DIY drain rodding

General Chat
1

I want to have a go at this because our kitchen drain appears to have a fatberg taking up residence :ok_hand:

I need to buy a set of drain rods which the local diy shop will hopefully have, but other than rotate the rods clockwise (in the direction of the rod threads) is there anything else I should look out for?

2

Definitely use the brush attachment like I did, which lead to the rods getting stuck, with one rod then snapping and it costing ÂŁ200.00 to have Dynorod come out and spend a couple of hours with a set of metal rods to just use them as pincer pliers to eventually free the brush from the pipe.

The actual fault was 1 KG of congealed washing powder in the kitchen drain pipe - he had to use the plumber snake 4 times to clear it.

So yeah, definitely use the brush.

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3

Oof. I’ve read that the metal corkscrew thing is the only one to use as the rest can lead to your type of shenaningans.

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4

The rubber disc attachment always works for me. It creates suction much like a toilet plunger.

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5

There’ll be appropriate use cases for them, issue I had was the drain pipe had a fairly tight bend in it.

The corkscrew attachment or the rods with no attachment will be fine - if it isn’t, call Dynorod.

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6

I have a pressure washer attachment for this. It hasn’t succeeded for me; I think that this is because there is a turn that is too tight an angle for it. It only gets so far.

I may have to try to rod from the road side; this will be no fun on a busy road. Dyno-Rod will earn their money, I’m not fucking doing it.

7

This

Had a chap (think size of hulk) round with the ole rubber disc trick. Just flooded the drain to the brim and banged it up and down like his life depended on it. Job done in ten seconds.

8

yes this worked for me. I’m not going near it again. I recall stripping down to my under armour, placing the pressure washer down the blocked hole - and bang, the back pressure left me covered with the drain contents! with the blockage still intact.

Please imagine the scene - me standing there, shouting at Louise, that think the pressure is building…and warning her to stand back as it could get messy…fuck that for a game of soldiers I aint going near a blocked drain again…

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9

No pressure washer required, just a thick rubber disc and brute force.

Are there pics of your one man two drains affair? :slight_smile:

10

Think the rubber disc option could be problematic as the drain is about 30cm downward followed by a 90 degree bend to the horizontal.

Anyway just bought some rods from the local shop. I’ll send a disaster update just after it stops raining.

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11

thankfully not. Even the footage from the CCTV has gone!

12

This has worked for me, but only where the blockage is close to the entry point.

14

Would a hose direct from the pressure washer (or held on the wand with a with a Jubilee clip) do the trick? Should get around the bend

17

PW is high risk as I found out.

18

Use Dynorod.

19

I am reading this while having lunch, so please, no pics.

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20

“DIY drain rodding”

Is that what we are calling it now?

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21

The abattoir version of Netflix and chill.

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22

Yep, use the metal corkscrew bit first then the rubber bung if necessary. If you use the rubber bit when there’s still loads of detritus in the drain, it’ll just pack it into an even more solid lump.

Always worth having some rods around. Saves the exorbitant costs of getting the “professionals” out*.

    • the last of which I employed tried to charge me an hourly rate for the period during which he was trying unsuccessfully to get the diesel engine on his jetter to start.
23

Arse, the drain bend is too tight for the rods so that’s another X on the card of my DIY exploits.