Why am I so excited about... cleaning the sewer?

[Dominus]

About a couple weeks ago, a 5 apartment building I own had a major clog in the main line. Everything that was being flushed went straight into the basement. It was 10pm. I called around and couldn't get any plumber to come out. So I had to tell 5 families to use the gas station about half a mile away.

In the morning, I managed to get a plumber to come out. Charged me $500 to run 140ft of cable to clear tree roots.

This wasn't the first time. I'm so sick of nasty clog emergencies. So, a few days ago I went out and bought a sectional drain cleaning machine and lots of cables.



Just ran my first preventative maintenance yesterday. Ran into 3 roots that I could feel. This is what I found when I pulled out.



Disaster averted

The thing is my excitement about doing this is going thru the roof. Cleaning sewer lines of all things.

I spoke with the plumber yesterday and he recommended I get a bigger machine and at least 7/8" cables if I want to safely run thru main lines. I got a small machine now and 5/8" cables. New machine and cables will cost like $4k.

 

[unloadonme]

Sounds like you're just going through the motions.

 

[Alistair]

Doesn’t Ryobi make a drain snake?

 

[Norri]

I truly admire your ambition.

 

[NotHardUp1]

We need about 1,000 of you to head to Congress.

 

[Dominus]

I truly admire your ambition.

Nah, it's not ambition. It's more like I'm tired of unexpected expenses.

 

[rareboy]

I could use that for constipation.

 

[Dominus]

We need about 1,000 of you to head to Congress.

No idea how to take this. But if it's an insult, hey! What did I do? If it's a compliment, why thank you.

 

[NotHardUp1]

No idea how to take this. But if it's an insult, hey! What did I do? If it's a compliment, why thank you.

Neither.

It was an oblique comment about all the shit in Congress.

No insult.

Was just running with your new crusade.

 

[Rickrock]

We have noticed that emergencies, even health emergencies, always seem to happen on a weekend or a holiday. A tree branch had fallen over a driveway where my cousin lives on the 4th of July a few years ago and as the HOA president he had trouble finding someone to clear it away and they charged him a surcharge because it was a holiday.

Ideally, you could have paid for motel rooms for your tenants for that one night, but not sure that is, or was, expected nor practical. One time when our hot water tank went and couldn't be replaced until the next day, I stayed overnight at a motel so I didn't have to wash and shave in ice cold water before going to work at the office the next day.

 

[Dominus]

I spoke with my plumber. And he said my machine in the picture in the OP wasn't powerful and safe enough for mainline cleaning. Could end up with a mess. Also the cable size wasn't enough. What I have in the OP is 5/8" cable.

So, I just spent a small fortune buying another machine and almost 200ft of 7/8" cable. Apparently, 7/8" cable is physically not able to bind up inside the mainline.

Can't wait to go do some more mainline drain cleaning.