Hi Plumbing Gurus I have some very old, very deep and very long runs of 110mm underground pipe runs taking my household's waste water about 40m to my septic tank. I've had a few blockages this last year which were easily shifted with my rodding kit and the rubber disc, but the need for this is becoming increasingly frequent and irritating. I opened all the inspection chambers today and noticed that there is a thick layer of hard sediment build-up at the bottom of the long runs. It's really hard to shift even in the inspection chambers, so would be almost impossible to try shifting deep in the lengths of pipe between the chambers. Are there any products available that would break this limescale down chemically rather than mechanically? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
There are firms who offer pipe descaling using a mechanical coring machine, or drain jetting,depending whether pipe is cast iron,clay,etc. http://www.ukdrainspecialists.com/pipedescaling.html https://www.draintechnology.co.uk/services/drains-and-sewers/pipe-descaling.html
I’ve had a few porcelain toilets gummed up with heavy limescale, I poured in ‘Spirits Of Salt’ and left over night Like having a brand new toilet. Be very careful, harmful and corrosive product
Don't do chemicals, think white vinegar does it but if the pipes leak when plugged you could collect at the end and re pour several times
Sharp half round scraper on rods wrapped with lead to increase downwards pressure , endoscope camera attached( ebeay £10 )
Thanks to all for the suggestions so far. The half round scraper attachment for my rodding kit seems the cheapest option, but access is not great as the inspection hatch lids are over a metre higher than the pipes, so the rods are very bent when going in. The Picote Smart Spider is the coolest tool I've seen in years, but I may resort to renting one or bringing in someone with one. Jetting looks good, but I wonder how easily it'll get rid of the really hard and well attached scale. I'll do some phoning around tomorrow and get back to you with what I discover.
How deep are these clay pipes? If they have settled,then I wouldn't bother descalling them,as you will still get problems with blockages, better to lay a new plastic pipe from chamber to septic tank. As DIY Womble said,endoscope camera attached to drain rods will show you the conditions of the pipes & any issues.
To anyone coming to this old thread I have old clay pipes that run underneath my Victorian terrace house. We had many issues of blocking from people flushing wipes/army men etc down the toilet but generally poor flow. Lots of rodding eventually got a video survey. Video inspection showed movement over time sunken in clay sub soil causing issues at joints and deterioration and seepage which over a century caused further movement. Obviously replacing would be a major engineering job what with the house over most of the run. Solution was a no-dig fibre epoxy liner that they insert from one end, inflate a tube inside and leave to cure. Now a totally smooth guaranteed liner without reducing the diameter by more than 10mm for the entire run to the corporate sewer. Wasn't cheap (over a grand a long time ago) but way less than digging up half my house. Hope this helps anyone in an "impossible" situation!