# Craziest residential sewer you've encountered...



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

I love hearing stories about this kind of stuff and what the solution was...

About 6 years ago one of the guys I worked with cabled a line out 100', line opened, pulled back a few roots, nothing overly exciting. House was on a hill, had a walk out basement, mid 60's build, wooded area, swampy area about 100' from the back of the house, and the line went out the back, which around here usually means the house was on a septic at one time. He figured it was probably over 100' and offered the HO to put an extension on, but HO declined.
About two weeks later line is backed up again and I was sent there. Cabled 100', line didn't open, went out 150' and it opened, again minor roots. Charged a trip charge, the extra for the extension and offered a video to figure out if there was something up with the line. HO declined the video and paid.

On a side note, 2 adults and no kids in the household and they had lived there for 20+ years with no previous back ups.

Two days later line is backed up AGAIN! Both the guy who cabled it first and I went out. Cabled 150' still backed up. One of us happened to have the jetter with the 200' hose on one of our vans, so we sold it and it popped open. Now 200' should make it to the city sewer in the street. Eyeballing it, yeah, it could have been say 175'ish depending on which side of the house it wrapped around. Offered the camera again with no luck. Collected for the jet and informed them until we video it they have no warranty.

The next Monday they're backed up again and only want the jet. So we get there and this time we have the 350' hose (the max that jetter could handle, generally only used for manholes at trailer parks). Went out the full 350' and it did not open. Called the city to see if they had any prints for the layout, and surprise! They have nothing for that neighborhood. We were there for about four hours back and fourth time and time again, popping manholes to hear nothing. Now at the time our locator was down for repair so with the line full and no locator the camera was about useless. So we collected and told the HO, sorry, something is really wrong with your system and you need to call the local large rip-off company that has a sucker/jet truck.

A couple days later bossman tells us he heard back from the HO. Rip-off company spent 1.5 days figuring it out! (I'd hate to see the bill as they charge $250 to cable a secondary line and $1850 for the first hour of jetting. I've seen the invoices, and always scratch my head and wonder how they stay in business. Most people only use them once.)

Turns out the line was 450' long and didn't wrap around the house. 3" cleanout into 3" cast, switched to 6" clay at the footing and headed straight out into the swamp where it tied into a city sewer that the city didn't even know about!


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## Drain Pro (Nov 3, 2013)

Sometimes it be's that way.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

I'd have to say this one...

It comes out of a retaining wall at the top of a cliff and runs down a steep ledge and boulder strewn hill then finally goes underground again for about 10' and drops into the city line...

There are 3 houses in a row just like this...

I was talking to the city inspector about it because we were about to do some work on it, and he held up his hand to stop me basically saying, "I know about it..." "I don't want to know about it!" "I don't know what can be done differently" "Just fix their problem and make sure it doesn't leak!":laughing:


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Nice one! Was it a freezing issue?


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

OpenSights said:


> Nice one! Was it a freezing issue?


Not this time... It was once in the past and we jetted it then.
They are fine as long as the flappers aren't leaking and the faucets aren't dripping...

The problem was a 10' cracked piece of cast iron underground just before the city line and heavy roots... We replaced it...


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## saysflushable (Jun 15, 2009)

Redwood said:


> I'd have to say this one...
> 
> It comes out of a retaining wall at the top of a cliff and runs down a steep ledge and boulder strewn hill then finally goes underground again for about 10' and drops into the city line...
> 
> ...


 That is something else! How did they pull that off in the first place


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

saysflushable said:


> That is something else! How did they pull that off in the first place


Up at the top they were definitely using extension ladders...
The cliff face was at least a 50' drop down to the slope...


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Redwood said:


> Not this time... It was once in the past and we jetted it then.
> They are fine as long as the flappers aren't leaking and the faucets aren't dripping...
> 
> The problem was a 10' cracked piece of cast iron underground just before the city line and heavy roots... We replaced it...


Last two winters here were so bad some people's water lines froze and some let their faucets drip, and their drain lines froze. I've never used a hot shot so many times!

Their was this new parking lot/apartment building where one winter the only had five out of 20 or so apts rented, and all but one on one side. They ran the stack exposed down through the open parking levels. The condensation from the furnaces would freeze the 4" line on the side with one tenant solid. Well every week I'd have to cut out one section of pipe and fernco a new section with a test tee in it's place, jet down and up.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

What was really funny was since then I received a call from one of the guys I work with and he starts telling me about, "This Really Crazy Sewer Line" and I stop him in the middle of his description and told him the address...

It turned out he was next door...:laughing:

I told him I know every sewer in the state...:laughing:


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Double tap....


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Redwood said:


> What was really funny was since then I received a call from one of the guys I work with and he starts telling me about, "This Really Crazy Sewer Line" and I stop him in the middle of his description and told him the address...
> 
> It turned out he was next door...:laughing:
> 
> I told him I know every sewer in the state...:laughing:


Love it when that happens!

About a year into my last job we got a call in East Lansing (MSU), thought I recognized the address, but have been wrong before... I've been in literally 70% of houses in the student ghetto. Yep, it was the one. Told Bossman "I got this one." 175' 4" line. The only cleanout is behind a well hidden panel in the closet of the basement bedroom to the right of the bottom of the stairs. Boss said "You weren't kidding when said you know this town!"

Best part is when we went to collect from the old man that owns the PMC. He's cheap, argues the price every time and takes forever to pay, sometimes 7-8 months. I when he started asking about our warranty policy I decided to speak up and say "Mr. Customer, I know that line very well. It's 174.5' from that cleanout to the city and is full of roots, separations, bellies and breaks. I've been saying for years it needs to be replaced. We cannot offer any warranty on this line until it is properly repaired." Well, he was so surprised I knew so much about his house considering it was his first time using us he just closed his mouth and wrote a check for the full amount. :laughing:


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## ToUtahNow (Jul 19, 2008)

I did a project on a large estate built in the 20's. The front of the property with the tennis house and courts was in Santa Monica and the back of the property with the house and pool was in Los Angeles. We were doing a restore so everything was stripped down and repainted or re chromed Except for new fixtures in the master. It started out with 14 bathrooms on the property. They converted a garden shed into a viewing room so we added two more baths. Because of grade issues I wanted to use a pump to tie into the basement of the main house but the inspector said no. As a result, we had to run 500' at 1%.

In those days we located by energizing our drain cables. When I dug down to do the tie in, the sewer I thought was 4'-6' deep was only 2' deep. As it turned out, the 6' deep pipe was brought back up to 2' for a 10' section and then it went back down to 6'. I scratched my head for a while then figured out it was a 1920s attempt at a backwater valve.

Mark


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

ToUtahNow said:


> I did a project on a large estate built in the 20's. The front of the property with the tennis house and courts was in Santa Monica and the back of the property with the house and pool was in Los Angeles. We were doing a restore so everything was stripped down and repainted or re chromed Except for new fixtures in the master. It started out with 14 bathrooms on the property. They converted a garden shed into a viewing room so we added two more baths. Because of grade issues I wanted to use a pump to tie into the basement of the main house but the inspector said no. As a result, we had to run 500' at 1%.
> 
> In those days we located by energizing our drain cables. When I dug down to do the tie in, the sewer I thought was 4'-6' deep was only 2' deep. As it turned out, the 6' deep pipe was brought back up to 2' for a 10' section and then it went back down to 6'. I scratched my head for a while then figured out it was a 1920s attempt at a backwater valve.
> 
> Mark


Like a reverse whole house trap? Wierd! If I'm visualising that right.... I couldn't see that working for anything but grey water!

Edit... at least for a few years...


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Edit:.... and not for very long (years)...


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## ToUtahNow (Jul 19, 2008)

OpenSights said:


> Like a reverse whole house trap? Wierd! If I'm visualising that right.... I couldn't see that working for anything but grey water!
> 
> Edit... at least for a few years...


As far as I could tell, it seemed out at the 500' mark the sewage had to have turned into a slurry then had to wait for water to move it along the way. There were no reports of problems and the house was 70 years old at the time. I graded it properly and installed a backwater valve. The home was originally built by McDonnell of McDonnell Douglas.

Mark


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

ToUtahNow said:


> As far as I could tell, it seemed out at the 500' mark the sewage had to have turned into a slurry then had to wait for water to move it along the way. There were no reports of problems and the house was 70 years old at the time. I graded it properly and installed a backwater valve. The home was originally built by McDonnell of McDonnell Douglas.
> 
> Mark


Thanks Mark! Very interesting, and odd. The old timers knew their stuff. Last time I was back home my Grandfather, who is pushing 90 and requires full time assisted living offered me all of his old plumbing tools he had left. I took what I could fit at the time, most tools are either out dated in application or ones that just don't have any use for. But they are family history. When I first started in plumbing I remember him trying to tell me the way he ran drainage and venting. At the time, and with my mindset, it made absolutely no sense, and I still scratch my head when I see old school stuff in older homes. "Now how in the world has this worked at all until now?"


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