# Drain Cleaner Maintenance



## TDB (Jun 25, 2008)

Few questions here -

1) What do you clean your cables with?
2) How often do you clean them?
3) How do you get hair out of them? What are the tricks?
4) I have a k39AF; anything special about taking care of it?
5) Anything else I should know about taking care of drain cleaning equiptment? I rarely do drains so any advice will be very helpfull.

Thanks


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

I just use snake oil on them. I usually like to run em out drop the line then run water during the retrieve, thats all the washing they get...


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## service guy (Jun 26, 2008)

After a nasty job, (like old black kitchen grease) I hose my cable off, then I use Snake-Oil on it. If you keep your cables oiled, they will resist rusting and last much longer.


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## user4 (Jun 12, 2008)

When I did service work we always used Ridgid open wind cable that were stored in carriers, once a week the apprentice was sent to the car wash to spray them with the pressure wand till all two bucks worth was gone, using wax not soap.


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## ASUPERTECH (Jun 22, 2008)

Let the hair & rats dry first then screw them out. I soak mine in the W-D 40 after every use, and give a shot to every section I break.


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## trick1 (Sep 18, 2008)

I use Snake Oil on all of my cables. On my General Speedrooter, I do like the other guys and rinse my cable while in the building sewer during the retreival. On the smaller machines and the Power Vees, Every couple of weeks or so, I pull out the cable, wash out the drums, clean and degrease the feed mechanism and re assemble.


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

on my spartan 300 & 100 machines i pull the cables out into the parking lot at the shop and get a wire brush to get all the straglers off. then i oil it up with motor oil (company's too cheap to buy snake oil). maybe hit the inside of the drum with some wd-40 to keep the rust down. i try and do this every other week but sometimes i'm not allowed the "free" time.







paul


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## TDB (Jun 25, 2008)

thanks fellas


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## Wrenchboy (Oct 4, 2008)

*Diesel Fuel*

I have heard diesel fuel is good.Just a hassle to buy it though:thumbup:


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Wrenchboy said:


> I have heard diesel fuel is good.Just a hassle to buy it though:thumbup:


I'd prefer the smell of snake oil over weasle anyday...


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## Proud Plumber (Sep 15, 2008)

WD 40 or marvel mystery oil. I also once took a snake to a car wash after a nasty restaraunt main line. I feel bad for the guy after me. I never found snake oil to be any less or more effective than wd 40.


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## M5Plumb (Oct 2, 2008)

Hey Fellas, 
I recall when I was doing drains down CA way, we used a jig, put some ATF fliud into it and pulled the cable back through onto the machine. It was a little messy but the rags and cardboard took care of that. It really made the cables slick to pass through any line. The jig had in this order from L to R. CO 45 down 45 hor test T 45 up 45 hor then CO. It was three inch ABS which we filled through the top of the test T and pulled the cable through. We ony put about two quarts which seemed to last forever. It was mounted on a 2 x 6 X 4'. Hope this helps. Pat


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

i've always thought something like this would be cool to have but i never spent any time trying to figure it out. probably not worth the effort as it's not that big of a deal to just oil the cable with a rag and some oil.










this is for oiling bicyle chains when they're on the bike. you just remove the top and put it under the chain. put the top back on and pedel away. it's got brushes and an oil reservoir, they work good but i never bought one for the same reason i can't see making one for the sewer machine. it's not that tough to oil a bike chain with a bottle of tri-flow and a wire brush either. 






paul


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Here's what I use...










I keep it in the back of the truck and give a few squirts of snake oil into the openings on the drum when I'm loading up...


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

I clean my 7/8 k-60 cables once every 2 years. A quick dip in sulfuric acid. rinse. hit with wd-40. I hit em with the jetter when ever I have them both out. Gets the solids out.


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