# Main Line Rod Hung Up



## SewerRatz (Apr 25, 2009)

Did a main line sewer from an outside 4" clean out. Sewer is 40 ' to the main plus the 6' drop to the bottom if the clean out. Sewer plugged towards the street. I started with a 2" pair shaped blade the line opened at 25' and hit a patch at 35' and 45' rolled up and cleaned off a small amount of roots.

Then I switched to a 4" blade clears the roots out without any issue. Then as I started to pull back the rod hung up. I tried forward and reverse with no luck. It felt as if I was tangled in something or the rod turned around on itself. So I ran a camera down to see what was up. The line shortly after the cleanout the pipe turned to 6" clay. Once I got the camera to the blade holder I saw the blade touching the sides of the pipe at a joint. It almost looked as if the pipe shrank in size. Turns out the 4" blade had spread out well beyond the 6" diameter and getting caught in the joints. I eventually got the blade to snap in half so I can pull my cable out. 

Once the cable was out I ran the camera in again and the sewer was flawless all the roots cleared out no breaks, I was hoping to see what would spread out my cutter like it was nothing. But there was nothing in the line to explain it.


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## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

I have had cutters spread out like that before from grinding on a large mass. At least you got them out and the line is clean. Good work and you still have the cable!


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Getting a cable stuck down a drain line will make the sweat start to bead up rather quickly on my brow. Good going in being able to retrieve the cable.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Once the cable was out I ran the camera in again and the sewer was flawless all the roots cleared out no breaks, I was hoping to see what would spread out my cutter like it was nothing. But there was nothing in the line to explain it.


Its probably one of those sewer alligators that live in the sewers of Chicago....

.you probably just pissed off a big one and he tore up your blade...


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## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

Worst hang up I have ever seen. Back in 03 we had a call for a sewer back up. Arrived at home find about 2" of standing water with some tp and poo in the basement. Small town outside our city, they had sewer installed back in the 70s, prior to that everyone was septic. The house sat about 170 ft from the city sewer. I had only been on the job less than a year back then. I set up our drum machine on the floor CO and run 100 ft with no issues and the drains are still holding, I lug a second reel down the rotted stairs and get about 50 feet down the line and all of a sudden I'm torqued out beyond belief with all the switching between reverse and forward I end up knotting up the cable inside the drum so I call for help. Two of us tugged on that cable for a good two ours before deciding to dig. We shove the camera down next to the cable and can only get about 15 foot in so we locate and call for a excavator. Turns out when they installed city sewer the contractor who hooked up this house didn't cave in the tank he simply disconnected the outgoing line from the drainage field and ran it to the sewer under the road. After pumping the tank we managed to pull the 150 ft of knotted up 11/16 cable from the bottom of the tank using a manhole hook tied to a rope and a whole lot of "man hands" after the customer realized what the problem was we got the job of caving the tank in and hooking up the incoming and outgoing lines and of course a nice 6" outside CO. Unfortunately in 03 we all had Nextel flip phones and have no pics of the giant ball of cable to show off.


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

I've had one similar 

They didn't disconnect the discharge, they ran through the tank with 4 " and left it in the dirt.

When the tank finally caved it destroyed the line... On a Saturday.


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## PlungerJockey (Feb 19, 2010)

I think my best hang up came when I ran 100 feet cable thru the clean out and the manhole was only 25 feet away. It was dark and the manhole was covered with grass.

It was a bummer


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## SewerRatz (Apr 25, 2009)

PlungerJockey said:


> I think my best hang up came when I ran 100 feet cable thru the clean out and the manhole was only 25 feet away. It was dark and the manhole was covered with grass.
> 
> It was a bummer


I had one like that. The city idiot from public works told me the line went across the street 110' total. In reality it went to the back of the house (city sewer ran between property lines) for a total of 30'


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## PathMaker (May 10, 2013)

Once I did a sewer in a tiny bungalow in the poorer/older part of a town here in NC. Only manhole I could find was (downhill) 5 housed down. No outside cleanout so I installed one in the crawl and swept it to the exterior for easy access. Camera'd the line and saw that it dove pretty quick but couldnt believe what I was seeing. Had to call the head of that city's sewer dept. to confirm. The city main actually ran directly underneath an entire block of houses, straight down the middle of the houses. Each house had a city main 8-11 feet under the middle of it's living room.


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## victoryplbaz (May 19, 2012)

PlungerJockey said:


> I think my best hang up came when I ran 100 feet cable thru the clean out and the manhole was only 25 feet away. It was dark and the manhole was covered with grass.
> 
> It was a bummer


We had one like that too. Guy ran 100 ft in a line and it was 35 ft to manhole... Popped the cover and saw the mess. Told him have fun untangling that. :yes:


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## mytxplumber (Jul 28, 2013)

It always gets me when a homeowner says it only took you 10 minutes to clear my drain why so much. It burns my *** when they say that. They never seem to take into account the equipment, time and experience we put in a drain call. 

All Around Plumbing 972-313-4659
http://mytxplumber.com/
https://www.facebook.com/allaround.plumbing


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## Unclog1776 (Feb 5, 2013)

I get that "it only took this long" speech now and then with my trailer jet. Even after they were quoted a price on the phone. They don't realize the time it takes to fill the machine with water and haul it over to them then back to the shop. Let alone the fact I have over 3k invested in just hoses on the machine. Our city is a bunch of Natzis with their hydrant meters. We only have one public bulk water sales place, in a town of 130k!


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## SewerRatz (Apr 25, 2009)

I had a guy that rented a rod with 75' of 1/2" cable and sent the rod through is second floor water closet and could not get the cable back. My buddy Mike and I was amazed he didn't bust the water closet. 

So first thing I did was stepped on the foot switch to sew if the cable still spun or not, it did spin. I put on a brand new pair of leather gloves and had Mike run the machine as I muscled the cable out of the water closet. The strain and force I had to use to get the first 40' of cable out wore holes in my gloves and causes huge blisters to form on my hands. The remaining 35' came out with ease. The whole process took 10 minutes.

When we handed the guy the bill for our service call and a half hour minimum. The guy started screaming that all he should pay is around 20 bucks since it only took us a few minutes. I had a look of disbelief on my face as I looked at him and raised my hands so he can see the blisters and I looked directly at my hands and back at him. He noticed my look and blisters and quickly said who do I right the check out to?


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