On Tuesday, May 14, 2013 8:34:43 PM UTC+1, Mentalguy2k8 wrote:
Mine has to be taking the waste pipe off the sink and cleaning it under
running water in the same sink without a plug in. Every single time.
More of a near miss, but...
Many years ago I was helping a charity out - they were using a former hospital building owned by the Department of Transport (waiting to be demolished for a bypass). One day I went in and noticed the drains seemed to be overflowing, even though we weren't using much water. A bit of detective work showed that the drain ran along the back of the building, then out to a little housing estate (presumably they'd sold of some of the grounds for development, and the developer just tapped into the existing drain). All the houses were on higher ground, so none had noticed the problem.
Continuing to follow the drain, I finally found a manhole that wasn't full, just before the sewer in the road, and a bit of inspection showed some roots blocking the inlet. Unfortunately the manhole was pretty deep, so although I had a hook around 6 feet long to try to move the roots, I still had to lean a fair way into the hole.
As I removed the blockage a tidal wave of backed up sewage started pouring into the manhole - it rose to within an inch of the top...
Fortunately I was younger and fitter then (and I had expected a fair bit to come through, I'd just underestimated), so I got out just in time, with only a bruise where I'd hit something in my hurry to get out.