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Tech Help (Beyond This Forum)

I have had this happen in the past.
I removed the entire toilet from it's place in the bathroom (not as difficult as it sounds. One supply pipe, an 'overflow' pipe, and a couple of screws holding the cistern to the wall and the base to the floor) and then poured sulphuric acid drain unblocking liquid down the soil pipe.
A bit of bubbling and some noxious gases and 'bingo', all cleared through.
However the removal of the fittings is a bit of a pain.
And the acid is not easy to get hold of.

Most 'rodding' tools are not very flexible so don't cope well with the tight bends of the soil pipe, or the toilet pan itself.
A more user-friendly item is the 'monument pipe unblocker' which is a flexible thick steel wire with a twisty hook thing on the end. You introduce it to the pipe, reel it out until it hits the blockage, then start turning the handle (pic underneath).

Also, more modern properties will have drainage which incorporates an inspection panel in the 'elbow' joints on the pipes, so you can unscrew a small part and introduce your tool (oo-er) from there instead.
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Also....if you can sacrifice one.....a wet and dry vacuum cleaner is handy for the sucking out of overflowing waters etc.
 
If you do use drain rods, remember to always twist them clockwise as you progress through the pipes. If you twist anticlockwise, you risk disconnecting them in the pipe which is a whole different kettle of ballgame.

Before you do though, as suggested earlier try pulling the joint apart where porcelain meets plastic at the back. We had a persistent blockage, and on doing the above there was one of those in-bowl plastic bleach block holders that had fallen in and got stuck.
 
The blockage is in the pipe leading from the toilet to the outside. I've had the manhole cover up and a prod down the right outlet, but I don't have anything long enough to get as far as the blockage (my toilet is downstairs, and the pipe runs straight from the toilet, under my kitchen floor to the drain). From my exploratory prods with a makeshift bit of pipe, the block seems to extend from about 2 feet from the toilet, to about six feet from the drain. There's a very slow trickle coming through into the sewer. It's exactly what happened almost two years ago to the day, when I called someone out, who basically just rodded the drain. I've ordered myself a set of rods because I've got nothing to improvise with!
When you get your new drain rods there should be a device in there (see photo) that allows you to to pull the blockage towards you. Open the inspection chamber and insert the rods towards the toilet (ie against the flow), then pull back towards you. The device locks 'open' enabling you to drag any blockage along the pipe and into the chamber where you can then remove it.
dr.jpg
 
A friend bought an end terrace in Weymouth a few years ago and unlike in normal circumstances where the end house has the drain from all the other houses running through their garden/yard at the side of their house, and then on into the sewer in the road, this one runs actually underneath her house, under the living room.
 
People, I can report success. The rods arrived yesterday and ten minutes later I had a fully functioning toilet once more. There was nothing...err...solid blocking the drain, so thankfully a quick prod with the rods and a flush of the toilet so that the pressure was coming from both sides, and it slid out most satisfactorily. I flushed everything through and now all is working as it should.
 
there should be a device
...called a 'drop scraper'.
I have actually used one of these (for it's intended purpose) when I worked as a school caretaker.
And also discovered that large drainage systems have similarly designed 'non-return' valves built-in underground, that drop into place through gravity or by having a reverse flow hit them.
Oh, I've lived a life....
 
People, I can report success. The rods arrived yesterday and ten minutes later I had a fully functioning toilet once more. There was nothing...err...solid blocking the drain, so thankfully a quick prod with the rods and a flush of the toilet so that the pressure was coming from both sides, and it slid out most satisfactorily. I flushed everything through and now all is working as it should.
Better call @Giant R. He's on his way up to you.
 
People, I can report success. The rods arrived yesterday and ten minutes later I had a fully functioning toilet once more. There was nothing...err...solid blocking the drain, so thankfully a quick prod with the rods and a flush of the toilet so that the pressure was coming from both sides, and it slid out most satisfactorily. I flushed everything through and now all is working as it should.
Just a thought; in some older properties, the drains are neither plastic or 'modern' clay (both of which are joined together with 'collars'), but clay pieces that were just 'butted' together (and maybe joined with a bit of mortar if you're lucky). This means that even with the ones that are cemented together, over time the mortar falls out and 'ridges' form on the inside of the pipes that can collect paper that eventually blocks the drain. The answer to this is not very pleasant, but to have a waste bin in your bathroom for the used paper.
drains.jpg
 
Just a thought; in some older properties, the drains are neither plastic or 'modern' clay (both of which are joined together with 'collars'), but clay pieces that were just 'butted' together (and maybe joined with a bit of mortar if you're lucky). This means that even with the ones that are cemented together, over time the mortar falls out and 'ridges' form on the inside of the pipes that can collect paper that eventually blocks the drain. The answer to this is not very pleasant, but to have a waste bin in your bathroom for the used paper.
View attachment 55957
When the same thing happened two years ago (almost to the day), I had a man out to clear the drain and he shoved a camera down in both directions (of my drain, not me). He said it was clear and he couldn't see anything that could be snagging. I wanted him to check for tree roots etc, but there was nothing. He reckoned that it might just be a small invisible imperfection somewhere - it can't be anything too large for it to take two years to block up.

He recommended that I frequently flush without...errr...needing to, if you see what I mean, to keep the drain clear. I thought I had been doing enough, but obviously not.
 
There is a service you can get done for drainage in which they introduce a special lining to the old drainpipes which is 'cured' and forms a permanent smooth new inner surface. It does obviously decrease the 'bore' of the pipe slightly, but it won't get clogged any more.
https://mrdrains.co.uk/drain-lining/
And where there are pipes joining in, they send a robot down to cut out the bits of new lining at the T (that would otherwise now be blocked by the new lining).
 
If you do use drain rods, remember to always twist them clockwise as you progress through the pipes. If you twist anticlockwise, you risk disconnecting them in the pipe which is a whole different kettle of ballgame.

Before you do though, as suggested earlier try pulling the joint apart where porcelain meets plastic at the back. We had a persistent blockage, and on doing the above there was one of those in-bowl plastic bleach block holders that had fallen in and got stuck.
Yes, those things were a real pain but don't seem quite as popular nowadays thankfully. We used to get real problems with the old syphonic WC pans which were very popular in the 70s and 80s for a while as the waste outle on the pan rises up before dropping to cause a syphon effect and it sucks the water from the bowl. This was really effective on normal waste but with those plastic block holders they would often get caught in the syphon casting. They used to have a weird insert in the cistern flush mechanism that was called a 'bomb' that stopped the air being sucked through and breaking the syphonic effect in the pan.

To make repairing these even worse the 'bomb' was unique to the pan design so one wouldn't work in another make - most were plastic but I remember coming across some early ones which were all brass.
 
...called a 'drop scraper'.
I have actually used one of these (for it's intended purpose) when I worked as a school caretaker.
And also discovered that large drainage systems have similarly designed 'non-return' valves built-in underground, that drop into place through gravity or by having a reverse flow hit them.
Oh, I've lived a life....
I've used them once or twice but they always worry me as they are quite solid and I think I might get it stuck:) I prefer the corkscrew attachment or even just the rod is often enough to get things moving:chuckle:
 
Thinking about it, @Giant R can have the tip to the drain rods! That big bit that goes on the end and is supposed to 'scrape' was too large to go down the foul pipe.

This is all beginning to sound so overladed with double entendres that we're fast approaching a 'Julian and Sandy' script...
 
I think it would fit in the pipe, but I couldn't get it in at the angle I was having to approach from....(stops now, sensing the giggling from those in the cheap seats).
Well at least you've a) had a camera down to see all is ok and b) you won't have to spend £150 every few years.
 
I think it would fit in the pipe, but I couldn't get it in at the angle I was having to approach from....(stops now, sensing the giggling from those in the cheap seats).
That is what I tend to find with those and I am wary of something as solid as those getting snagged on a joint or bend.

Some old cast iron soil pipes were around 3.5" diameter rather than the more standard 4" (ish) also.
 
That is what I tend to find with those and I am wary of something as solid as those getting snagged on a joint or bend.

Some old cast iron soil pipes were around 3.5" diameter rather than the more standard 4" (ish) also.
Not sure what my pipes are made of, pretty certain it's not iron, looks like clay. Reckon they were put in around 1970 when the cottages were converted en masse from one down, two up farmworker's dwellings with the toilet down the garden, to having indoor bathrooms and an actual kitchen (the house two down from me still has the massive iron range in the living room where they will have cooked and lived until the kitchen extension was built on the back).
 
the cottages were converted en masse from one down, two up farmworker's dwellings with the toilet down the garden, to having indoor bathrooms and an actual kitchen.... and an upstairs/understairs bathroom.
FTFY
 
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