# Can i use pex for a pushrod?



## KoleckeINC (Oct 22, 2011)

Anybody push 100' of pex down a mainline and attempt to vacuum the excess water to camera a bad spot? I usually use some tennis balls cut in half and duct taped to my camera to see above the water line but this recent problem is too much. Line is 130' shift is at the curb 100' A jetter with a warthog would not pass it either. Can I use 1" pex and a shopvac? Would 3/4 pex work?


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

You might tie it to a jetter hose and get it there...
But you'll never push it...

Will the vacuum have enough suction to lift water that high? What is the depth at that point?

I'd say you are wasting time and you should just start digging...


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

I think if you could get the pex there, you can suck it out. I used a shop vac to suck a mouse through 800' of electrical conduit. Worked great. But the lift will need to be taken into account. 

Another thought.....what about getting the jetter there, and attaching an air hose to blow the water out?


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## KoleckeINC (Oct 22, 2011)

Ok so it's only 6 to 7' down but from the catch basin(cleanout in backyard) 122' long. The area I'd like to vac out is about 15' long and probably only fills the up the pipe 1/2 way. I think the local p.w. Will replace it but it's up to me to prove its bad.


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## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

If the pipe is half way full for 15' it is bad.


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## Shoot'N'Plumber (Apr 27, 2013)

First what I would do is connect the 100'+ pex to yur shop vac...then lift the shop vac up 7' to mimic head...then fill a bucket with water and see if it actually sucks..then if it does, just duct tape the pex to yur camera head and push to the bad spot and suck away!


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## KoleckeINC (Oct 22, 2011)

Thing is-It's past the curb and I just want to prove its bad so the city will fix it. This is a friend of mine so you know how that goes-but it's not completely clogged-but the 3" cutter or jetter won't pass that spot. I hate to let it go and risk a sewer repair in mid February -20.


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## Shoot'N'Plumber (Apr 27, 2013)

KoleckeINC said:


> Thing is-It's past the curb and I just want to prove its bad so the city will fix it. This is a friend of mine so you know how that goes-but it's not completely clogged-but the 3" cutter or jetter won't pass that spot. I hate to let it go and risk a sewer repair in mid February -20.


I hear ya! I recall a job years ago with my last company. It was a 6" conduit for future utilities that had been completely filled with sand due to a 4" force main that broke about 10' from the line. We did not have a big jetter at the time only little cart jetters @ 4 gpm. But we did have pump trucks. 

So I remember taping off a garden hose to the end of the sucker hose about 4" I front and using water to allow the pump truck to suck. It was +-300' and in 6 hours had the line ready to have utilities pulled through. So, sometimes a little out of the box ingenuity goes a log way


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## Ben11111 (Jul 15, 2010)

I've used 50' of corrugated sump discharge line attached with ferncos to my shop vac to vacuum out a 6" line before. I cable tied the discharge line to the camera head and went. The biggest problem was getting the crap upstairs as it was a hung sewer.


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