On Mar 17, 3:35*pm, The Reverend Natural Light
wrote:
On Mar 17, 1:50 pm, "MRS. CLEAN" wrote:

Can anyone tell me what tool is used to open the clean out valve?

Why can't it be tool-less to get in?

The couple of times I've done that, I just remove the toilet in the
basement bathroom and go out that way. *Trying to crack open the cap
on a 40 year old main cleanout seems like a bad idea. *And, I think
it's easier to work with the opening at floor level than chin level -
where most cleanouts seem to be for some reason. *Replacing the toilet
only takes a couple of minutes. *Depends on the layout whether that's
a good idea or not.

Any tips on snaking it out?

Fill the line with hot water. *Might help soften whatever is stuck in
there and you get visual feedback when you've cleared the
obstruction. *But don't stop there. *Keep going as far as you can or
are comfortable with before declaring it fixed.

Any snake recommendation? *I have a short line (20 feet at most).

I've used 3 different types. *Home Repo rents a snake for 4" line for
about $70 a day. *It worked great. *Years later I rented one from the
local tool place that was just too big and too hard to use. *The snake
came in 10' sections and had to be assembled one at a time. *All I
managed to do was push the plug farther down the pipe and is was
backed up again the next day. *So I sent the S.O. to a different
rental place the next afternoon and when I got home a much smaller
version of the H.D. style snake was waiting. *It was for 3" or maybe
even 2" but it worked surprisingly well. *What it lacked in size and
power it made up for by being very easy to use. *It took a long time
to get the line cleared.

Thanks for the info.

The clean out valve is ground level in backyard and there's no second
toilet. I will try going thru the throne I just don't want the
porcelin scratched...