# How long people waited before they called?



## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

Was going over my service calls from past year.
I always ask How did you find my company, How long has your drain been backed up?

Sewers on average 97% waited 3 days to a week before they called Other 3% Vacation homes called as soon as problem was found.

Kitchen sinks all clogged over 2 months some were 7 months or more 2 were clogged for over a year. 

Toilet clogs average 2 days before they called.
Tub clogs all waited till water would not drain been slow for years.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2008)

A favorite of mine on at 4:30 pm ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON ,,,, " How long has it been leaking ?" 

" Oh since tuesday ,,, thought it would stop ." ,,,,,,,, WTF ??


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## Plumbdog (Jan 27, 2009)

Cal said:


> A favorite of mine on at 4:30 pm ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON ,,,, " How long has it been leaking ?"
> 
> " Oh since tuesday ,,, thought it would stop ." ,,,,,,,, WTF ??


 
To that I would say " Well lets see what it doe's over the weekend who knows it might stop. If not call me on Monday."


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

I was sent to a call where a 3 family house had about 2' of sewage in the basement...

Needless to say I didn't do any work there...:laughing:

Call a pump truck!:yes:


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## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

I understand people ignoring drips and slow draining tubs. Backed up sewers three days? Nothing ceases to amaze me.


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## uaplumber (Jun 16, 2008)

I went to a rental house one timeabout 10 years ago. The owner was there getting it ready to rent out again. The owner lives a long way away and the house had sat empty for months.

The call was to unplug the sewer.

Upon arrival I found the kitchen sink drain was disconnected and running into a 1" PE line which ran through the floor and out a basement window.

The only toilet was shattered.

The wall containing the stack was torn open in the basement. The cast iron stack had been smashed out about 3' above the floor line. There was a 6" spike nailed in the the 2x4 stub. There was a steel 5 gallon pail hanging from the nail full of compost with plants growing in it.

The inside of the wall was covered in dried feces etc. The tenants had placed the pail there to catch everything they flushed from upstairs.
Turns out the tenants had been evicted because the neighbors had an issue with them dumping pails of sewage in the back yard.

The tenants has called the landlord 6 MONTHS before being evicted to complain about a plugged sewer, to which to owner explained that it was their issue to deal with.

I could not get anything to go past 2 feet into the line and advised the HO that we needed to dig it up. 2 weeks later I drove by and the house had been pushed into the basement. Guess there was just too much damage to save it.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

I was working onb a house in Scott City missouri. The ho had called because he had sewerage coming out of the ground in the front yard. I started digging and found a clean out. I went to remove it and crap just started pouring out of it. while we were waiting for it too stop the next door neighbor came over and stated so they are finally going to get that fixed are they. I ask what he meant and he said that place had been stopped up for years and that they were going to the bathroom in 5 gallon buckets in the shed out back. Well the whole time we were talking crap just kept poring out. so i went to look under the crawl space and it was completely full sewage. We got the sewer open and the crawl space drained and left. A few weeks later he called the shop wanting us to come over and fix a leak in the crawl space. I told my boss there was no way in hell I was going under that crawl space and if he didn't like it he could fire me.


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

17 years:blink::yes:

Went on a call at a commercial building last week. 4" mainline has never worked right since they moved into the building. One of the maintenance hands told me he had been there for 17 yrs and it has always been like that. Needless to say if was a hell of a mess. Its collapsed somewhere down the line but I cant run my camera because of all the black sludge. Pulled back about 2 gals of sand when I sent the K-1500 down. They want a price to lay a new line.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

Plumberman said:


> 17 years:blink::yes:
> 
> Went on a call at a commercial building last week. 4" mainline has never worked right since they moved into the building. One of the maintenance hands told me he had been there for 17 yrs and it has always been like that. Needless to say if was a hell of a mess. Its collapsed somewhere down the line but I cant run my camera because of all the black sludge. Pulled back about 2 gals of sand when I sent the K-1500 down. They want a price to lay a new line.


 bid high you will be working in 17 yrs worth of crap.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

I can't understand how some of these sewers work for so long without ever being hooked up. I had one that the guy had been living there for 2 yrs with his sewer never being hooked up and that was the first time it had backed up on him.


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## SewerRatz (Apr 25, 2009)

Did a job in a really bad part of Chicago yesterday. Gang bangers on every corner, I was the only white guy in miles. It was at a McDonald's, the new owner wants to get things up and running.. So here I am working on a clogged water closet in the ladies room, it was clogged for 3 months. I was told by the manager that they could never get a plumber to come out. I started to question wtf I was doing there when I seen armed guards in the restaurant. Towards the end cops showed up to break up the huge crowd forming on the sidewalk out in front. Guess they never seen a crazy white guy like me and my partner.


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

They won't mess with you. Just act crazy. Talk to yourself, argue with yourself. 


They don't mess with crazy white people. :thumbsup:


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

Roast Duck said:


> They won't mess with you. Just act crazy. Talk to yourself, argue with yourself.
> 
> 
> They don't mess with crazy white people. :thumbsup:


Works everytime..... :laughing:


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## SewerRatz (Apr 25, 2009)

Oh I know, the worse thing you can do is acted scared. Just go about your job and looklike you do not care.


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

they usually don't mess with the repair guy because he is fixing teir stuff.

Would you rob the mechanic that's working on you or your buddies car?

I've never had a problem in the hood. If I do, I know I'm armed and better with my fire arm than they are.


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## uaplumber (Jun 16, 2008)

Hmm, the duck feels he has to act crazy? Just let them read yer posts!
Or toss the yellow bottle at them.:jester:


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## njoy plumbing (May 19, 2009)

My hats off to you guys, up here all I have to worry about is little old ladies coming on to my appretices.:icon_wink:


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

Hey homie, got some beer. Get yo drink on.:laughing:



uaplumber said:


> Hmm, the duck feels he has to act crazy? Just let them read yer posts!
> Or toss the yellow bottle at them.:jester:


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## cajunplumberjoe (Mar 26, 2009)

i was called out to unstop ho mainline-been working fine for years-new house being built across the street-almost finished. i asked the plumber where he had tied the new homes sewer in to the main at -i knew it was about 20 feet deep to the main and all he had was a mini excavator-he lied and said he dug up the main and tapped it--sucked for him-i ran the jetter thru the homeowners cleanout on the other side of the street and saw carpenters and tile guys running out of the new house because they thought a jet engine was about to blow up under the new house. you guessed it-their "plumber" had tied onto my customers sewer line before it dropped into the main-crap was flowing back and forth between the houses. ibet that plumber wont make that mistake again.homebuilder asked us to price some houses for him-told him not to waste his time or mine. kinda sucks now i could use the non paying work!!!!!!!!!jk


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## cajunplumberjoe (Mar 26, 2009)

by the way still havent figured out how to make a new thread or post pics on here.


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

SewerRatz said:


> Oh I know, the worse thing you can do is acted scared. Just go about your job and looklike you do not care.


When I used to work in Boston Dorchester Roxbury area. I used to knock on the door Never a hi just Hey they sent a Cracker I would just say Yep and not a reduced fat one. I would normally get a good laugh with them and everything was ok. We had a "Bullet Proof " Burger King there to
Kind of sad and funny. Would you like that King sized or a Cap in u azz:2guns:Good times lots of fun jobs there.


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## retired rooter (Dec 31, 2008)

many years ago I got a call to a run down rental house, young guy told me face bowl was stopped up and bath room was in back I walked in to find old fat lady sitting on pot puking,I ran out like a rabbit returned to shop told boss the situtation it was a rental of a good customer of the company and I told boss when mess was cleaned up I would go back , it had to be 3 months. I returned to a spotless bath room and apology and I unstopped the facebowl LAVATORY in the south eddie


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## Flyleaf (Aug 18, 2009)

Its been leaking/stopped up for a week, but I need you RIGHT NOW!!!!! It can't wait till later today.


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## tnoisaw (Jun 16, 2009)

DUNBAR PLUMBING said:


> They won't mess with you. Just act crazy. Talk to yourself, argue with yourself.
> 
> 
> They don't mess with crazy white people. :thumbsup:


They probably think he's already crazy by showing up.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

My boss use to call me at 9 or 10 at night saying that we had an emergency call, whether it was a stopped sewer or drain or a water leak. It had to be fixed right away these people were upset and crying. I would get there and come to find out it had been stopped up or leaking for months. It use to piss me off. They would tell me "oh you didn't have to come out tonight its been like this for a long time it could have waited till morning". It got to the point I would not answer my phone anymore after I got home from work. I would let the answering machine pick it up. He just wanted to get the overtime pay for a nonemergency call.


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## leak1 (Mar 25, 2009)

most of the time i find that renters wait before they call because their afraid that the landlord will blame them for the problem,


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

leak1 said:


> most of the time i find that renters wait before they call because their afraid that the landlord will blame them for the problem,


Some renters are the problem :yes:

In many cases what you said is very true. We plumbers are the one's who know who's fault it is. Slum lords & bad tennants :no: Can live without them.


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## DaveClinch (Aug 3, 2009)

Cal said:


> A favorite of mine on at 4:30 pm ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON ,,,, " How long has it been leaking ?"
> 
> " Oh since tuesday ,,, thought it would stop ." ,,,,,,,, WTF ??


 
I love that. Every Friday at or around 5pm it never fails, we'll get at least one emergency at a grocery store saying Market or Deli lines are clogged. Get there and its a mess. The dept manager always says "I told the SM two days ago about the drains" :furious:


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## hepco (Jul 29, 2008)

For me its was a water heater. Call came in desperate, need it fixed now. When I arrived someone spilled the beans. Thanks for coming, we havent had hot water in 3 weeks.


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