An enormous whinge

[Julian]

Tried the caustic soda (that was first port of call).  They are allegedly coming round tomorrow to fix it.

I'm moving out, but I still have to find a replacement housemate (anybody know anyone needing a room?) and nobody's going to want to move in if the bathroom resembles the Irrawaddy delta.

Jaded, that sounds like a story.  Do tell. 

[alan]

Not a lot to tell perhaps? just a pit crock o'sh$t.

[Jasmine]

Just a thought: if someone is coming round to fix it tomorrow, ask your housemates to tell them what exactly you have already put down there.  Chemical reactions in drains can get nasty.

[Otto]

Tried the caustic soda (that was first port of call).  They are allegedly coming round tomorrow to fix it.

Someone must have a really dreadful arse

[Gandalf]

When I had a similar blockage It turned out to be in the pipe that we share with next door that picks up the sewer in the street.

I did enjoy rodding through the solidified fat, which could only be from next door as nobody in our house eats corpse.

Not for the squeamish by any means.

[Jaded]

Jaded, that sounds like a story.  Do tell. 

Oh, it's nothing special really. It's a crap story in fact. 

Mind you, seeing the Polish DynoRod man's face light up and hear him say "Is good!" when there was a huge splurging sound and lots of bubbles was good...

[Wowbagger]

I have to say that on a scale of 1 to 10 recording "jobs well done", my efforts at clearing blocked drains have to score pretty highly.

We have two sides to the house, from a drainage point of view. The Old side drains the kitchen, plumbed-in dishwasher, the upstairs bog & bathroom. The New side, which has been in situ for about 8 years, has a shower room, two bogs and a utility room with sink and washing machine. Before the extension was built, all showering went on upstairs and the washing machine was where the dishwasher now is.

A couple of times I have had to rod the Old side, where lavatory debris has built up and blocked the entire drain down to the point where the New side meets. Fortunately, the New side has always remained clear and at the T junction where the two soil pipes meet, it is the New side that goes straight on.

Once I get the rods working, when a big dollop of debris falls into the path of water coming from the New side, all we have to do is ensure that one or other of the new sides' lavatories is flushed and the debris is washed away.

I suspect that our problem was caused when we had the new shower installed. We stopped using the old, furred-up upstairs system as well as moving the washing machine and there was a big drop in the liquid:solid ratio on that side of the house. Since we had the solar panel, a new hot water tank and a water softener installed three years ago, we started using the upstairs shower again and the liquid side to that ratio has improved dramatically and we have had no further problem.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

It must be the week for blocked sinks. My bathroom sink is draining at a glacial pace, and my usual salt/bicarbonate of soda/vinegar solution isn't working, so I'm using caustic soda. Of course, I managed to slop the caustic soda solution all over my jeans.