I'm safe not doing urinals since I do residential 99% of the time. I don't even get calls for drain cleaning for commercial places.


You need to move. Maybe come here on a visa? We are booming!


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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

No hostility.. urinals suck. However if it pays then no biggy.. I'm in Toronto area and I still see those water matrix flush urinals all the time and the motion sensor flush valves on them so they are still out there... they use water matrix for trap seal primers here too


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## limitless (Jan 5, 2018)

I'd talk to the DOT and see if you can take a 1/3 portion out of service to use a chemical treatment and do it in three installments. Much easier than getting too creative.

Brandon
Limitless Plumbing and Sewer


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

Flex shaft will go through urinal crystal easy peezy


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

I hate urinals but I have a routine for doing them and they arent that bad like they used to be.


Besides, compared to waterless urinals regular urinals are no worse than a kitchen sink.



Although, most urinals are waterless urinals since many guys cant be bothered to flush.


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

skoronesa said:


> Although, most urinals are waterless urinals since many guys cant be bothered to flush.


 you might be right in that statement.

Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

One PMC I use to do work for would always have their maintenance guys pull toilets, urnials, break concrete.... anything to save money.

I got call for a plugged urinal at one their office buildings. They pulled it first thing in the morning, but I couldn’t get to it until late afternoon.

When I opened the door I just about had a heart attack! They pulled it and it placed it upright with the trap on the floor leaning against the wall! I’m really surprised that nobody knocked it over.


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

No need to clear it, just put a bag over it.


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## canuck92 (Apr 1, 2016)

Master Mark said:


> Every urinal I have ever installed I installed a clean out tee with a plug in it about a foot above the sloan valve.. the next guy thanks me and I thank myself if I am the next guy to come along....
> 
> fix the problem before you ever have one.


Are c.o not mandatory by code where your at ?


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

canuck92 said:


> Are c.o not mandatory by code where your at ?





They aint code here. Luckily, this one school was built like you wouldnt believe, L copper for the drain pipes is one example. They have cos for the urinals. Which came in real handy on 4 different occasions when I had to get plastic bottle caps out of the lines.


A the same school I camerad a 4" cast main drain to find a piece of copper pipe sitting vertical. At first I was swearing at whatever a hole flushed a nipple. Then I tracked it under a recent transformer they set. It was a grounding rod that punched right through the cast. 14 FEET DEEP!!!! WTF? It wasn't even the issue though, that was the tree growing in about 20 feet farther down.


Who drives a 15' grounding rod????


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## canuck92 (Apr 1, 2016)

skoronesa said:


> canuck92 said:
> 
> 
> > Are c.o not mandatory by code where your at ?
> ...


Yikes, they should update you code book lol
C.o on urinals above the f.l.r
Anything that serves bodily fluids is 6" above f.l.r.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Thanks for bringing urnals up Sparky! Ya cursed me! Got a call from the metal bar and stage. I installed this urnal 4 years ago, the faucet a year and a half ago? 

Amazingly: the health department has not cited them, the urnal doesn’t leak, no one has sliced themselves, or at least remembered were....


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

OpenSights said:


> Amazingly: the health department has not cited them, the urnal doesn’t leak, no one has sliced themselves, or at least remembered were....



Holy crap!! I've seen hospital picture of a woman who took a crap standing with her feet on the bowl. The bowl shattered in pieces and half her leg muscles was flopped over and many many more flesh slices. It was horrifying to see.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Tango said:


> Holy crap!! I've seen hospital picture of a woman who took a crap standing with her feet on the bowl. The bowl shattered in pieces and half her leg muscles was flopped over and many many more flesh slices. It was horrifying to see.


This has been a dirty dive for 50+ years. Building is about 1860’s upstairs there is a 3” gap between the bricks... in the wall! More daylight than the windows! 

Guy must have some sort of connection.


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

when I was young dumb and stupid I never realized how razor sharp broken porcelain was, I smashed an old toilet to fit in a garbage can and after grabbing the pieces by hand no glove I wondered where all the blood was coming from....me...I sliced the crap out of my hands...never did that again..but there were many other blood incidents...


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Wife is waiting for me to come to bed. As a laborer I was given a hammer to demolish a ceramic shower. As a 12/old boy I just starting swinging, until I noticed the puncture wound in my elbow.

First day for a new guy...

Me, drop it into the dumpster! He holds on. 

Learning curve.


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