lightweight power auger?

[thankfulb]

This old house...what a joy! There is really no explaining how this old place is laid out except to say that I have to go through a "crawl space" to get to what used to be a basement. Lowest point is roughly 4ft high. Plus the opening or "door" is just an enlarged basement window. Soooo..with the main drain being plugged and the access point down there in the abyss (ths Drain Doc tryed going from the commode opening with no luck-due the the many twists and turns of the drain pipe I suspect)im wondering if there is some kind of lightweight power auger on the market. One that I would be able to tote down there. I havent tryed just a 'tape' yet since i have a feeling its going to be a little more stubborn of a clog. Thanks alot for ANY suggestions.

[LazyPup]

Before resorting to the powered auger you may want to try a "Drain Cleaning Bladder". The drain cleaning bladders are a expanding rubber bladder that is attached to the end of a garden hose, then inserted into the drain pipe. Slide it into the pipe a foot or so, then turn the water pressure on. When the water pressure is turned on, the bladder expands, locking the bladder against the pipe wall, then it begins pulsing a blast of water. If the bladder doesnt work, you can still opt to use the powered auger.

Drain bladders can be purchased in the plumbing department of most hardware stores or big box home supplies. Be sure to select the correct one as there is one for pipes up to 2 inch and a larger one for 3 + 4 inch lines. They cost about $15.




I use a Rigid/Kohlman model K-380 that weighs in at about 50lbs, which is about 1/2 the weight of most powered drain augers. This machine has a 50 foot cable and is said to handle up to 6 inch cutters, although 4 inch is as large as I have used on it, but 4 inch should be sufficient for almost all residential drains.

This machine is about 24 " long, 24" high and 12 inches Wide so it is relatively easy to manuever in almost any space large enough to crawl through.

I dont have a photo of it, but there is a drawing of the machine in the above thread labeled drawings.

The do make hand powered augers that us a large electric drill motor to drive them but they are only effective on lines up to about 2 inch and runs of 20 feet or less.

[thankfulb]

thanks for the suggestion. really dont have much faith in the water treatment as there is enough in the basement already but i may give it a shot. if that doesnt work i'll try the 'tape' and if needed the auger you suggested. thanks again!