Been googling about drain cleaners and bleach used in septic systems..... seems to be conflicting info on the web....
Some sites say 'its OK, breaks down quickly, will not hurt bacteria'..... others say otherwise....

"Chlorine bleach in moderate amounts isn’t as bad for a septic system as you may have heard. But even a little drain cleaner may be terrible. One study found that it took nearly two gallons of liquid bleach but only about a teaspoon of chemical drain cleaner to kill the beneficial bacteria in a septic tank."
https://www.houselogic.com/organize-mai ... ic-system/

I've always been told to 'minimize' the amount of harsh chemicals you dump into the tank..... and thats been my practice.

Not sure how you "pushed air" both ways, but the vent system is probably attached to a couple of drains/traps (toilet? Vanity Sink? Laundry waste?) So you might have been pushing air into them instead of out the vent through the roof.

Did you try putting water down from the highest point of the vent with a hose? (It's the cheapest solution for diagnosis)

Incidentally what diameter is your drain pipe/waste arm? and how far away is it from the stack? (Diameter of that waste arm determines the max distance to the stack and vent. Is it a design flaw?)

Maybe it's just S.M.O.A.G. (Solid Material, Oil And Grease) built up in the pipe. In London recently they excavated under a street and pulled up a wad of shiite as big as a house!

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way ... r-blockage

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... age-system

I held the shop vac (blowing, not sucking) up tight to the vent on the roof and had air flow from the disassembled piping under the sink.
I held the shop vac (blowing, not sucking) up tight to the piping under the sink and had air flow from the vent on the roof.

I considered that there was other paths, and figured that a reasonable amount of air coming out either direction would mean that the vent itself is not blocked. In my usual method of over-analyzing, I tried it both directions. There was good airflow.


No. The crook in the vent piping prevents having a hose from going deep enough in. The vent on the roof is inverted, like we talked about before.


1.5" white coming down from the sink, 2" black ABS going into the wall. The vent system is 2".
I do not remember the exact path for the vent or the drain. There is a bathroom sink 9' above and offset by 6' that shares the vent. We don't use it enough to have tested it for slow drain.
Regarding design flaw, it has worked flawlessly for 12 years, only starting to drain slowly this year. We first noticed a slow drain episode in May. I ripped the whole thing apart, snaked it, pulled a little bit out, ran that snake back and forth with vigorous overkill, couldn't pull anything else out, put it back together, seemed better with hot water, reinstalled the cabinet and sink and noticed slow draining again within a week.
It'd be easy to latch on to design flaw since I installed it those 12 years ago, but that it has worked great for 12 years belies that.


That's my guess.
I am with John M Browning regarding dumping chemicals down my drains. I have so far avoided it all my life. Before I would resort to Mr MadPick's "easy way" I'll remove the sink and take apart the wall to try to get a better angle for a longer snake action.
Mr MadPick knows that I eschew the easy way, so I believe that he suggested that as a way to taunt me. He is also the fellow who suggested that I buy tools from Harbor Freight.

Your logic holds water. No pun intended.

I'd say the vent is clear. Now you need to chase down the bottleneck in the pipe after the sink.

I'd bleach the hell out of it.

Drano will eat pipes and cause all sorts of problems. I've never used it.

After you get it cleaned out and flowing you can use Rid X to restore the bacteria in the septic system. It will take a while for all the bleach to move through the system so the bacteria will take.

vinegar and baking soda, plug it wait and then hot water

Conceal Carry in Idaho or not?

I have a valid WA CPL. USAcarry.com says WA/ID reciprocates... but they also show AZ/WA recip (which if I recall there was a recent thread where this was no longer the case).

Advice? Anyone travel to ID a lot?

Idaho is a great state.
https://www.isp.idaho.gov/BCI/concealedWeapons.html

Sweet! First trip to Idaho. Gracias Senor

I'm trying to save a brass ground clamp from the scrap bin.

The clamping bolt is steel and due to the herculean efforts of one of my sons the steel has stripped out the brass threads.
Of course I blame one of my sons! I'm far too feeble to have done that myself.


The bottom of the bolt protrudes into the cable cavity enough to prevent my fitting the proper size welding cable all the way in.


My goal is to remove the bolt, clean the cable cavity and silver solder the new welding cable in. I might try to figure a way to re-thread the bolt hole, but not confident about the resulting strength being brass.

Any thoughts on getting that bolt out without mashing up the brass clamp? I have tried holding the bolt head in a heavy vise and putting heavy pressure while turning the clamp CCW... No dice. Tried hammering on the clamp while turning CCW just hard enough to have the threads of the bolt get caught in the remaining threads... No dice.

Ground clamps are cheap... I just want to save this from the scrap heap if possible. Besides, the old ground clamp will "fit" the old welder that it is going on much better than a shiny new one.

Did you try: soaking in penetrating oil for a day or so... applying mild heat to the brass and then trying to back out the bolt?

I guess you could drill straight through the bolt with a bit slightly smaller than the threads and then collapsing the remainder...

The bolt is not stuck... Spins freely due to the stripped brass threads.
Drilling through the bolt is probably the best way to avoid mashing up any brass... Have to start looking at ways to hold it for the drill press. It's no fun doing that free hand.
Thanks Jim, I'll start on that.

Alum should eat the steel and leave the brass alone, right?

I've no experience with that... How long would it take for a 1/2"-13 bolt?
Googling.

Wow! I never knew this! You are quite the Renaissance man, Mr. Selador.

https://hackaday.com/2015/08/03/dissolv ... e-grocery/