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My K-45AF is kicking my butt

11K views 51 replies 11 participants last post by  Tango 
#1 ·
I've got another kitchen sink line clogged this morning. I alway cut the pipe before the p-trap and start there. My K-45AF is starting to take a heavy toll on my shoulders and back holding that thing for almost 2 hours with a 5/16' 50' foot innercore cable in the drum. This line was full of 90's and jammed with grease, water started to go down after an hour and a half.

I was over 25 feet inside the pipe. 50% of the time the lines are clogged over 25 feet so my 25" cable stays in the truck. Its also a pain to put the cable back in the drum all tight and stiff. All the lines I clear usually take more than an hour so I'm dreading to hold that thing.

Either I make a stand to hold my pistol rodder or I order a sink drum for my k-3800. Ordering a sink drum would probably take 3-9 months to get one because no one wants to ship to Canada at a cost of over 600$ with a new cable . A drum machine would be impossible in some tiny bathroom I get sometimes.

I'm looking for opinions and suggestions
 
#11 ·
I've seen it but I prefer ridgid drain machines.

There are no demonstrator machines anywhere here even though its the capital of Canada. Everything is mail order only.













I use a Ridgid K-50 for inside lines, like kitchen drain lines. The K-50 with a 5/8" cable {the flexible one, not the stiffer 5/8" cable} is a beautiful thing in a 2" kitchen drain line.

In my humble opinion, a 5/16" cable is undersized for a 2" line with greasy waste.

I have a 5/16" innercore cable in a small drum attachment that fits onto the K-50. But it is only for stuff like lav stoppages where the stoppage is in the p.o. assembly, p-trap or just past the trap.
 
#12 ·
For us kitchen and lav lines, bathtub, washing machine lines are 1 1/2". All I know 5/16" feels right but I'm not an expert yet, I have a 3/8 and its so stiff that I used it to clear a 3" a few months ago.

The new 2010 code has 2" for washing machine lines and for showers.

I'm thankful for the clutch in the k-45 so I can push through the 90's otherwise I'd be going nowhere.
 
#19 ·
I hate pistol augers. I used one once a long time ago at a company and I thought that I had about 20' of cable in the drain line. But when I pulled the cable out, I only had gone in like 3' or 4'.......:vs_laugh:......another reason to love the K-50.

I don't know your budget, but for $1300 or so, you can purchase the K-50 with 5/8" cable and a small drum with 25' of 5/16" cable. Trust me, you won't regret a K-50 for kitchen sink drain lines.

I have {2} different temper 5/8" cables; one is stiffer and the other is a less stiff cable. Each has it's different use.
 

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#23 ·
Yep when I was still in the field, the K-50 is what I had, with the drum attachment (which I didn't have) they are fantastic.

P.S. I like the modified oil drain pan you fabricated.
 
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#20 ·
Does the K-50 drum have the capacity of 50 feet 5/16"? I love auto feed not sure if I'd like the k-50 pushing it in.

I was also suggested the ELECTRIC EEL CT, which seems pretty nice. Really nice actually.

In the mean time to decide which machine to buy, this morning I had another sink line to do. The clog was around 40 feet. The pipe ran into the exterior wall down to the rim joist then a back towards the front of the house, 2 more 90s to drop below the center beam and more turns after that. It was a battle, I had to use the clutch to push the cable every 6 inch after 30 feet of so. It was impossible to push it by hand.

Too bad redwood doesn't post anymore he had a k-3800 he could reply to this one easily, anyway I have a new 3/8" IW cable in the box for my k-3800 with autofeed. Ridgid site states it can be used for 1 1/2 lines. Will it work, with lets say 1x tee, 5x 90s or more? My extra drum is back ordered and If I switch out my 1/2 IC I won't be able to do main inside the house or toilet lines.
 
#21 ·
Does the K-50 drum have the capacity of 50 feet 5/16"? I love auto feed not sure if I'd like the k-50 pushing it in.

I was also suggested the ELECTRIC EEL CT, which seems pretty nice. Really nice actually.

In the mean time to decide which machine to buy, this morning I had another sink line to do. The clog was around 40 feet. The pipe ran into the exterior wall down to the rim joist then a back towards the front of the house, 2 more 90s to drop below the center beam and more turns after that. It was a battle, I had to use the clutch to push the cable every 6 inch after 30 feet of so. It was impossible to push it by hand.

Too bad redwood doesn't post anymore he had a k-3800 he could reply to this one easily, anyway I have a new 3/8" IW cable in the box for my k-3800 with autofeed. Ridgid site states it can be used for 1 1/2 lines. Will it work, with lets say 1x tee, 5x 90s or more? My extra drum is back ordered and If I switch out my 1/2 IC I won't be able to do main inside the house or toilet lines.













You just joined this site in Jan. 2018 and Redwood hasn't posted here in quite a while; I'm curious, how is it that you know about him?
 
#27 ·
While I'm waiting for my K-3800 sink drum and cable to arrive in the mail I tried out my stand today. I installed a cleanout on the down pipe and went to town.


Anyway I modified my stand with protruding wheels on the bottom so I can move the pistol back and forth to play with the cable when needed.


This is the Cadillac now, It felt so comfortable not having to hold the heavy pistol with 50 foot cable inside the drum. This time the clog was around 37 feet. It was so easy to pull back and wiping the cable with two hands feeding it back to the drum.


I need to modify the stand leg for the undersink contraption, other than that I was happy to go to work today...awesome!

:biggrin:

 
#32 ·
Hell, I just got the sink drum for the k-3800 after 5 months of waiting! 327$
General cable was 152$
Total : 479$ and people I get complain about the price on drain cleaning. I bet I'm the most equipped in my area by far.


The K-45 will take a rest while I try this out. Last time I used my k-45 the freaking screw that holds the drum started to pop out again. I'll stick to 25 feet in the pistol. Now thinking of it I'll leave the new cable in the bag and swap the used one from the pistol into the drum. Damn now I have a spare 5/16"x50' and a 35'x3/8" that doesn't work properly in the pistol.

Sure I get calls for sinks(last night, last week and today in an email, too lazy to call when I say to call) They expect free well I don't know. I'll try to remember to ask the next one if they expect a service for 12$ or something. Let them buy 4 bottles of vinegar and baking soda called draino and let them think it'll work.

I used to charge 45$ for for the use of the pistol and 75$ for the drum. Looks like sinks now are going to end up at 75$ for the tool use plus my hourly rate.



 
#34 ·
You say that because the price I paid for the equipment or the delay to get it? There were no sink drum in the US or Canada for the past 5 months...It took almost 3 months to get the guide tube for the K-3800 That too was out of stock.
 
#37 ·
I gave ridgid crap about not having stock and derailed their new drain machine thread on their forum. I hope they heard me up to their offices.

I even told ridgid that if I knew they had such lousy service I would of purchased another brand. I even offered the members to buy my almost new machine at a loss so I could buy something else.
 
#40 ·
I was trying very hard to shake their tree. I wasn't really wanting to get rid of it. Getting it all took so much time and so much turmoil in the end.

I like this drum as I can bring it upstairs each piece in hand(not heavy like other types) and no mess in limited space in tiny bathrooms.
 
#46 ·
I'm not sure how you guys do things in Canada, but at least one of those sanitary tees on that contraption are facing the wrong direction. :biggrin:


Looks nice. I might have to put something like that together when I get around to buying a snake. Got a bigger job today so maybe sooner than I think.
 
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