Unblocking under ground drain in Dunedin

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Unblocking under ground drain in Dunedin - recommendations?

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tdgeek

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#1237766 14-Feb-2015 09:19

Twice I had this, was roots, he attached a compressor driven whirly thing that he fed down the drain, it chopped the roots, cost was about $100 pretty good

Batman

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#1237785 14-Feb-2015 10:10

Ok ... Now just got to find someone who knows what's they're doing.

So many times had cowboys who had no clue. Worse is cowboys who also try to rip you off big time. There's a MIDAS down the main road ...

Anyway ... Do keep the plumber recommendations coming

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#1237786 14-Feb-2015 10:11

Or are they separate from drain layers

Which one to call?

tdgeek

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#1237794 14-Feb-2015 10:27

I checked Pooman in ChCh, they aren't in Dunners, but the key is not just a plumber, but one registered as a master drain layer

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#1237796 14-Feb-2015 10:27

Bung

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#1237801 14-Feb-2015 10:41

semigeek: If you get a plumber in, don't get Vic Nicholson, we had a problem with our drain underground, I ended up taking the day off work to dig the hole which ended up being massive, as you cant get a digger into the section. They came along, put a new short piece of pipe in and charged $1600

Did you challenge that? Seems like somebody thought they'd done the (w) hole job themselves. I've had cases where the admin staff at a car dealers have misread the mechanics notes and charged for what they thought was done.

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#1240258 16-Feb-2015 17:57

am crossing fingers and toes - after 16 hrs of 500g of caustic soda >60%, nothing. but at 24 hrs a motion was passed and the constipation was relieved!

dumped another 500g. looked at every "stuff" you can buy inc orange one, they are all caustic soda of various strength. there was ONE product that was some unknown enzyme, but it was slower. so since every stuff was NaOH, i bought the one with highest strength.

hopefully it will be ok ...

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Bung

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#1240347 16-Feb-2015 20:03

keewee01: For a quick fix you could also get some drain unblocking 'stuff' (nice technical term there!) from a hardware store.

I had a drain under a downpipe that had become blocked and caustic didn't work, but the stuff I got from Mitre 10 worked a treat. I used it a couple of times never had an issue with the drain again. Not sure what it was called, but it was in a bright orange plastic pottle.

If it was a downpipe that means stormwater rather than sewage so there won't be a plug of grease that the caustic can work on. One orange pot of root clearer out there contains copper sulpate (blue stone). Copper sulphate kills the fine roots and they break off. All this is just staving off the inevitable replacing of the pipes with PVC.

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#1241933 18-Feb-2015 20:03

Bung:
keewee01: For a quick fix you could also get some drain unblocking 'stuff' (nice technical term there!) from a hardware store.

I had a drain under a downpipe that had become blocked and caustic didn't work, but the stuff I got from Mitre 10 worked a treat. I used it a couple of times never had an issue with the drain again. Not sure what it was called, but it was in a bright orange plastic pottle.

If it was a downpipe that means stormwater rather than sewage so there won't be a plug of grease that the caustic can work on. One orange pot of root clearer out there contains copper sulpate (blue stone). Copper sulphate kills the fine roots and they break off. All this is just staving off the inevitable replacing of the pipes with PVC.

Yep. When roots get in to the joins in clay pipes, they displace the rubber o-rings, the pipe leaks attracting more roots. It's a bit of a time-bomb in Chch - EQC wouldn't inspect sewers/stormwater, the homeowner had to pay, then if earthquake damage was identified, EQC (or private insurer if over-cap) would reimburse cost of inspection as well as repair cost. Most people didn't bother - unless they had a blockage or other issues.
4 years down the track, after the roots have grown in and stuffed the pipes, it's not going to be easy to say whether it was EQ damage - I expect EQC and insurers will walk away.
Ours were stuffed from EQ - $8k to replace with PVC.

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