[Shop-talk] can I safely heat up a black iron clean out?

[pethier at comcast.net]

It's time to call someone with a sewer camera to give your system a look.  Yellow pages should have a section for "Sewer Inspection".  Be sure they shoot in color, have a method for recording distances (either electronic onscreen or they talk into a microphone reading marks off the cable), and leave you a video disk.

Phil Ethier West Side Saint Paul Minnesota USA
1962 Triumph TR4 CT2846L
1979 Caterham 7
1994 Miata C-package
2004 Suburban 8.1
2007 Saturn Ion 3 2.4
http://www.triumphtransamerica.org.uk
http://forum.mnautox.com/forums
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pethier 

----- "Mark Andy" <marka at maracing.com> wrote:

> From: "Mark Andy" <marka at maracing.com>
> To: shop-talk at autox.team.net
> Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2010 8:49:10 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
> Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] can I safely heat up a black iron clean out?
>
> Howdy,
> 
> So, it turns out the cleanout plug was fairly thin brass.
> 
> A 2' pipe wrench on it broke the hex off, so I used a sawzall / cold 
> chisel / hammer to remove it.
> 
> However, the bigger issue was that even after running a sewer tape out
> 
> through the pipe, I still have the problem. The sewer tape may not
> have 
> been quite long enough to get to the septic tank however? IIRC it was
> a 
> 40' tape and the tank is probably 45 or perhaps 50' out there. Still,
> I 
> thought I was home because the sewer tape definitely ran into some
> minor 
> obstructions. I also ran a hose for a quite a while (a couple
> minutes?) 
> down the line after I ran the sewer tape in there a few times and
> twisted 
> it around and such and got nothing headed back towards me.
> 
> So, I dunno what's next. I'm pretty much ready to call someone that
> does 
> this for a living, but it seems like either the problem is that I
> didn't 
> snake the line enough (i.e. I should get a power snake and run it a
> long 
> way out there) or that there's something wrong with the septic tank
> and/or 
> pump, even though the pump monitor says its fine.
> 
> One worry I have with a power snake is that I know that under our
> patio 
> they replaced a section of metal pipe with plastic with those rubber
> femco 
> (??) connectors on either side... I dunno if power snakes are rough
> enough 
> for that to be a problem.
> 
> Anyway. Yay being a homeowner.  We're off to a hotel.
> 
> Mark
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