Those cameras are not cheap, and very expensive to fix.

Home depot has a good cleaner for stopped up lines Comes in a black plastic bottle which is in a plastic bag $10.

What did the 2 plumbers do?

Around $5-8k wholesale pending on what you buy. You pull a head off and that’s another $1-2k to fix.
If it isn’t leaking down at all and they have both snaked it I would assume something catastrophic. Did they pull back any mud, roots, or anything on the auger head?

They snaked it down to where it connects to the drain line and nothing??? Still doesn't drain? My sinks back up every 4 to 5 years from junk and I snake it and fine. I can get my snake down 25 feet no issue to main drain. Is this on the 2nd story? My buddy just found out his drain lines were cracked in a 1 story house on slab. $10K+... to fix.

If they both snaked it from the same location, and BOTH of their snakes are taking the same path, NOT going to the clog but somewhere else, and nobody wants to pay a little to verify this, well I don’t k ow what to tell ya.


I hear a whole gallon of muriatic acid will make something happen when you flush it. What that something is. . . . Wear goggles is all I can tell ya

Try using a plunger. It may not work in your situation but I tried this a couple of times in the past on a slow draining tub and it worked great.

how old is the house?

sounds to me like a broken line or bad roots. is there a cleanout on the exterior and does the 25' snake make it past there?

Both were licensed plumbers, yes. They both snaked from the vent and also from the tub itself. They run the snake about 15' and it stops. House was built in the 70's.

Believe you're talking about the ZEP brand. That's the only one I've ever found that works.

There you go. Probably sewer line broken under the slab. Call insurance and add the rider then file the claim... I would be suspect of the plumbers you called though. Real ones would have figured it out.

The are probably real plumbers, but why stay and do the hard work when they can go on to a couple easy peasy jobs and make same money with a lot less effort. How many people do ya know that know, or are willing to really work?

I second this... stout stuff.

Charlie

At least one of them wanted to put a camera on it and was told no.

Ok Ok, I’m saying roots too. Did either offer to run a sewer machine with the root cutter , without having to use a camera?

RCINTX what is the rest of the story? Hope you got the problem solved.

And now the rest of the story....

In an effort to save myself some money and take the DIY approach I bought a waterproof camera off of Amazon. $30 bucks. Worked great to a point. Then I hit a point where I could not take the turn in the pipe and the water was too dark to see anything. Boo. After this I buried my head in the sand for about 6 weeks and we just didn't use the tub. Being that this is the master bath (deep jacuzzi tub) the boss (4yo daughter) finally convinced me this had to be fixed. This was her heated swimming pool!

I called a 3rd, much larger company, that I knew would have the camera and other gear necessary to resolve the issue. When I made the appointment I told the scheduler that they were the 3rd plumber I had had out and would need to bring their camera and ANY other tool they might possibly need. She laughed and assured me they could fix it. The next afternoon at 4pm they showed up. I could not be there with the short notice but was able to get a relative to let them in my house. At 5pm the relative called to let me know they they had snaked it and could get about 15' before they couldn't get any farther. They would have to come back the next day with the camera. Mind you I am paying $60 in travel every time they come down. I was not happy. I let the plumber know through my relative that I told them to bring it and I was not happy to pay for a second day of travel. He apologized and said he didn't know anything about the history, the scheduler never told anyone. UGH....

The plumber came back the next day with the head of plumbing for the company and a $20,000 camera. To my surprise they were able to get about 15' and then stop with the camera. The water was too dark and murky to see anything. LOL, my $30 camera could tell them that. However, there camera told them where under the floor they were. Luckily, it was under my bathtub and not under tile! First lucky break yet. They said we would have to bust concrete to there and then see what was going on. This was late in the day. I asked if it would save me money to bust the concrete myself and them to come back once it was dug out . Their answer was "a lot of money". Enough said. They left and I started swinging a hammer. 4 hours later I had a 12" x 9' hole dug where my bathtube used to be.

When they came back the next morning they quickly found the issue. Directly under the bathtub drain was a P trap which flowed down a PCV pipe about 10' and then joined the original cast iron drain pipe in a second P trap. This cast iron P trap was completely closed with crap. We knocked a hole in it with a screw driver but otherwise nothing would budge. Within a couple of hours they had the old cast iron trap cut out and replaced with a standard slip joint (no trap). I filled the hole back in and poured concrete to finish it all up.

All in all I spent about $2000 getting this all done. Could have been much worse I guess. Glad it's over.

Pics below:

Wow. Just wow.

I used this over the weekend. I'm now a firm believer!

Good job getting it done. Some things take time for you to accept spending the money to get the job done right.

Nm, just read the whole thing.

Plumbing trouble ain't never fun or easy.

Papalote

Our bathroom sink always was getting stopped up, one plumber said to pour a tablespoon of Dawn dish soap down the drain once a month, then wait an hour and then pour a gallon of real hot water in the sink. Started that routine and it has been decades since we have had a problem.

This is by far the best product on the market for grease, soap, hair, and general filth. Follow the directions and use extra hot water! Can also be used with septic without negative effects.