Plumbing is the one home reoair that I gladly pay to have someone else fix for me.

When I turn off the electrical power, the electrons left in the line don't spill out, down my arm and onto the carpet.

Two rules of plumbing I live by:

Never overtighten or put your fingers in you mouth:p


I would have tried to back the plug out with an air chisel.


KT

You have to watch the tip you use. Maybe you can get your old bit out with the springy looking extractor tip. If you get the old one out, don't waste your time with the springy thing anymore, use the triangle shaped one with the serrated edges. It may take multiple shots at whatever is in there, but is should eventually punch through. When you're done, make sure you run a hose through it to be certain it's clean, I don't think you want to be doing this again.

When it rains, it pours. 9PM last night the drains in our house stopped draining; yep clogged somewhere in the main. Luckily, no solids to deal with, and the clean-out is hidden in the front lawn so no buckets either.

Tried running the (running) hose down the for about 20' before it wouldn't go any farther and got a tiny bit of flow. Step 2; filled the pipes up to the brim of the clean-out, placed the plunger on there, shclukka, shclukka, when the plunger sucked itself inside-out on a downstroke I was golden (so to speak). Ran the hose on full down the pipe for about 5 min to be sure I had free flow, patted myself on the back, went to bed.

Well guys.....It's done. I used the snake till about 10:30 and retrieved everything but the bits. I hope it doesn't clog because of those but so far so good.
The bit I used looked like a crab claw...two flat serrated blades coming together like closed fingers. The arrowhead bit was next up if needed.
Now to get my wife to stop putting things down there that don't belong. I'm not too happy with her right now.

Thanks for the support and good stories.

Last time our main line clogged (happens every 4-5 years or so), Roto Rooter guy asked if there were any women living in the house. Told him wife and teenage daughter. He told me "the drain will clog every few years because....just get used to it."

Rick,

Hopefully, those lost blades didn't get hung up any any vegetation that many times finds its way into and through the joints of the waste line. Alot of issues such as yours have to do with items that shouldn't be in the lines and getting hung up on vegetation. Keep in mind that many, many items that are marketed as biodegradeable, such as baby-wipes and tampons, take an EXTREMELY long time to disinegrate. The only things that should be going through waste lines is waste and toilet paper. Even Kleenex doesn't biodegrade as effciently as toilet paper.

Steve

I'm with ya Steve. No vegetation though, the line from my house to the plant is 2 or three years old. Our neighborhood was the last in the town to switch from septic to city.
Actually this is the 3rd time thi shas happened in 11 years. So there is an interval developing. Between my wife and daughter I'm sure this isn't the last.

BTW a big contributor to clogging is Washing machine lint. I wonder if I can make a filter with some off the shelf parts (seems to be a mesh bag inside a poly carbonate housing). This unit starts at $140! Any ideas? http://www.septicprotector.com/productinfo.htm

http://www.herbyenterprisesltd.com/filtrola.gif

Last year I got tired of messing with a 20 or 50' 3.8" snake and went to harbor freight.
They had a 100' 1/2" snake with foot switch and the whole nine yards, around $150. works like a charm although it's one of those tools I hope I never need again.

I was looking at their catalog and they gave a 50' jobber for around $189. 100' for $150 would be quite the deal.

I've found that the HF on-line catalog is quite a bit different than the in store prices.

Some times they even have two brocures or flyers in the store that have different prices on some items.

I had watched the snake for some time and it finally came on sale and they dropped the price, I jumped on it.