WiiGame
Active Member
Short version: I've got a metal snake stuck in what I believe to be a frozen clog in a sump pump pipe from my home almost to the street. Is there a safe way to heat the metal snake to:
1) dislodge it,
and maybe
2) melt enough of the clog to break through it and run water out the house again.
Trying to give enough background: I'm in a townhouse in the mid-Atlantic during the extreme freeze we've had for a month. In August, I had someone upgrade my original 90s pump with a Basement Watchdog BW4000(?), the one with a main pump, a backup pump, and all attached to a battery. The sump pipe goes from under my stairs, up through the laundry room, out the front of the house, back down into the ground and out to the curb (dumping water behind my parking spaces where it freezes in this weather). Right before the curb, it joins the pipe from the neighboring townhome. We're near the top of a hill and the pump runs occasionally but never very often. From the beginning, this unit emptied the pit very quickly.
About 2 weeks ago, the pump started running and running and not sending the water anywhere and would only stop running when I "adjusted" it in the pit. I "proved" the pump actually works when I was adjusting it and the (apparently loosely installed) rubber tube came off the top and it quickly pumped gallons of water into my face and on everything under my stairs before I regained the wherewithall to unplug it. Yeah ... glad to give you a laugh. BTW, this pretty much emptied the pit for a few days.
Still not working, I snaked the pipe by hand from inside with what I believe to be a 75' snake. It's got a large-ish coiled end that I usually have to pound around corners (and there are at least 6 bends that I know of). I believe what I pounded next is the clog and probably not a bend. By my measurements, the tip of the snake should be ~44' away, right under the sidewalk before the street.
So I got a 3' inspection cam (that's how I found it joins the neighbors) and could see just deep enough to see ice frozen at the bottom of the pipe. I think what I'm seeing several inches farther is solid ice clogging the pipe (vs., say, a tree root). This is somewhat verified by the fact that I had to leave with the snake at the clog, then left it there overnight, and now I can't pull the snake out of the pipe (it just stretches the spring). Just last night I could pound it against something, and now no movement.
Seeing as the snake is made of metal, I see an opportunity to somehow conduct heat through the metal and warm the tip enough to break free, or even break through. But I don't know how or what would be safe or if that's even reasonably possible.
I'm open to any safe snake-heating or other ideas of solutions here. I don't have to call Miss Utility and have everything dug up for this, or wait until late-March or later with an open sump pipe into my house. I'd love to retrieve this snake ASAP.
Thanks all!
WG
1) dislodge it,
and maybe
2) melt enough of the clog to break through it and run water out the house again.
Trying to give enough background: I'm in a townhouse in the mid-Atlantic during the extreme freeze we've had for a month. In August, I had someone upgrade my original 90s pump with a Basement Watchdog BW4000(?), the one with a main pump, a backup pump, and all attached to a battery. The sump pipe goes from under my stairs, up through the laundry room, out the front of the house, back down into the ground and out to the curb (dumping water behind my parking spaces where it freezes in this weather). Right before the curb, it joins the pipe from the neighboring townhome. We're near the top of a hill and the pump runs occasionally but never very often. From the beginning, this unit emptied the pit very quickly.
About 2 weeks ago, the pump started running and running and not sending the water anywhere and would only stop running when I "adjusted" it in the pit. I "proved" the pump actually works when I was adjusting it and the (apparently loosely installed) rubber tube came off the top and it quickly pumped gallons of water into my face and on everything under my stairs before I regained the wherewithall to unplug it. Yeah ... glad to give you a laugh. BTW, this pretty much emptied the pit for a few days.
Still not working, I snaked the pipe by hand from inside with what I believe to be a 75' snake. It's got a large-ish coiled end that I usually have to pound around corners (and there are at least 6 bends that I know of). I believe what I pounded next is the clog and probably not a bend. By my measurements, the tip of the snake should be ~44' away, right under the sidewalk before the street.
So I got a 3' inspection cam (that's how I found it joins the neighbors) and could see just deep enough to see ice frozen at the bottom of the pipe. I think what I'm seeing several inches farther is solid ice clogging the pipe (vs., say, a tree root). This is somewhat verified by the fact that I had to leave with the snake at the clog, then left it there overnight, and now I can't pull the snake out of the pipe (it just stretches the spring). Just last night I could pound it against something, and now no movement.
Seeing as the snake is made of metal, I see an opportunity to somehow conduct heat through the metal and warm the tip enough to break free, or even break through. But I don't know how or what would be safe or if that's even reasonably possible.
I'm open to any safe snake-heating or other ideas of solutions here. I don't have to call Miss Utility and have everything dug up for this, or wait until late-March or later with an open sump pipe into my house. I'd love to retrieve this snake ASAP.
Thanks all!
WG
