# Got a good one over the week end.



## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

This is a long story. I had a call last winter from a good friend of mine. His sewer was stopped up. I went over there and got it open for him and cameraed the line. I ran the camera all the way to the septic tank about 100 ft down the line. I found broken pipe in several spots. I told him the line would have to be replaced and made arrangements to do it a couple weeks later. The sewer went out the basement wall about 2 ft below grade so I rented a mini 4 wd termite backhoe. There was a washing machine and a floor drain in the basement but I was told that it was a gray water line that drained out to the ditch in front of the house. When I got there and started digging I got about 20 ft down the line and the sewer took a drastic fall. wtf. I had to quit working on it because the ditch was getting too deep for the termite and it was not safe to work in a ditch that deep without shoring. I could have dug it with the equipment I had but it would have taken 2 or 3 days with the termite. So we made arrangements to do it later in the spring and his nephew could rent a jd310 backhoe with extendaboom from his boss. end part 1

Part 2
I went over there saturday and I told the operator to start digging in front of the cleanout I had installed last winter. We dug down about 8 ft and hit a 4 inch corrugated drain:whistling2:. Ok I told the back hoe operator will fix it when we get the sewer line done. then I noticed water coming out of it. We haven't had any rain here for a few weeks. wtf! I had the ho dump some water in the floor drain and water came pouring out.:no: So I told the operator that we would have to take the clean out out and dig behind it all the way to the house so we could find either the cast iron clay or pvc pipe. We dug all the way to the house and found the corrugated again I cut it and ran the camera into it and it was corrugated all the way. I told the operator that we would have to hook to that so I had him start digging the ditch while I hand dug arond the pipe. While I was digging I found yet another corrugated pipe. again wtf. Well by this time I am totally confused. I had the ho pour water down the drain again so I could see which pipe I had to hook to. I could not see any water coming out but i could hear it clear as day. I dug down about another foot and found yet another corrugated pipe. By this time I am getting pissed.:furious: Did I mention it was 100 degrees out with a heat index of 112 degrees. well anyway I dig around that last pipe and find a corrugated wye where all the drains tie in together. Dig a little towards the house and finaly find where he had hooked sdr 35 to the 4 inch corrugated.:no: worst thing is my operator is 80 ft down the line and this pipe is a ft deeper than the first pipe I found and he is stepping the sewer to make it a safe ditch to work in so there is no way he can straddle it to redig. He wanted to hand dig it down rather than back fill but with 112 degree temps I don't thinnk so. Well he back filled it and redug the ditch to work with the last pipe I had found. end part 2
Part 3. So now we finally have all this figured out and we start laying pipe at the required 2% grade. We get to the tank and I am a ft below the tank inlet. wtf. So I have the operator dig up the old line right next to where we were digging and put a level on it and it is backgrading towards the house. Ok thas fine so I cut the pipe expecting a gush of water to come out. NOTHING no water in the line whats so everm I get my camera out and run it into the line and notice that he has ran 4 inch perforated s and d pipe like you would use on a leech field lateral line. I am very close to tears at this point. So I go back to my original starting point and raise the pipe to a 1% grade and finally got it to work. whew you say he is finally done with this story. au contraire non frere. end part 3
part 4 
after we get backfilled the ho says since you are here why do9n't you replace the water line. I said ok and we dug up the water line. He had 3 different pipe size and 3 differnt types of pipe on the water line:yes:. We get to where the meter is at and we find a concrete pipe sticking straight up. I said ok he has got a curb cock in there so they can shut the water off. WRONG. It is a pressure reducing valve buried in the ground:blink:.
end of story. I took a couple pics but I was so muddy and sweaty i didn't want to ruin my camera so I put it away. The top pipe is the first pipe I found right below it is the 2nd pipe I found and the end of the white pipe is where the wye was tying them all together.


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## Plumber Jim (Jun 19, 2008)

Dang, now that was some day. You can tell that was never inspected. So you didn't replace the water main too? hehe


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## ILPlumber (Jun 17, 2008)

They will not all be good days.

Perserverance paid off. :thumbsup:


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

Plumber Jim said:


> Dang, now that was some day. You can tell that was never inspected. So you didn't replace the water main too? hehe


 I ran the house water service and packed my tools and ran before he came up with anything else. I can laugh about it now but was fit to be tied saturday.:laughing: damn jack legs:furious:


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

Yea, but think of all the money you made on that one. Reads like the price went up on that bad boy about 6 times!


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

You said you dug down 8' deep......how deep do they install septic tanks there???? he the max is somthing like 18"


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

Good job. Make the Big$$$$ my friend


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

I'de hate to be the pumper guy digging up an 8' deep tank to pump it


Was the tank at the bottom of a hill or somthing?


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

Protech said:


> I'de hate to be the pumper guy digging up an 8' deep tank to pump it
> 
> 
> Was the tank at the bottom of a hill or somthing?


 Sounds like it was....he says his operator was stepping down the trench to be safer.


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## cajunplumberjoe (Mar 26, 2009)

al, we need your address so we can send you a few bucks and a sympathy card. haha. you got us tore up down here. hate to laugh at your expense but that story is repeated so many times around here.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

TheMaster said:


> You said you dug down 8' deep......how deep do they install septic tanks there???? he the max is somthing like 18"


the way I figure it the old tank was close to the house which is why you they have two lines coming out. The grey water in the bsement just ran down to a ditch outside. For some reason they moved the septic tank 100 ft down the hill from the house so they could tie in the basement plumbing to the upstairs sanitary plumbing. the new tank was actually only about four ft deep to top of tank once they got down the hill.Inlet pipe was about 5 ft deep. But to answer your question here in south east missouri once you get out of the city jurisdiction there is no plumbing code and no inspections so you can pretty much do anything you want by anybody you want. handyman heaven. Needless to say it makes my job very interesting. Now that the epa is invloved with septic system they do regulate them on new houses but replacement septic systems are still anybodys game. you can actually run your waste water out into a field and not even go into a tank. The house I lived in before was that way and so was the one I live in now. I put a tank in myself after I moved in. If I get a chance the next time I go rod out a field drain I will take pics and show it to you.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

Protech said:


> I'de hate to be the pumper guy digging up an 8' deep tank to pump it
> 
> 
> Was the tank at the bottom of a hill or somthing?


well the guy did one thing right. he put in 2 ft pumping ports so no digging has to be done. just life the lid and pump away. and yes it was a small hill, but the tank was still deeper than it should have been.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

cajunplumberjoe said:


> al, we need your address so we can send you a few bucks and a sympathy card. haha. you got us tore up down here. hate to laugh at your expense but that story is repeated so many times around here.


If I was afraid of being laughed at I would have never posted it. I will be laughing with you now just wasn't too funny then. If I get a chance I will post some pictures of the yard so you have a better idea of what I am talking about.


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## cajunplumberjoe (Mar 26, 2009)

i cant tell you how many of those nightmare jobs i have had and they all started on a saturday morning for what was supposed to be a routine service call. i tell my guys that anybody can start a job ,but it takes a real plumber to finish it...good job AL.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

cajunplumberjoe said:


> i cant tell you how many of those nightmare jobs i have had and they all started on a saturday morning for what was supposed to be a routine service call. i tell my guys that anybody can start a job ,but it takes a real plumber to finish it...good job AL.


 merci mon ami


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