What Am I lookin at here
#1
04-06-19, 03:11 PM
What Am I lookin at here
So this morning I was greeted with the treat of hearing my basement sewage ejector pump start working followed shortly by raw sewage coming out of the drains on the first floor. This is the first time this has happened.
I called the utility thinking that maybe some recent construction work by the gas utility might have damaged the sewer. They told me to check the closest cleanout to the street and tell them if it was wet or dry.
Now I have no idea where the closest cleanout is but a candidate based on my rough idea of where the drain pipe runs in my house was this cover in one of the basement bathrooms.
I take of the cover and after chiseling out rust and dirt and plaster I find ...this... it looks almost like a valve handle but there is no stem. It also moves slightly when I lever it with a crowbar.
Is this a cleanout? if so how do I open it?
I called the utility thinking that maybe some recent construction work by the gas utility might have damaged the sewer. They told me to check the closest cleanout to the street and tell them if it was wet or dry.
Now I have no idea where the closest cleanout is but a candidate based on my rough idea of where the drain pipe runs in my house was this cover in one of the basement bathrooms.
I take of the cover and after chiseling out rust and dirt and plaster I find ...this... it looks almost like a valve handle but there is no stem. It also moves slightly when I lever it with a crowbar.
Is this a cleanout? if so how do I open it?
#3
04-06-19, 10:14 PM
Group Moderator
#4
04-07-19, 07:00 AM
So I took it apart further and its a thick rubber plug which is situated in-between two pieces of metal. When you screw in the handle the two pieces of metal squeeze the rubber to make the seal.
Getting it back in and re sealed has been harder than pulling it out was.
I pretty sure it's a cleanout because my entire 5m snake goes in straight without any apparent curves in the direction of the of the street.
Anyways the verdict is that even a slightly open tap anywhere in the house leads to almost instantaneous flooding from this cleanout when it was open, which I took to mean that the clog (or colapse) is on the street. I called the water utility and they'll be by today supposedly.
Getting it back in and re sealed has been harder than pulling it out was.
I pretty sure it's a cleanout because my entire 5m snake goes in straight without any apparent curves in the direction of the of the street.
Anyways the verdict is that even a slightly open tap anywhere in the house leads to almost instantaneous flooding from this cleanout when it was open, which I took to mean that the clog (or colapse) is on the street. I called the water utility and they'll be by today supposedly.
#6
04-09-19, 08:09 AM
Utility company was supposed to come on Sunday, then monday and finally just came after making me miss work yesterday to wait for them. But the pipes have been unclogged! Apparently the clog was at the curve where our sewer line meets the main.
Now I will gather 1000 gallons of bleach and go clean the mess they left in the bathroom downstairs.
Now I will gather 1000 gallons of bleach and go clean the mess they left in the bathroom downstairs.
#7
04-09-19, 09:06 AM
Group Moderator
With my rental properties I dig down to the sewer line outside the home and install a cleanout. That allows the drain line to be easily snaked or jetted from outside the home and keeps all the mess outside. It's not a bad job if the sewer is only down several feet but if yours is down 8 or 10' I wouldn't try.
#8
04-09-19, 04:44 PM
Group Moderator
It looks like you are using Google images or Drive to post pictures from. You need to make the pictures public. We can only see the picture in your first post. All the others are not available.
#9
04-10-19, 12:50 PM
Hey, PJ. Not sure why there later ones didn't work. Is there a reason most of the common image hosting sites (imagebb, tinypic, imageshack) are blocked on this forum?
Anyway here is the picture from my second post:
Here is the picture from my 3rd post
and finally as a bonus: Here is the sewer line being jetted through this hole.
Anyway here is the picture from my second post:
Here is the picture from my 3rd post
and finally as a bonus: Here is the sewer line being jetted through this hole.
#10
04-11-19, 09:48 AM
What a mess. And I'm sure the jetting process didn't help in terms of the mess (I'm sure it helped with the clog!)
They sell those compression plugs now, I've just never seen one that looks like that. Anyway, hopefully you'll never have to remove it again!
They sell those compression plugs now, I've just never seen one that looks like that. Anyway, hopefully you'll never have to remove it again!
