Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
Yes, there is an old saying, when you find yourself in a hole stop digging.
I would say that it could be cleared but you might need some acid or maybe
take the toilet ot and mechanically clear it. It kinds of makes one wonder
about the installation if it gets so easily blocked in the first place
though.
I wonder if it was in reply to a very old post, but as the joke goes, we
now have nothing to go on!

Brian


Some things about this situation do not add up.

Mechanical clearing should not be attempted, because
a dangerous chemical is involved.

Adding acid by titration is possible, but there is
a danger from the exothermic nature of the reaction,
depending on what you use. It could splatter.

If you need assistance, drive to the nearest fire
station, and while the guy out front having
a smoke won't have the answer, the fire hall captain
knows who to phone.

Don't ask a plumber to stick the plumbing snake
in that vat of chemicals. It won't hurt the snake,
but he will need to wash the snake off, and a
mess could ensue. If he walks out with the
snake unwashed, there could be NaOH on the carpeting.

While it's not a Hazmat situation (yet), it does not
take very much faffing about to turn it into a disaster.

Once the chemical portion is taken care of, the
plumber can then inspect the waste pipe below the
toilet for chemical damage. You can put pinholes
in copper, with drain cleaner. And the drain cleaner
in this case, has been sitting in the pipe for ten
days.

Using the brand name of the drain cleaner product
and the part number, a Google will give the MSDS
safety data sheet, and that will give the
chemical composition. You can even take the bottle
of drain cleaner to the Fire Station with you,
for identification purposes, so they pull the
correct MSDS for it. I notice a few of the caustic
products, have practically no track-ability at all,
so it's hard to grab the correct MSDS.

This is especially important, if you completely
get the chemical type wrong, and it's a strong
acid and not a strong base. Some drain cleaners
are NaOH, some are H2SO4, with little on the outside
of the bottle offering suitable details. I thought
we'd learned the consequences of this kind of
ignorance years ago - MSDS is your friend.
It's everybodies friend. It helps keep the
firemen safe.

Paul