esrosedotblog

AWAY GOES TROUBLE DOWN THE DRAIN

We have had a slow toilet. Always a bad sign.

Then it got way slower all at once.

A worse sign.

I didn't scramble the defense forces right away. It was the back toilet and it was isolated to that area.

We don't use it that much and we have two other alternatives.

But, it being the new year and all, I called Roto Rooter today.

You call them on the day you want them because they are there in less than two hours.

Miguel arrived and I learned several things.

They do not put the snake in the toilet. It will shatter it.

There should be a clean out. Ours is behind the toilet. You cannot get to it.

But that is OK because the best way to clean is to go down through what I used to think of as the vent on the roof.

If one toilet is clogged you go down at that vent.

If all toilets are stuffed you go through the main which all three lines run to before the cesspool.

Yes. A cesspool. We are still not hooked up to the city and probably will not be in my lifetime. Although every time I say something like that, nature comes around and turns me into a liar or a denier.

Miguel stuck the snake down the pipe and went to work.

I went in and ran the water.

There was no immediate success.

In fact, a brown cloud came up the tub where all the excess water was going.

Miguel said that might mean there was a broken pipe.

Oh shit.

I started to plan how we could take the toilet and tub and sink out of there and open the room up as a large closet and back entrance to the yard.

But then, suddenly and dramatically, all the water ran out of the tub.

I turned on more faucets.

I flushed 8-10 times.

The drain was clear.

Crisis averted.

It is always darkest before the dawn and all that.

Yawn.

It is over.

Miguel got me to buy a special product to make the house smell good again and to bio-clean the drains. Once a month application.

The good smell was welcome as all of the rooting led to a shit odor coming up through all the sinks.

I suspect it is the same stuff I buy for half the price in the hardware store but maybe not.

I tipped him a 20.

Another day, another problem solved.

Labels: repairman humor