waste pipe cleaning tips

[scotty plumber]

Hi, can anybody give tips on the best way to clean out old copper wastepies 40mm, i use a piece of hep20 pipe but that only takes me as far as the first bend, thanks in advance

 

[Mike Jackson]

Try a sanisnake.

 

[Simon F]

if its ancient it could well be corroded and waiting to start leaking especially if your poking about inside, would it be a difficult job to replace?
nice bit of scrap value

 

[scotty plumber]

if its ancient it could well be corroded and waiting to start leaking especially if your poking about inside, would it be a difficult job to replace?
nice bit of scrap value

i usually replace as much as possible using a macalpine coupling to join on to the copper but these waste pipes are all in high-rise flats, waste pipes run in to this very small cupboards with no access

 

[Guest123]

To clean out traps and lengths of pipe, I push a length of 6mm cable through it and tie the other end to a ring fitted to a bottle brush (the type used for cleaning baby bottles and pint glasses), then I pull the brush through everything. Cleans everything out easily and quickly.

When finished put half a bottle of Fairy Liquid down the plug hole and run VERY hot water through it for 10 minutes and internal pipework comes up as new. I tell all canteen staff and cleaners etc who use sinks to do this once a week as part of their maintenance routine and the amount of call outs to blocked sinks has almost halved.

 

[Sanke]

Have you considered caustic soda. You can put this in mixed with very hot water

 

[PlumbBobBob]

you dont need hot water with caustic soda, chemical reaction makes it hot

 

[Mike Jackson]

Actually it's flipping dangerous if you mix it with hot water, it boils and spits all over the show. It can also distort plastic waste fittings due to the excess heat (yes I've done it).