Sewer snake has a ball of roots in city main and can not be retrieved. Tried many times by reversing with no results?

sewer main to premises means from the main to your boundary as is the case in all councils
the service line is from your house to the connection at the boundary
you can not be held responsible for pipe damage under council or main roads authority

Robert if your talking about a snake for cleaning sewer pipes, there is normally a thumb ***** or bolt that you tighten.

How to use Drain Snake Plumbing Snake

How to use sewer snake to unplug clogged drain pipe

Clogged Drain

SNAKE CLOGGED SINK DRAIN PIPE

You can use chemical treatments, but they will not show immediate results. Recommend calling a plumber to cut the roots out, and then treat with a commercial product such as RootX. Here are some links about other treatments:

• http://homeguides.sfgate.com/home-remedy-kill-roots-sewer-pipe-92510.html
• http://www.lowesforpros.com/construction-and-contractors/4-steps-to-dealing-with-invasive-tree-roots
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg4HvDgMkXo

Well the main will be in the basement first snake the drain that's pluged but would use a plunger first chances are your haveing a problem in a bathroom drain if so remove the plug get something thin chances are full of hair

Did you see them pull out the roots? The camera has become a sale tool that makes a great deal of money. If I were you I would sit on the job and not do anything right now.

If and when it stops up again you need to watch them work. Check the cable they are going to use and make sure there are not roots on the cable from an other job. Then watch them run the cable if they dont pull back roots. You dont have roots.

If they do pull back roots then you must chose to kive with the cost of snaking out the line lets say every year or 6 months. If that the case you need to ask your self how long am I going to stay here,

It might be cheaper to clean the drain out for 200.00 than to spent 10.000.00 for a new line.

I am not saying that 10.000.00 dollars is your number depending what state you live in will control the cost.

But a rule of thumb would be anywhere from 100.00 per foot to 200.00 per foot. Get 3 prices you can do that over the phone. Just ask the guy who you are talking to now and ask him or her " how long of a run is it?" so then you have your footage the ask him his price per foot.

Best of luck Dont get taken and if you replace the line tell them you want a permit and a copy of it and the inspection card.

Best of luck RJ

If water is backing up into the tub then you have clog downstream from that bathroom group. If water backs up when you ran water in the rest of the house then you have a clogged sewer service. With either case the house drain and / or sewer drain will need to be snaked. Most of the time it will be the sewer drain.

I would go with a smaller sewer snake as long as you work slow,pvc can become brittle over time. Work the snake in conjunction with water to help flush debris from the line.

The ejector pumps probably pump to the same sewer pipe you had rooted. Rooting can do damage. Trees can break into your sewer pipe, jam them up with roots, and let ground water in. The ground water may be following your sewer pipes on the outside back to your house. It costs a lot, but you can have your pipes examined with a tv camera, the rooter people can do that. Make sure your ejectors have check valves, and they are working right. It's easy for something to get stuck in the check, and then water will come back.

there is a blockage at your main sewer drain

ave yu noticed a back flow up inot the tub?

if so the problem is out toward the main line from the house

find the cleanout outside or under the house near the foundation and use a snake to clean it out


You can use a high pressure whater hosue to try to fix this but i am afraid it is roots into your drain line

good luck

Your focus indicates a sewer issue and not a drain issue.
The first challenge is to determine which branch leg of the sewer is the issue and then assess where all your access ports are. Sometimes an outside access port has been covered over by dirt/mulch etc.
If you know where the blockage is ... then as mentioned by other contributors ... you will need a snake. They can be hand driven or motor driven. For great access to the blockage you may need to remove the closest toilet, since snaking through the lower S trap of the toilet really inhibits the snake's effectiveness. Depending on how your house is built ... the roof sewer vent pipes can be a good access point (and sometimes that is where the debris has gotten into your sewer if you have overhanging trees). I have had success with running a garden house up to the roof and down through the vent pipe. You need to have a second person watching by the the toilet to make sure it does not back flow on to the floor. You can get hose spray attachments which help propel the hose and add turbulence to break the blockage ... but I have never tried them.
If your blockage is recurring over the seasons ... and if you have a number of trees close to your sewer line outside then you can have tree root intrusion into the sewer. In that case you need a professional with a special snake that actually has cutting capability to remove the roots.
Attached are 3 photos ... manual snake, motor snake, hose spray nozzle
Good luck with your troubleshooting!