Clear the Drain Pipes

 Am I considerably disappointed with plumbers at the moment. I've had three independent plumbers out to my house to look at the sewer pipe issue. All three of them told me the sewer pipes are shot, and the only option is to replace them. This would be a considerable expense, like $20K. So, since I got these estimates my mind has been stewing on this problem. I formulated a plan, executed the plan, and got the sewer pipes working again. AND... The cost was negligible. I already had a fifty foot pipe snake, and the only expense was hot water, dish soap, and my tenacious labor. Within a few hours of "working the pipe" it was free flowing again, and now the study bathroom is back in service, as well as the laundry room. Here is a video of the free flowing drain at the service cleanout...

My process partially depends on the clogged drain pipe.  The pipe isn't flowing, so I can fill it with hot, soapy water.  Then I use the Pipe Snake to work the pipe.  This breaks up the stuff that it clogging the pipe, and suspends the stuff in the water so I can flush it through the drain pipe.  This doesn't happen instantaneously.  You have to work the pipe to get the stuff clogging the pipe suspended in the water, and help push it out of the drain pipe system.  The four inch pipes under my house empty into much larger pipes in the city's sewer system, so if you can get the krud out of the local drain system, it can be pushed downstream easily.  So, after many iterations of my clean out process the result is a clear flowing drain pipe.

Over the weekend I cleared the drain pipe for the study bathroom, and laundry room.  Then, also, I cleared the kitchen drain pipe which has been clogged for many years.  I ran a bypass drain that went around the kitchen drain pipe before I had the fifty foot pipe snake.  I was using a different clean out method before, which didn't work on the kitchen drain pipe.  Now, with the pipe snake, I was able to clear out the kitchen drain.  It had been sitting dry for many years, and was rather krunchy.  After applying my new drain clearing method I was able to soften up the clogs, and flush them out.  Now the kitchen drain is running clear also.  Yeah, this process is werkin' good...