On Wed, 02 Nov 2016 19:52:32 -0400, Don Wiss
wrote:

On Wed, 02 Nov 2016, Stormin' Norman wrote:

Electrical tape to seal a hole in a sewer line?? That is absolutely
not acceptable. Remember, there are dangerous gases in sewer lines,
that is why traps are present in modern plumbing, they are there to
trap the gases.

I don't know how large of a hole he cut, but at the very least I would
plug that hole with an expanding pipe plug or a pipe repair clamp.

He said the reason he did not use a plug is they can fall into the drain
and clog it up.

See:

http://amzn.to/2fg4BvB

That appears it would work. I have not put everything back into the closet,
so I will hold off doing so.

or something like this

http://thd.co/2fg5pAR

I think the hole is no bigger than 1/2". Just enough to get the snake
inside.

The drain might be working now, but from what you write, it sounds
like a questionable job. You never want to take shortcuts with
plumbing or electrical.

He claimed it was fine when I questioned him on it.


One more thought about your drain problem. When the pipe clogs up
again and you are forced to confront it one more time, keep in mind,
the flex duct in the picture you posted is a very easy to cut and
splice back together, so easy, you could do it yourself.

Make your cut in the middle of the longest accessible section, then
using a piece of trim-to-size duct fabrication metal as a splice,
insert that into the two ends of the flex and secure it with extra
long tie wraps from harbor freight and seal the ends with aluminum
foil duct tape, not the cloth crap. The good tape is also available at
HF, see:

http://bit.ly/2fiparh

One time, I even used a food service size, empty can which held green
beans as a flex duct splice. It worked flawlessly and is still in
place many years later.

The pipe repair isn't as daunting as you think either.