Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

phoenixcomm — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 19:25:11 GMT

John, in my old house it had Orangeburg pipe that was broken.. According to tech "I had roots, and paper on the broken part" the rest of the sanitary line was fine. We dug it up.. After he cleaned it out. we put back in two sweep T's back to back.( green arrows facing each other) for clean outs. one for the house the other for the line. Two rubber clamping things and finished. That must have been in the late 90's.[View:/resized-image/__size/145x132/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-b7fcb703-6f80-43d4-afac-457cdebd1db0/contentimage_5F00_182249.jpg:145:132]

Fins

Cris

btw that was a crappy job.

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

D_Hersey — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 06:25:40 GMT

The 555 is like Wisconsin: People think that I think that if you use one your rep will take such a hit that you may as well give your SO the keys to the real safe, such is the likelihood of your ever gettin' quality strange again. This is simply not the case. If you use it in some way beyond the data sheet, you're still cool! Say as an SMPS controller or guitar effect or somethin'. Two X's, a F/F and three Rs is alot for a chip of that era with eight pins.

People think I would say 'Never go to Wisconsin, it is just chock full of 'sconnies.' This is not the case. Depending on traffic and the ferry schedule, you can sometimes make it quicker to Ludington, Mi by going

north out of Chi rather than experience (gasp) Indiana. If you stop for German or Italian or Polish food in the Kenosha-Racine corridor, you can pretend most of the overall experience away. First-order immigrants often take a coupla years to realize they are even in Wisconsin, ask them to tell you their tales. The town you are looking for is named 'Manitowoc.' They even have a fast ferry, now, to the south, IIRC.

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

D_Hersey — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 05:40:03 GMT

If you can get one to FM another, you can get this really cool siren noise.

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

D_Hersey — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 05:34:39 GMT

Really one of the most fundamental and robust circuits abroad. Delightfully mutable as well. Just about always works.

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

D_Hersey — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 07:30:44 GMT

That would work fine, or we could use a linear bearing or a rotary bearing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

D_Hersey — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 20:27:04 GMT

Leaving aside the overall solns to the tree-root-in-crapper-output-tube problem, just to the problem of detecting unwanted water, another attractive method IMHO would be to use a float with a magnet and hall-effect sensor. Economical, fairly reliable, stable.

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

D_Hersey — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 20:23:24 GMT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmitt_trigger#Use_as_an_oscillator

You can turn your op amp into an inverting Schmitt trigger with three identical resistors. All three have one end tied to the + input. The free ends attach to V+, V- and out.

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

DAB — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 19:52:10 GMT

Hi John,

Just put a 1/2 cup of salt down each sewer line twice a year and the tree roots will no longer plug the lines.

Done regularly, this approach keeps your lines free and clear of roots.

DAB

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

D_Hersey — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 19:08:38 GMT

I would do it a little differently. For one, I would skip the 555. You can make a perfectly good oscillator with the other comparator half. Rather then try an ohmic probe, which bases your device on the different conductivity of dirty water relative to air, I would base my device on the different thermal conductivity of water and air. I would heat up a capsule to a certain temperature, than time how long it took to return to near ambient, or something

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

Jan Cumps — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 10:23:47 GMT

Do you have the risk that the probes corrode in their harsh environment - and become non-conductive when the water touches them?

RE: Tree Roots in the Sewer Pipe

mcb1 — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 06:01:48 GMT

We once had a similar issue.

They used clay pipes and at some point the roots had found their way into a joint that had cracked.

The drainlayer used a cutter (which is similar to a hole saw) and fed it down the pipe to cut back the roots.

He then told us the distance, and we set out to dig it up at that point and expected to see a whole lot of roots, but not really.

A bit of concrete over the joints to be sure and never had another issue.

So while it's a good idea, getting rid of the cause might be the best long term solution ... if you can.

Mark