wrote in message ...
On Thu, 14 Jan 2016 09:40:56 -0800, "Snuffy \"Hub Cap\" McKinney"
wrote:

I have seen these gadgets that use air pressure for drain pipe blockages. I can see that could be useful where there are too many elbows in a small diameter pipe for a regular snake. Anyone have experience using pressure like this?

First thought I had was that all the other drains might need to be plugged first. And also what's a reasonable high pressure limit?

I have had this trouble with a 1-1/2 inch washing machine drain, where there are 4 elbows before it gets to the main house drain. I was able to clear out part of the piping with a small diameter snake, but not all. Eventually got it cleared out alternating boiling water, then flushing with hot water, then drano, water flush, snake, etc. Also make a tight connection from the hot water faucet to the 1-1/2 standpipe and ran it until it flowed normally. All this worked, but it took a lot of time.

I tried clearing a clog with pressure and all I did was fill the
bathroom sink with poop.
(it is virtually impossible to plug up the overflow/vent)

I ended up pulling the crapper and using my snake.

Thanks all - good info!! I'll try the boiling water tonight. I'll try the snake as a last resort because it's a real pain to get it to make the turns and harder to get it back out. Last time I boiled 4 large pots of water with 25% ZEP cleaner/degreaser and poured them all down one after the other. Then flush with hot water and then use Drano a couple of times.