Drain rods

[moja]

Does anyone know where we can buy drain rods in Hua Hin or does any one have a set that we could borrow? We have a blockage and all the usually methods have failed to remove it.

[margaretcarnes]

You could try the big plumbers shop on Petkasem - near the Mall. I had the same problem years back and really couldn't track any down. Tried a length of ordinary blue piping, then borrowed a compressor, and finally had some excavations done outside... best of luck!

[poosmate]

I have not seen rods but have seen the retractable spring thingy. Look in Home Pro they have them in various lengths.

[moja]

Thanks to you both. The external excavations are what we are hoping to avoid have checked most local hardware stores to be met with blank look but will try Home Pro again for the retractable spring thingy.

[poosmate]

This is what I mean. They are available in most merchants. The one I have is encased in plastic 20 metres long cost I think 500 Baht ish from Home Pro.



Drain cleaning springs are essentially very long flexible springs which you guide down the waste pipe and turning as you go.

You can buy different size springs depending on whether its for for large or small pipes and different lengths. Can be very effective but a bit messy and not very pleasant to use especially if you use one for toilet blockages!

[splitlid]

im guessing youve already tried a hose pipe down as far as it will go and then turn the water on?
the plastic reticulation pipe from home pro is flexible enough if the hose pipe dont work.

[VincentD]

Those flexible 'drain snakes' don't really work well, I've used the semi-rigid black pvc irrigation hose with more success. It helps if you put a cap on the end and drill a small hole so you get a fairly strong water jet to help clear away the sand/silt blockage.

The Thais call the drain snake 'ngoo lek' (งูเหล็ก - iron snake).

Short of getting excavations done, these people, though based in Bangkok, may have an idea of where to get a professional service done in HH. I've used them once years ago to clear a pretty bad blockage, they use an industrial sized snake for the job and give a three month warranty for their work.

http://www.bkkservice.com/main.asp

[barrys]

Does anyone know where we can buy drain rods in Hua Hin or does any one have a set that we could borrow? We have a blockage and all the usually methods have failed to remove it.

Have you tried pouring in caustic soda (soda fai) mixed with boiling water - it's quite effective for minor, especially fat/grease-based blockages.

[moja]

@ Barry if we put any more caustic soda down I think the pipes will melt away leavin us with just the blockage!

@ Splitlid tried the hose pipe a while back and it did help although the pressure was not enough and we were soon back to square one. Tried pressurised water today - that was disaster but we do now know which pipes drain into the main pipe. Fortunately it is two bathrooms and the kitchen so not as disastrous as it might have been!

@ VincentD thanks for the phone number will try them

@ Poosmate - off to Home Pro tomorrow

Thank you all for your help

[PeteC]

If all three drains Moja are on the ground floor, I've had that problem. Here's what we did to clear it, and unfortunately it's turned into a routine about every 6 months, even though we're very careful not to put any grease down the kitchen drain. You basically need 3-4 people to do this properly.

1) You can't put pressurized water down the kitchen drain as the piping beneath and the connections will suffer and probably leak.

2) Take some towels or large cloths and stuff the drain opening in the kitchen and have someone stand there and put pressure on the towels so they don't fly out.

3) Do the same with the floor drain in one of the bathrooms and close the stopper tightly on any sink in there.

4) Close any sink stopper in the 3rd bathroom and insert your pressurized water hose into the floor drain in this 3rd location and turn it on full.

If you have someone who can stand at where the main pipe empties out into your sewer trench they should see all the gunk coming out in big clumps etc. Run the pressurized water until the discharge is clear and free of any gunk.

If you want to do a really good job, repeat #4 above but at the 2nd location while blocking off the 3rd location.

This should all work quite nicely for you unless the blockage is a tree root or some kind of stones that have become jammed in there. Good luck. Pete

[moja]

Pete we tried exactly what you suggest yesterday but we did not have enough people to put pressure on the plugs - hence the mess when the plugs burst out! The bathrooms are upstairs and the kitchen is downstairs all the water backs up in the downstairs cloakroom and it was this drain we put the water down. We learned a lot with yesterday's 'exercise' and will probably repeat it again once we have tried a couple of other ideas! Kitchen waste is not the problem; one of the bathrooms was revamped a couple of months ago and we are certain that the tilers just got rid of their debris down the drain! Fortunately the toilets are not involved so this problem is not as horrible as it might be!!!! Thanks for your help

[poosmate]

If it is cement etc blocking I would try hydrochloric acid ( pool additive). Eats cement and grout but not plastic.

[moja]

Thanks poosmate. Went to Home Pro this morning but the spring thingy you suggested was only 1.5 metres long so not long enough -everything else resulted in mai mi!

[poosmate]

This is similar to what I bought from there 15 metres long they also had 20 metre.

[PeteC]

To follow on with this thread, we had our yearly partial backup last weekend. I had friends on hand so I decided to clear things myself rather than calling someone. See above post from Moja and I about the technique of plugging/flushing drains.

Each house should have a trench in the back/side that collects any overflow from your septic tank, and where the water pipes go from your various drains. Each drain in the house does not have a separate outlet, but meet up somewhere under your house and then drain from a single pipe of about 4" diameter into the trench. Larger houses will have two, usually in the back and on the side of the house. The end of this pipe is usually accessible thru a small concrete cover over that area of the trench.

I discovered that where this drain pipe comes out, they have it angled up at about 30 degrees. This is to keep some water in it to stop any sewer gas from entering the house from the nearby septic tank overflow pipe.

Exactly at that bend where the pipe begins to angle up is where the problem is. Soap residues and other fatty acids accumulate there and eventually get hard/sticky enough to block any water from getting up the 'hill' and being discharged...thus your overflowing drain problems in the house.

Before I found the below solution we tried your normal chemical drain cleaners, vinegar etc. None worked because the clog is so far away from the drain you put them in, they are diluted to nothing by the time they reach the clog at the end of the pipe and are simply useless.

What you have to do is find a flexible metal rod, wood stick, or even the shaft of a broken golf club and stick it down the end of the pipe to where the clog is at the angled spot. Ours is about 1/2 meter. Push and spin it around and then turn on water somewhere and out everything will come. You'll be amazed at what comes out, mostly fatty acids from soap/shampoo, hair etc. Keep it up with the rod until the water runs clear, it may take 10 minutes of probing.

So, if you discover that your house has this upwardly angled pipe at the end of the system, this is the way to do it rather than plugging drains and putting high pressure water down the system. Quicker and a lot less messy. Happy plumbing! Pete