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ahmed50ali · Nov 23, 2009, 04:54 PM

I am embarrassed to confess but I managed to leave 4 nos of drain clearing rods with a disk in front of them. Please do not publicly make fun of me but it happened. (It is OK you can lough as much as you can by yourself with your mates but no humiliating jokes on here, PLEASE)

Any idea how to recover them without digging and breaking drain.

Ahmed 50 Ali

PS I am furious with myself

massplumber2008 · Nov 23, 2009, 05:04 PM

Ahmed...

Don't be too hard on yourself... simply happens once inawhile is all... ;)

I need to know what happened. Did the cable just break off? Were you trying to clear a blockage? More info. Here... O.K. How far is the drain pipe from your house to the septic tank or to the city/town drain... any idea?

Have you tried installing a RETRIEVER HEAD (see images) on a new section of cable? Here, you spread the end of the retriever head as wide as you can without going too wide and then send it down the drain. If the end is hooked just right it can grab the snake down the drain. The trick here is that once the retriever head grabs onto the cable you will want to stop the machine and then pull the cable with the retriever head on it back by HAND... DO NOT use the machine to pull it back (will just loosen again).

Back to you...

MARK

speedball1 · Nov 23, 2009, 05:16 PM

Ahmed,
I'm with Mark. Don't beat yourself up over this. We've all lost a cable at one time or another. If this is a cable and not a rod they make a retriever tip,(see image) to hook and drage the lost cable back. Answer Marks questions and you'll be just fine.

ahmed50ali · Nov 23, 2009, 05:38 PM

Thanks a lot. Really thank you very very much massplumber2008

I am writing from London and here they use 1m rods they attached to each other and you have to always rotate clock wise so that you won't lose them.
I was trying to clear a blockage. So I opened the cover of the manhole and put together 6 rods and tried to dislodge from manhole. The distance where the lost rads is less than 2 metres as I used 6 of them but recovered only 2 of them. Total distance from manhole to main sewers is about 10 metres

I wonder if I understood you and answered correctly?

Thanks again

ahmed50ali · Nov 23, 2009, 05:39 PM

Million thanks to Mark and massplumber2008 who bothered to comfort and write answer

massplumber2008 · Nov 23, 2009, 05:42 PM

OK... thank you for the update. The suggestion still stands. The best way to get these out will be to attach a retriever head... every cable company makes one... just need to find it.

Did you rent this machine? If so, call them and ask them for a retriever head. Even a small retriever head can help here... just open it up so it gets wider at the end. Send it down the drain and if you are lucky it will just snag the cable. As soon as you feel that resistance... stop and pull all back by hand.

Keep me posted as you go along. I will also try to think of other options, but will wait for you to reply to this message before continuing.

MARK

massplumber2008 · Nov 23, 2009, 06:00 PM

You may also be able to make some kind of retrieving tool yourself... I can think of a few things here... still waiting on your reply!

MARK

ahmed50ali · Nov 23, 2009, 06:02 PM

I will report the developments Thanks to both of you very much It is 01.00 here Missus is getting cross as we have to go to bed

hkstroud · Nov 23, 2009, 06:50 PM

If all else fails build a retrieval tool like below out of a funnel, PVC pipe and a check valve. The funnel will direct the rod into the pipe, the check valve will close down on the rod and hold it while you pull it out. Adapt pipe size to your needs. Funnel should fit closely inside sewer pipe.