Cable machine helps clear major root blockage
Problem: On a January 2019 evening, GVA Plumbing received an emergency service call for a flooded basement in the La Prairie, Quebec, area. After several days of mild weather and heavy rain, area residents had been dealing with plenty of similar situations due to main sewer drains being blocked by major roots, which meant high water levels coming from melting snow and rain gutter spouts dumping close to foundation walls, causing water infiltration into basements through openings in the concrete slab.
Solution: A technician from the company used the ZIP-ZIP REVOLUTION from Drain Rehab Solutions to unblock the main sewer drain and a drain inspection camera to see what was going on. Giovanni Dipaolo, owner of GVA Plumbing, confirmed there was about 3 inches of clear cold water, which was at some places higher than the wooden subfloor. He located the main sanitary stack and opened the clean-out to pass his camera through 28 feet of pipe, where he reached a major blockage. Using his ZIP-ZIP REVOLUTION with its high-speed flexible shaft cable with a 2-inch chain knocker from Renssi, he was able to pierce through two major root blockages in less than 10 minutes.
Result: All the water in the basement started emptying quickly toward the city sewer. “We are now under contract from our satisfied and impressed client to return to rehabilitate the main sewer drain and seal the roots out,” Dipaolo says. 514-379-3544; www.drainrehabsolutions.com.
Concrete removed from storm drain under subway tracks
Problem: Over 15 feet of concrete was accidentally dumped inside a vintage, 20-inch, brick storm pipeline in one of London’s oldest subway stations. The building-grade concrete was originally meant to fill blind laterals, but partially found its way into the mainline and restricted the flow of the 20-inch brick-and-mortar dewatering pipeline that was situated underneath the subway tracks just inside the tube.
Solution: A Sewer Robotics truck with a 36,250 psi diesel engine-driven high-pressure pump was parked outside the entrance of the subway station. After the last metro had passed the station, the Sewer Robotics mobile cable reel, control unit, robot crawler and WJ180 water-jet cutting module were hand-carried to the platform, and high-pressure hoses were deployed over a total length of 10,000 feet, from the truck to the robot. The high-pressure pump in the truck was remotely controlled from the mobile control unit at the tracks to adjust the water pressure and control the water-jet robot.
Result: With eyes on the job and continuous adjustment of water pressure, angle of attack and distance to the material, the high-pressure water blast was directly applied to the concrete deposit to loosen the obstruction from the host pipe within a few hours. The loosed deposits were then flushed into the manhole and removed. 717-251-2279; www.sewerrobotics.com.
Camera and sonde locator used to trace waterlines
Problem: Saltillo Water in Mexico has 24-inch plastic waterlines, which were buried with no tracer wire. They were not able to locate any maps or records detailing where these plastic water pipes were buried. They did know that the majority of their lines would be buried under asphalt in the streets.
Solution: The local Vivax-Metrotech distributor, Commercial Gepsa S.A. DE C.V., took a trip to visit the customer, bringing a vLoc3-Cam sonde locator and vCamMX-2 mini inspection camera. The customer dug 5 feet down to the buried water pipe to install a 3-inch saddle, which would allow the camera head and pushrod to enter the pressurized line without water escaping. With the camera in the plastic pipe, the 512 Hz sonde was activated and quickly picked up on the surface with the sonde locator.
Working in 10-foot increments, they were able to locate the direction and depth of the buried pressurized plastic water pipe. On other locate runs, they simply pushed 50 feet of pushrod into the waterline, then connected a portable utility locator transmitter to the camera reel, allowing them to trace the entire length of pushrod underground in the pipe.
Result: Together with the receiver in sonde mode and the mini camera, they were able to pinpoint with accuracy the location and depth of cover of the buried plastic water pipe. 800-446-3392; www.vivax-metrotech.com.
