I've got 4 massive Live Oak trees that deposit a sh!t ton of leaves, acorns, and catkins that ultimately end up inside my French drains. Once a year, I typically am able to clear the drains with a snake attachment on my pressure washer with the aid of lots of elbow grease. That's not working this year. What seems to have happened is that the acorns are in one spot and have sprouted, resulting in a clogged mess with roots. I'm looking at renting a 75 ft or 100 ft sewer snake from Home Depot later on today. I watched a couple videos and they look easy enough to operate. Anyone have any experience with them and/or tips and tricks?

I've done it several times. Get the big one and run nor water while you do it.

Wear leather gloves

Yes, on the heavy duty gloves. Either rubber coated canvas or Kevlar filet gloves, with rubber over them. Typically the cable only has a spade bit on it and is made for punching thru obstructions. The cable itself thrashing around enlarges the hole or breaks the clog loose. If you actually have roots and trees blocking it, you may need to actually get a sewer service to come out. They have a specialty bit like a hole saw, which will cut off all protruding roots, then apply a herbicide to kill it for a while. I have had to do that a couple times with either willow or lilacs

Not a sure thing if there are that many roots in the system. May be time to hire someone with a jetter to come clean it out.

If you don't get it unplugged Bill knows "The Man"

spent my youth unclogging drains. get after it and good luck, sir.

Even better glove recommendations. Protect your hands from physical damage and you sure don’t want any cuts from something coated with nasty.

Same here. I finally bought the 60ft one from Harbor Freight to use once a year.

If there are roots in the pipe a sewer snake will not help you. They are not designed to cut through roots.

I rented one on Saturday morning. Told the HD employee what I was using it on and that I expected to have it back to him in 4 hours. He kind of chuckled and said my job would likely take a lot longer than 4 hours. He was correct. Took me about 7 hours total to clear out all of my downspouts that feed into the French drains. I got the 100' x3/4" heavy duty machine.

Working in 90+ degree temps all day feeding that heavy line into the pipes and then back out was hard work. After I finished each section, I flushed it out with water from my pressure washer. There was one section that I just thought I'd have to give up on because I wasn't able to get the cable break free for quite a while, but finally just kept at it. It sure was satisfying to see clear water draining onto the street from both drain exits when I was done though.

Glad it worked for you.

And that's why "the Man" charges what he does!

I used to have to rent one once a year, then I found this...

https://www.amazon.com/Thrift-MARKE...usekeeping_auto-append-20&ascsubtag=[artid|10055.g.31153987[src|[ch|[lt|

the stuff is the best drain cleaner I've used.

I second this. Great product.

A snake will get the roots. Just depends what head you have on the snake. Always wear leather gloves when running one. A rubber glove can catch on the cable and rip your hand off. We rent all sizes of snakes and send one out almost everyday of the week.

Copper sulfate crystals

Google it

Thank me next year