Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM

Lye

I have slow drains and a friend suggested using red devil lye as a preventive measure before snaking the main sewage drain. Anyone have comments, cautions or other suggestions for slow drains? If I do snake the main clean out, does anyone have a recommendation for a company or plumber? the plumbing is old - most likely from the 50s. thank you.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lee on April 27, 2009 at 10:34am: I'm guessing you are saying that all the drains in your house are slow, and so you are assuming that the sewage main to the city is clogged ?
My response would be it depends how long you have lived in or owned the house. Could well be that all the drains are individually running slow from years of use without ever being cleaned, in which case using some sort of drain cleaner might do the trick. If on the other hand you know the drains all worked fine until recently then yeah, you are probably going to need a plumber to snake roots and god knows what else out of your sewer line.
Last time this happened to our house it was most obvious when you flushed the toilet (which typically has a pretty big drain line..much bigger than a sink or tub and so is much less likely to get clogged with normal use). Flushing the toilet worked, but in the process it bubbled, gurgled and made other disturbing sounds. What's more, all toilets in the house did the same thing.
As for using lye to clean out the main sewer line... seems unlikely this is a hairball or greaseball... instead the line may be clogged with tree roots or may even be collapsed (given the age).
Not sure if any of that helps...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by JeSais on April 29, 2009 at 7:41am: I can recommend Plumbing Connection: 872-4905

as to drains... baking soda and vinegar is good, lye is pretty caustic I think....

good luck.; ▶ Reply to This