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Circling the Drain

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CXXC

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It is a blessing to have a family that you love and enjoy. It is an even greater blessing when they visit. However, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, "Fish and friends (Family for this instance) smell after three days!"

 

When we moved form NC to Savannah GA, we thought we would rarely ever see our family members. We were the ones who would normally travel to see them. Our visits occured once a month or so.

 

We moved to Savannah a little under a year ago. In that time, our families have visited us every month. We have not gone to them! They have come here. Who knew?

 

Three weeks ago, MRs. CXXC's brother and two friends came to visit. They enjoyed the sights, sounds, flavors and bars in our little town. Her brother even made breakfast for us each morning as a "thank you" for his free vacation spot and drinks/food. Mrs. CXXC loved having breakfast made for her each morning.

 

Well, I am not a breakfast person. Just a pot of coffee to start the day and I am good! But, not having to cook for Mrs. CXXC in the morning is a treat, UNTIL the drain became clogged. Yes, the morning the visitors left, I noticed the water standing in the sink. Naturally, it is a double sink. The side that was clogged didn’t have the garbage disposal installed in it.

 

What sink did my loving brother-in-law decide to scrape the dishes and pots/pans into each day? Yep. The one without the garbage disposal. Where were all the potato peelings and bacon grease dumped? Down the drain without the garbage disposal. For three wonderful days, my drain pipe was being plugged by bacon grease and potato peels along with various food scraps form the plates he would happily rinse and place in the dish washer.

 

The afternoon of his departure marked the time that his culinary prowess proved too much for my 1956 plumbing. It was time to get the plunger. Anyone with a garbage disposal knows that plungers do absolutely nothing but push the water into the sink with the garbage disposal. Well, that would be anyone but me as I didn’t realize this until I had worked the sink over for a good 30 minutes. With no assistant handy, I even made an attempt to work both sinks (Two plungers at a time) at the same time. This only made a mess as the water splashed up and all over me, the counter, and floor.

 

OFF TO HOME DEPOT!!! A plumbers auger (Snake to those in the know) should do the trick nicely. By the way, you will find these items, NOT in the blumbing section, but in kitchens and bath sections. There were several to choose from. I made a purchase of the mid line, manual crank, 25 foot snake. I figured, 25 feet would be more than enough. Just to keep in line with my other DIY (Do-It-Yourself) projects, I stopped in the tool area and picked up another spade bit. You can’t have enough of them. On to the clog!

 

I will not bore the reader with the complete story and the number of times I disassembled and reassembled the trap and associated pipes leading to the wall to enable me to snake the pipe. Lets us just say, for arguments sake, I can tear that drainage system under my kitchen sink down in under two minutes and still have time for a beer.

 

SNAKE, SNAKE, SNAKE……CRANK, CRANK, CRANK……snake…crank…etc…. all 25 feet had been fished into the drain no less than 4 times. Each time, I removed the snake, reassembled the pipes and tried the drain by filling the sink with water. Each time I filled the sink, expecting the water to simply follow gravity, it would just sit there laughing at me.

 

Bail out the sink, disassemble the trap and associated pipes, snake, crank, remove, reassemble the pipes and trap, fill with water and there it would sit. SIGH! The snake was not long enough to reach the clog.

 

I needed a longer snake. Back to home depot! They had no hand held units longer than 25 feet. They did, however rent the 50 and 100 foot snakes. These are powered by an electric motor and rotate the snake with the press of a foot pedal. All the user has to do is pay out the snake by hand and let the motor do the difficult rotating. WONDERFUL! $50.00 later, I am back home.

 

Disassemble and snake, been there, done that, got the nasty jeans and t-shirt to prove it. I pay out all of the snake again but this time, somehting is wrong. Mrs. CXXC walked into the kitchen to observe my activities. As I had just finished feeding the entire length of the 50 foot auger cable into the drain pipe, she looks out the window and asks, “What is that cable hanging from the roof infront of the window?”

 

AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!

 

The entire auger cable had gone down the drain but took a sharp turn NORTH into the vent pipe and was paid out fully on the grass of my back yard. The 25 foot section I had attempted to use probably followed the same route.

 

My blood ran backward. My heart skipped a beat and if I ever had high blood pressure, this was the day! I tried to pull the snake back through but the weight of the cable against the vent pipe on the roof would not allow me to pull it back in the slightest!

 

Grumbling, I went to the tool shed (Just recently moved across my yard to its new position) pulled out the ladder and the extension cords. Climbed the roof, fed the snake back down the pipe (It went back easily as gravity helped). Got off the roof, went to the kitchen to discover the MESS the snake had made on the floor, cabinets, counters and even one kitchen chair. I would clean that up later.

 

So there I was, on top of the roof, precariously perched at an angle while feeding the snake downt he vent and trying to hold the machine in place while pressing the foot pedal with my knee. One wrong move and I would have crashed, auger and all, to the grass of my back yard.

 

Ya know, that went much faster than I had expected. Even pulling the snake back out and storing it into the machine was not such a difficult procedure. The hardest part of the entire process was getting the damn machine up and then off the roof! Having done that, I went back to the sludge sprayed kitchen (Damn 50 of snake just made a mess when I had pushed it back through the last time) REASSEMBLED the trap and associated pipes, turned on the water and to my amazement and happiness, the water was happily circling the drain!

 

So what did I learn from tis experience? DON'T let the in-laws cook! Do my own dishes and Plumber's Augers defy the laws of gravity by moving UP, not down and into the clog!

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Now THAT was a good story!

 

Nice visual of the snake escaping to freedom via the roof of your house. :)

 

BTW, Savannah is a beautiful city, and one of our favorite places. Of course they're going to come see you often!

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Thank you!

 

Talk about frustrating! When you bust you butt trying to fix something and the damn thing goes against the laws of gravity AND physics....GRRRR!!!

 

Savannah is a lovely place. Historically and geographically, it is a wonderful city. There is so much to do here. The music sceen is out of this world. You would be hard pressed not to find a band playing somewhere on any given night. Then again, with the number of bars around here, you would be hard pressed not to find something to get into!

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Whoda thunk that a snake would do that? I was feeling for you regarding the mess you had to clean up. I've never heard of someone unclogging from the roof. Are there pictures? ;)

 

Yeah, lesson learned. I don't mind having family over, but I'd rather do the cooking and cleaning. Unless I'm there to supervise. :)

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Never thought I'd be reading a "do it yourself" story of that type on the Swingersboard :). Thanks for the amusing interlude. I really do admire the do-it-yourself spirit and the handiness (pun halfway intended).

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The Fuse, you need to read about how he installed his own tub. He got it at such a bargain price, too. ROTFL!!

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Ok LFM2! You can stop laughing at me any time now!

 

When I went to pick up the plumber's auger to the Home Depot Rental, there was a REAL PLUMBER there! He informed me about the possibility of having to go from the roof vent. At least I was prepared for it if it DID have to be done that way.

Unfortunately, there were not photos of the activities that day. However, I will eventually post photos of the hot tub in use.

And YES! I did get it at such a bargain price. HA HA HA HA! The best part is, I have spent aobut 2K building the deck and privacy screening around it. Think about how much that would have made the tub cost. WHEW! Good thing I know how to save! HA HA HA

 

Ms. Fuse

 

Thank you for your kind words. As far as swinging blogs go, I really don't have much to write about as we have only been at it for 1.5 years. With our schedules, we don't have too much time to meet other people. So, once I start getting some interesting experiences, Ill write them out and blog.

Thank you for enjoying the trials and tribulations of a DIY'er. My handiness (really! No pun intended) has saved me many times in many situations. Perhaps a blog aobut the THREE times I have changed water pumps in vehicles on the side of I95 at 02:00 in the morning? Thank goodness for Pep Boys being open 24 hours!

 

Thank you all for puting up with me.

 

Mr. CXXC

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As you've probably noticed, I haven't laughed at this story ;) Our luck has been so bad this week that I just don't dare...so until the luck changes around here, I'll read but I won't laugh (notice, I didn't say I wouldn't chuckle a bit :) )

 

I totally understand the frustration of clogged drains. We have our own 100' snake for incidents such as your's (saved us many times)...however, that is the first time I've heard of having to unclog a drain from the roof.

 

My leaky faucet is still not fixed but, the framing of the wall went exceptionally well this past weekend and looks real nice, now just need to paint.

 

As to the water pump story, I look forward to that one and have to ask...have you ever used a pair of panty-hose for an alternator belt? Should you ever find yourself in the middle of the desert at midnight with no towns within 60 miles with a broken alternator belt, a pair of panty-hose will get you to the next town.

 

T.

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T

It seems like NO ONE has ever heard of snaking a clog from the roof vent. Huh! It may just be a Savannah thing. Just my luck!

 

Glad to hear that your framing has gone well. I do urge that you beware the nail gun ninjas. Lost a 4X6 plate glass window once. Bastard shot straight through the insulation and turned the thing to cumbs. ACK!

 

Panyhose! HA HA HA! Who knew. I will keep that in mind. However, I rarely ever have occasion to pack them when I travel. Add the fact that it would be rather difficult to explain to my employees why I have them in my truck. I can just see that one now.

"I keep them on hand in the event my alternator belt breaks! Read about it on a swingers forum!"

 

Oh the looks that would generate! HA HA HA

 

You may laugh all you wish! I will not send the gremlins after you!

 

Mr. CXXC

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Oh this is a really funny story! I went through a similar episode with my mothers drain...seems that my mom doesn't know enough to not dump cooking grease down the drain either and therefore I went in with a plunger and my bare hands (eww) pulling out lord knows what. I'm fairly sure it was alive at one point or another...Anyway, thanks for the laugh. Sorry it was at your expense, but I've been there!

KL

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I am glad you found my telling fun, KL.

 

Think aobut this. We moved in less than a year ago. The house was built in 1956. How much nasty gunk could be built up in the drain pipes over the last 53 years??? YUCK! That stuff was nasty!!

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Your experience sounds like one I'd expect of myself....more than likely the clog was at 27 feet....but it kinda makes one wonder how your BIL survives at his own house if

(A.) He doesn't know what a disposal is,

or;

(B.) Doesn't have a disposal.

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He he, ok I laughed a little. OKAY a lot!

 

You'd never think to have to mention to a grown man "by the way, the disposal's on the right." Another great reason why the chef should not do the cleanup :lol:

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NEWS FLASH!!!!

It seems the Brother-in-law struck again! He went to visit his parents last weekend and did the SAME THING to their drainage system. My Father-in-law didnt have the issues I did, however, had to rent a plumber's auger to unclog the kitchen drain as well.

We have had a family conference call. It has been decided, he may cook, but as for the cleaning, it must be undersupervision or not at all. Personally, I think he does this in order to get out of cleaning. HE will be forever known as the family CLOG!!

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