Sand in drain line, advice? - Plumbing Zone

JimmyMac · 02-10-2016, 12:54 PM

We have 2 different locations that we have issues with sand in a main line, both are supermarket/large big box stores. Both are 4" lines which are about 1/2 or more full of sand over 200' length and ballpark 400'plus to exterior of building. Neither have 2 way clean outs outside...no need for those(sarcasm)...

We are going to try and forward jet the line out to the street, or at least as far as possible, then camera line to see how it looks.

You guys have any other thoughts/ideas?

Rooter just stirs it up and sand falls back to bottom of pipe.

**OpenSights** · 02-10-2016, 12:59 PM

A bit of advice... before you blow all that sand out to the city, give them a call. They will want to be there with their own jetter or vac.

I learned that with a bad grease line before.

gear junkie · 02-10-2016, 01:07 PM

Good luck but don't expect great results. You need to pull all the sand in one direction. Pushing doesn't always work so well. Be careful.....sand is easy to get stuck in if you go to fast as the sand will settle behind your hose.

JimmyMac · 02-10-2016, 01:08 PM

Agreed, will for one, the other runs to a lift station on the property(site owned) and will just go to the bottom of the pit where it can't hurt anything.

ShtRnsdownhill · 02-10-2016, 01:10 PM

can you get a vac truck and vacuum them out?

JimmyMac · 02-10-2016, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gear junkie

Good luck but don't expect great results. You need to pull all the sand in one direction. Pushing doesn't always work so well. Be careful.....sand is easy to get stuck in if you go to fast as the sand will settle behind your hose.

Good point, go slow...will do, don't want to make a bad situation worse...

JimmyMac · 02-10-2016, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShtRnsdownhill

can you get a vac truck and vacuum them out?

Not logistically possible, too many things on line to cap off to create enough suction to pull sand out...

cable or root · 02-10-2016, 02:43 PM

Good luck, but they're probably screwed. With that much sand there's probably a lot of bad breaks. Don't get stuck. They may try to pass the blame off on you. Bottom line is they need serious repairs. If part of the line broke that bad there's likely going to be more breaks in the near future. My advice is to either cut your losses, or convince them to replace everything.

JimmyMac · 02-10-2016, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cable or root

Good luck, but they're probably screwed. With that much sand there's probably a lot of bad breaks. Don't get stuck. They may try to pass the blame off on you. Bottom line is they need serious repairs. If part of the line broke that bad there's likely going to be more breaks in the near future. My advice is to either cut your losses, or convince them to replace everything.

Its not from a broken line, its from the floor scrubbers dumped into a mopsink, which is at the end of the line with little to no flow to help push the debris out...

Old man used to say "assume responsibility or blame someone else", already blamed someone else and made that very clear....

ShtRnsdownhill · 02-10-2016, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyMac

Its not from a broken line, its from the floor scrubbers dumped into a mopsink, which is at the end of the line with little to no flow to help push the debris out...

Old man used to say "assume responsibility or blame someone else", already blamed someone else and made that very clear....

sell them a separator to catch the sand..after they get the bill for cleaning the mains, they should be happy to pay it..

02-10-2016, 01:07 PM	#3
gear junkie Ridgid tool user Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of the UPC Posts: 4,838 My Photos	Good luck but don't expect great results. You need to pull all the sand in one direction. Pushing doesn't always work so well. Be careful.....sand is easy to get stuck in if you go to fast as the sand will settle behind your hose. __________________ Buy cheap, buy twice.

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02-10-2016, 12:59 PM	#2
OpenSights Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Grand Ledge, MI Posts: 5,113 My Photos	A bit of advice... before you blow all that sand out to the city, give them a call. They will want to be there with their own jetter or vac. I learned that with a bad grease line before.

02-10-2016, 01:08 PM	#4
JimmyMac Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Virginia Posts: 55 My Photos	Agreed, will for one, the other runs to a lift station on the property(site owned) and will just go to the bottom of the pit where it can't hurt anything.

02-10-2016, 01:10 PM	#5
ShtRnsdownhill Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 5,524 My Photos	can you get a vac truck and vacuum them out?

02-10-2016, 02:43 PM	#8
cable or root Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Location: Wichita, KS Posts: 236 My Photos	Good luck, but they're probably screwed. With that much sand there's probably a lot of bad breaks. Don't get stuck. They may try to pass the blame off on you. Bottom line is they need serious repairs. If part of the line broke that bad there's likely going to be more breaks in the near future. My advice is to either cut your losses, or convince them to replace everything.