This sounds a bit odd to me and I think, if I were in your shoes, I would be borderline getting ready to lose my mind (up in here, up in here).

If that SOB broke his line off in my drain, it would be his responsibility to get it back out, and repair whatever damage he caused by doing so.

 

Wrong trade, but I always thought PVC was a breeze to clear.

 

If that SOB broke his line off in my drain, it would be his responsibility to get it back out, and repair whatever damage he caused by doing so.

I'm not giving them another chance to mess things up, I'll bill them for the 2nd plumber coming out. I'm too tired to fight with them over it right now.

 

We use the water jet almost exclusively now. They work so much better than using a snake or sewer tape.

 

We use the water jet almost exclusively now.

The 2nd plumber's company has a 4K PSI water jet on a trailer. I'm hoping they can use it. If not there is a manhole cover near my tie-in to the main sewer line so maybe they can go in from that end. It will be real close to the clog.

 

If a snake breaks off in a line, it USUALLY is considered to bad and part of the risk you take when you tell someone to clear your line.... USUALLY.
You'll have to dig it up sooner or later if roots are growing in your line anyway, the line is breached and unless you want to pay someone to come out and clean it out often, might as well go ahead and fix it.

They replaced the main sewer line for my neighborhood last spring and it runs through my backyard.
The year before that , they pumped it full of root killer and sent cameras down the line to inspect it ... the roots broke the line in several places.
When they came out to replace the line, the root growth in one year was unbelievable.
Sooner or later, you will have to replace the line.

ETA $3,000.00 seems high if you only have to replace a section of the line.

 

If a snake breaks off in a line, it USUALLY is considered to bad and part of the risk you take when you tell someone to clear your line.... USUALLY

He did have it clear, then he went back again and got it stuck even though, according to him "he should have known better". Imagine a ying/yang symbol, now imagine the right side of it gone. Thats what he cleared initially.

I know I will have to dig up the line eventually, but I can do that by hand. He ran a camera and it looks like the roots are coming in through the joint where 2 PVC sections come together at a slight elbow. Thats the only part that has roots, everything else is clear.

 

He did have it clear, then he went back again and got it stuck even though, according to him "he should have known better". Imagine a ying/yang symbol, now imagine the right side of it gone. Thats what he cleared initially.

I know I will have to dig up the line eventually, but I can do that by hand. He ran a camera and it looks like the roots are coming in through the joint where 2 PVC sections come together at a slight elbow. Thats the only part that has roots, everything else is clear.

I don't know if a water jet is going to move a stuck broken off snake... maybe but those things can be wedged in there TIGHT.
You might be spending more money just to find out you need to dig it up.
I would bite the bullet and just dig it up then you won't be doing it in January or some other lousy time.

 

Don't feel bad. I had two HVAC companies tell me that I needed a new compressor and they only wanted to install an entire brand new system to replace my old one, instead of just changing the compressor for a reasonable price. A third kid came out and said it wasn't the compressor, that it was the reversing valve. I held off doing anything major due to tight funds.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I called a guy and told him I want his best price to change my compressor. He asked if he could take a look at the system, even though I was already told what was wrong. I told him to go ahead and do it. He said the compressor was working fine and that the system needed a pound and a half of refrigerant. I know it hasn't gotten really hot yet, so I can't say for sure that was the fix, but the system has been working just fine so far.

Sounds like both of the Trane dealers here in town are scamming people. I always thought it was odd that the older sections of our neighborhood have their original 15 and 20 year old York or American Standard systems, but several of the Trane units have needed to be replaced at the ten year mark or less.

 

I don't know if a water jet is going to move a stuck broken off snake... maybe but those things can be wedged in there TIGHT.
You might be spending more money just to find out you need to dig it up.
I would bite the bullet and just dig it up then you won't be doing it in January or some other lousy time.

If the snake is stuck on the roots, that water jet should be able to tear right through the roots and take the snake with them when they are flushed.

 

Don't feel bad. I had two HVAC companies tell me that I needed a new compressor and they only wanted to install an entire brand new system to replace my old one, instead of just changing the compressor for a reasonable price. A third kid came out and said it wasn't the compressor, that it was the reversing valve. I held off doing anything major due to tight funds.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I called a guy and told him I want his best price to change my compressor. He asked if he could take a look at the system, even though I was already told what was wrong. I told him to go ahead and do it. He said the compressor was working fine and that the system needed a pound and a half of refrigerant. I know it hasn't gotten really hot yet, so I can't say for sure that was the fix, but the system has been working just fine so far.

Sounds like both of the Trane dealers here in town are scamming people. I always thought it was odd that the older sections of our neighborhood have their original 15 and 20 year old York or American Standard systems, but several of the Trane units have needed to be replaced at the ten year mark or less.

Those damn ac guys lol. Seriously though it's not funny, These are the guys that give my trade a bad name, and it ticks me off. Unfortunately, there's not much you ca do about it. They get rich scamming people, which allows them to out advertise the honest guys. I'd rather sleep well at night than use dirty tactics.

 

Lesson #1 from the medical field....ask a surgeon to fix the problem and he is gonna look to operate because that is what surgeons do.

Lesson #2 Always get a second opinion.

 

We had a sewer backup into the house 2 months into owning it. Had to make a claim and all. Roto-Rooter came out and snaked and TV'ed the line, said there was a sag in the lateral that was causing about an inch of water to sit in the line. I'll be the first to say that is less than ideal, but it's not enough to block the whole line and make it impassable. The funny thing is their quote to "fix" it was also $3,000 which included cutting and replacing my driveway.

Fastforward a few years to today, I've lived with the "sag" and had occasional clogs, but I learned to keep the cleanout cap on loosely so it spills into the yard and not out of the toilet! I bought a metal snake tape from Home Depot and I've become quite proficient with it, but we had a clog this past week that was so stuck that it was bending the metal tape. I found out that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities will come out as a courtesy and clear laterals (courtesy me a$$ when about 3/4 of my $45 water bill is for sewer fees). I called, they came out, water jetted the line, got it to move, but still couldn't figure out the clog. They came back the next day with TV gear and camera'ed the line from my second cleanout (yes, I have two because the builder decided to dogleg my lateral to the city's line!) to the city main. Turns out, there's a tree root the size of a finger coming through a joint and growing a root ball. The fun part is that it's 2' to my side of the line outside of the city's responsibility! The icing on that fun cake is that it's 6' deep!!!

Guess what I get to do this weekend?! Anyone feel like digging and refreshing some hand callouses?

This is all after just a couple month's ago I had my upstairs plumbing back up and spill out into the ceiling above my living room. Had to rip all the drywall ceiling down and replace it. The culprit: the builder used a 90 degree bend instead of a sweep where the upstairs ties into the downstairs. So instead of a smooth turn, the upstairs sewage was smacking that 90 degree turn and leaving all the toilet paper sitting there. Finally got bad enough to back everything up.

Long story short, I prefer to just relieve myself in a creek. Who needs plumbing?!

 

Just for my curiosity, was this Roto-Rooter doing the work?

 

Long story short, I prefer to just relieve myself in a creek. Who needs plumbing?!

LOL! If you're gonna do without plumbing make sure you collect your water UPSTREAM of your, uh, other "facilities".

Oh, and you may want to look upstream to see what your neighbors are doing in the creek!:scared:

 

You should see if anyone in town does the trenchless pipe relining. It's pretty neat. Once the roots are cleaned out They force a resin/epoxy tube thru the pipe with compressed air. Once it hardens it's completely smooth inside like a 2nd pipe had been installed.

Here's a video. I saw a better one awhile back, and it was pretty neat.

 

You should see if anyone in town does the trenchless pipe relining. It's pretty neat. Once the roots are cleaned out They force a resin/epoxy tube thru the pipe with compressed air. Once it hardens it's completely smooth inside like a 2nd pipe had been installed.

Here's a video. I saw a better one awhile back, and it was pretty neat.

Very pricey. I had a quote to line a 48" CMP for one of my projects...the CMP was rusted out in the bottom and was too close to a structure for replacement, so everyone thought it would be a good candidate for lining. Came back at about $350/foot!!! Granted, that's a 48" pipe, not a 4". But I'd bet it's still tens of dollars per foot. Cheaper to dig it up.

 

Metallisteve:::::::::: If you are digging 6 ft. deep you will have to shore the hole or step the sides back to keep OSHA from fineing you umpteen million dollars. Just another happy thought.:crying: Larry

 

Metallisteve:::::::::: If you are digging 6 ft. deep you will have to shore the hole or step the sides back to keep OSHA from fineing you umpteen million dollars. Just another happy thought.:crying: Larry

OSHA, who?

 

The saga continues....

Second guy came out today, wouldn't do anything for fear of snagging his equipment as well, but said if it was dry he would run a camera. So I have septic company coming tomorrow morning to pump the line dry and 2nd plumber will come back to camera the line.

I may try to cobble something together from 1/2 inc PVC tubing to act as a rammer/poker depending on what we find.

 

I feel for you man. Plumbing ain't pretty. And its never any fun.