When my Dad had a drain clog (the one from the eaves
troughs) the plumber figured out it was at an elbow. He
suggested my Dad dig down to the elbow, and the plumber
would come back and finish the job.

The elbow turned out to be four feet down from the surface.
Dad had help, digging. It was a heck of a lot of work. The
elbow was some kind of ceramic, or like flower pot. The
plubmer took something heavy, broke through it. Then cut out
the elbow, and put in a new one using fermco connectors.

That doesn't help very much in your situation. The problem
with long suction hose, it has to be rigid, so it doesn't
collapse under suction.

Perhaps sump pump discharge hose for your vacuum cleaner?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GCU876


--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"M" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the responses.

I shoulda known not to make a long story short on this
group. To answer
your questions, I had a plumber out, of decent neighborhood
reputation, who
had advised me to suction the drainpipe out with a vacuum.
He knew that the
grit was apparently causing the clog. After suctioning, he
inserted a
rather sizeable motorized snake. After grinding that snake
in the drainpipe
a short while, he stated that the blades on the end of the
snake had been
torn off, he couldn't break through, nor did he want to risk
damaging the
pipe. He examined, but didn't try coming from the other
end. He didn't
think that a longer vacuum hose would negotiate the turn in
the drainpipe
for continued suctioning.

A different plumber has offered to come out and try to snake
it out, but I
was hesitant, cautioned by the idea that the pipe might be
damaged in such a
way, and was looking to find some alternatives first.

I've looked for narrower vacuum hoses without a wand end on
them in order to
negotiate the bend in the pipe and try my idea of continuing
to suction the
grit out, but haven't located one yet. Maybe I'm tilting at
windmills here,
but it seemed plausible and, that way, the stuff would be
out of the pipe,
not just scattered down through it, even if I managed to get
a small hole
through the clog. I suppose I'd have to jury-rig something.

I was hoping to get a little support for my theory, though I
appreciate the
other suggestions so far. Perhaps blasting or grinding
through it is the
only likely fix, if it's possible.