# What have you found in drains?



## smellslike$tome (Jan 22, 2006)

This is similar to another thread that ran recently about things found in walls during demo.

Today I found, actually I went looking for it at the HO's request, a 1/2 carat diamond ear ring. She said it went down her shower drain 6 months ago and wondered if it might possibly still be there. I told her that it was quite possible that it was sitting in the bottom of the trap and that I would look with my camera and retrieve if possible but no guarantee for $99.00. So she thought for a few seconds then said no. Later while I was performing other plumbing tasks she says go ahead and try. So I pop off the strainer plate run my spankin' new ridgid micro see snake down into the trap and see nothing but pipe crud. So then I stick my wet vac hose in the drain and get all the water out, rerun the camera, work it around for a minute and all of a sudden the thing lights up like a Christmas light in the bottom of the trap. Suck it out with the vac and the HO is VERY happy.

Another time my wife wakes me from a sound sleep very early one morning. I know immediately from her tone, although I can't understand a word she is saying, that it has something to do with a creature. I stumble into the bathroom trying to adjust to light and find a very large frog staring at me from inside the toilet bowl. I never did get an answer from my wife as to exactly how she came to know that he was in there.:w00t:


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## KillerToiletSpider (May 27, 2007)

I pulled an 8 foot 2X4 out of a vent stack in a high rise with a rodding machine, it had to have been in there since the building was under construction. I pulled a D cell battery through the trap on a W/C with a closet auger, the auger actually got driven right into the side of the battery. 

I'm really glad I don't do service work anymore.


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## mickeyco (May 13, 2006)

Dead sqirrel (I'm guesing it got in through the roof vent?), plastic disposable razors many times, kids toys and a bag a dopes in a rental unit (that was then flushed).


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## gitnerdun (Nov 1, 2006)

Lets see...........batteries, emerald ring, Gladys' loaded undies(her name was on 'em), bras, condoms, at least 50 syringes in the same washer drain, a very dead bird, pine cones, a 18 inch necklace at a septic inlet( thought sure it was real gold, not), Eye glasses, drill bit, someone elses sewer cable, and lots of frogs. That is all I can think of right now. But tomorrow is a new day, always an adventure.


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## Herk (Aug 1, 2007)

Kentucky Fried Chicken, belt buckles, little toy cars, the usual hair picks, lids, combs, pencils and pens. One of the toughest things was a foot long by about 3/8" piece of wood that had been dropped in during construction - took several times before I was able to find out what was causing the problem because the closet auger would go right past it.

Nails, pennies, and dental floss.

Although I didn't see it myself, I heard the story many years ago of pulling out a small plastic doll from a mental hospital manhole and one of the guys who witnessed it passed out thinking it was a fetus . . .


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## Driftwood (Feb 15, 2004)

*on another forum*

A drain cleaner was using a retriver.on His cable. He said He brought back a cats head! Nice little show and tell for the Kiddies!


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## skinnyj41004 (May 10, 2007)

I work with a plumber off and on. One of the funniest things I seen was a blocked line that we augered from the sewer uphill to the house. When the cable broke through we were flooded with used condoms. The homeowner turned red and charged to the house looking for his wife but come to find out, his son was getting busy after school not his wife.


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## All Clear Sewer (Nov 8, 2006)

you name it I have found it from a cat to a frog


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## PARA1 (Jul 18, 2007)

Two best things to date : cell phone (3 times) , mini vibrator (women said it was her power lifter son's), all from toilet traps. Always curious about the cell phones in toilets , so I asked a women and was told alot of chicks carry their phones in their back pocket(they will always pay to get them out of the toilet if they are insured.:thumbsup:


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## gitnerdun (Nov 1, 2006)

I know you guys won't believe this, but I found tampons in a drain before! Unreal, huh?


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## Tiger (Nov 21, 2007)

Maybe this one wouldn't be a surprise to a plumber, but it was to me. I have a maple that plugs the city drain every 5 or so years. This summer I had that lower toilet stop, so I pulled it. There was a root mass blocking the drain right at the floor. I guess a very well fertilized root can grow on its own without a leaf.

Dave


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## Herk (Aug 1, 2007)

Yeah, I've only had it once - pulled a toilet and the roots were solid right across the top of the flange. At least they hadn't grown right up into the toilet.


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## threaderman (Nov 15, 2007)

Herk said:


> Yeah, I've only had it once - pulled a toilet and the roots were solid right across the top of the flange. At least they hadn't grown right up into the toilet.


 I've seen lines that bad ,rough-stuff.The other things would include a squirrel,yogurt containers from back-to-back houses from the same kid :sad:,the best was a set of false teeth.The old boy said he was going to clean them up and re-use them.And a hotel line had a 12" screwdriver stuck at a bend.And yes, somebody elses cable.


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

About thirty years ago, bro-in-law and I came across aseptic tank dotted with condoms with air pockets in the ends of them. They looked like they had been tied off. Surely not! It was an older like couple. Well, we thought they were. Prop no older than we are now. Always wondered about that situation. Surely it was sewage gases trapped in them.


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## reveivl (May 29, 2005)

I had a bathtub drain leaking in a rental property two years ago, took it all apart, and found a nearby maple tree had gotten it's roots into the old clay drain tile, and sent the roots back up the pipe. The pipe was completely packed with root mass to within a few feet of the tub, a distance of some fifteen feet, most of it above ground. If the renters hadn't finally called me, (a year or so late ), they would have had a maple tree growing up through the drain in the tub.


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

man, glad i live in the country. people are nasty flushing all that stuff down city sewer systems. i know some stuff is found in septic systems but i would never think of just flushing a condom down the drain. 
working at city sewer plant must be one heck of job.


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## works4me (Sep 1, 2007)

My wife got her engineering degree, she had to visit the local sewer plant for a class. She said you would think hard before drinking city water again after seeing that. Condoms everywhere!


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## KillerToiletSpider (May 27, 2007)

ApgarNJ said:


> man, glad i live in the country. people are nasty flushing all that stuff down city sewer systems. i know some stuff is found in septic systems but i would never think of just flushing a condom down the drain.
> working at city sewer plant must be one heck of job.


The city of Chicago sewerage treatment plant is located in Stickney, I have taken a tour of the facility, and it is quite a place. The process starts with the bail screens, which is basicaly chain link fence sections over the 10' diameter inlet main, they average six human bodies a year in those screens, as well as 4 X 8 sheets of plywood, railroad ties, 16 foot long pieces of lumber, you name it. after the bail screens it gets pumped up to a series of settling basins where solids are removed down to 1/16 of an inch in size, after that is a flocing basin to remove particulate solids, and then is released as 98% pure water into the river system. The director of the facility will not hesitate to drink a glass of treated sewage when giving tours of the place.


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

that's nasty. i'll stick to my well water for the rest of my life. i hate city water.


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## firemike (Dec 11, 2005)

> The director of the facility will not hesitate to drink a glass of treated sewage when giving tours of the place.


When I lived up in Saginaw, the city gets it's water from Lake Michigan up near Tawas. When doing some work at the waste water treatment plant, we were talking to one of the operators and he told us that the water that they discharge from the sewage treatment plant is actually cleaner then the water they are bringing in for the fresh water supply. 



> i'll stick to my well water for the rest of my life. i hate city water.


 Anyone that has worked on a fire department with city water or been around when the DPS flushes hydrants might fell the same way. The water that come out stinks, is brown or black, and is really nasty. I have seen beer cans, rocks, pieces of wood, etc. come out of a fire hydrant. A neighboring department didn't have a screen on the intake port of their truck, a rock from the main got into the pump and did $12,000 damage to it.


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## Herk (Aug 1, 2007)

ApgarNJ said:


> i'll stick to my well water for the rest of my life. i hate city water.


Depends on where you are. Here, the city water is excellent. It's pumped from deep wells and is usually superior to domestic wells. You get a steady 60 PSI and no pump noise and no super-expensive repairs for submersible pumps. And it does not contain chemicals.


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

but with city water, you are always paying, how much does water cost? i've never lived anywhere where i had to pay for city water.


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## KillerToiletSpider (May 27, 2007)

ApgarNJ said:


> but with city water, you are always paying, how much does water cost? i've never lived anywhere where i had to pay for city water.


I pay about 15 bucks a month, and never have to worry about pump failures, or pressure tank failures.


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

that's not bad. i had my jet pump go bad, which i hated anyways, the footvalve at the bottom of the well took a dump. and we were losing pressure back down into the well. so i now have a submersible pump with a lot more pressure. cost me 2000 though. and that was me there helpign. my plumber came asap. i know all of his workers cell numbers.


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## KillerToiletSpider (May 27, 2007)

ApgarNJ said:


> that's not bad. i had my jet pump go bad, which i hated anyways, the footvalve at the bottom of the well took a dump. and we were losing pressure back down into the well. so i now have a submersible pump with a lot more pressure. cost me 2000 though. and that was me there helpign. my plumber came asap. i know all of his workers cell numbers.


That 2000.00 is more than I pay for water for a year, and that doesn't include the electric to run the pump.


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## Herk (Aug 1, 2007)

I'm charged for water/sewer/garbage and the water part of my normal bill is about $10.50 per month. I have a sprinkler system and it can go up in the summer if I use it a lot.


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## All Clear Sewer (Nov 8, 2006)

KillerToiletSpi said:


> The director of the facility will not hesitate to drink a glass of treated sewage when giving tours of the place.


He would if he got what I got from cleaning a sewer  I had the ****s for 3 weeks


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## AllAmerican (Nov 17, 2007)

Twice I found the bottom of soda cans at the outlet of toilets in public restrooms. The cans had been perfectly cut (with snips I guess) about 3/4" tall. They were just a little too big to go through the outlet. 

I have also found t-shirts, underwear, keys, sunglasses, and cell phones.


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## Pete M (Dec 10, 2007)

ApgarNJ said:


> that's nasty. i'll stick to my well water for the rest of my life. i hate city water.


Well water is no picnic. Besides the lower water pressure experienced in well systems there are a number of other issues. Depending on where you live, you have to deal with choliform bacteria, Arsenic, hard water, ferric iron, ferrous iron, iron bacteria, rotten egg smell (hydrogen gas), lead, tannins, oils, and a list of bacteria that would fill an encyclopedia. I've been in basements that had long rows of tanks, each addressing a particular issue. Add to that de-gassing tanks, chlorinators, de-chloinators and on and on. With all of those issues, most people only have a whole house filter and a water softener.

The trick to city water is to remove the chloine with a simple carbon filter. If you want it really pure for drinking, cooking and ice cubes, you use a quality 5-stage reverse -osmosis unit. I'll stick with city-water.


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## Pete M (Dec 10, 2007)

*Found in Drains*



smellslike$tome said:


> This is similar to another thread that ran recently about things found in walls during demo.
> 
> Today I found, actually I went looking for it at the HO's request, a 1/2 carat diamond ear ring. She said it went down her shower drain 6 months ago and wondered if it might possibly still be there. I told her that it was quite possible that it was sitting in the bottom of the trap and that I would look with my camera and retrieve if possible but no guarantee for $99.00. So she thought for a few seconds then said no. Later while I was performing other plumbing tasks she says go ahead and try. So I pop off the strainer plate run my spankin' new ridgid micro see snake down into the trap and see nothing but pipe crud. So then I stick my wet vac hose in the drain and get all the water out, rerun the camera, work it around for a minute and all of a sudden the thing lights up like a Christmas light in the bottom of the trap. Suck it out with the vac and the HO is VERY happy.
> 
> Another time my wife wakes me from a sound sleep very early one morning. I know immediately from her tone, although I can't understand a word she is saying, that it has something to do with a creature. I stumble into the bathroom trying to adjust to light and find a very large frog staring at me from inside the toilet bowl. I never did get an answer from my wife as to exactly how she came to know that he was in there.:w00t:


 
You haven't lived until you've jetted a plugged sewer in a mortuary and everything comes up red.


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## smellslike$tome (Jan 22, 2006)

Pete M said:


> You haven't lived until you've jetted a plugged sewer in a mortuary and everything comes up red.


If we get that call one day we will be taking a pass. I've come very close but have never yet refused to enter a home that needed service but I want no part of that scene nor would I send anyone to do it. Poo is one thing, blood and guts is another.


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