Getting rid of or Preventing Roots from Clogging Drains

[papadave]

resident plumbers: for real or a old wife's tale??

Professional "rooting" is expensive.

Doing it yourself is messy and time consuming.

Using the recommended chemical root killers hurts the environment.

The solution? Rock salt.

Take an old nylon stocking or panty hose leg. Put a cup or so of rock salt (available at the grocery store) in to the foot. Tie off the leg a little above that and hang in the toilet tank-away from the drain hole but where it will be submerged. Repeat every month or so and forget about roots in the sewer line.
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david

Doing nothing is very hard to do - you never know when your finished.

[recon]

Dave,
It sounds like a old wives tale.

[Gofor]

Wive's Tale:

You can also forget about any metal parts in the drain system lasting very long. (That includes the bolts that hold the tank onto the back of the toilet). The rock salt will make a quite corrosive mixture. The rock salt may kill the root, or plant, but will not dissolve the stoppage. After all, many plants (i,.e sauerkraut) and meats (hams) are actually preserved by soaking in a brine solution.

Chemical root killers are bad for septic systems, but so is rock salt. If you are on sewer, the chemical killers will not hurt the environment as they are filtered out and neutralized at the treatment plant. The can, however, cause considerable damage to the plumber you call when they don't work, so please let him/her know if you have thrown any chemicals down the drain before they go to work.

JMTCW

Go
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Jest old Go

[ihmserv]

every thing gofer said and if you are on septic system plan on spending megabucks replacing it. rocksalt will kill the enzymes in the tank and cause it to fail.

IAN
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I don't run from insanity, I cheerish every minute of it.

[papadave]

that is what i thought. got it as a email tip and it just did not sound right. have deleted it and did not forward.

thanks for the info.

BTW, i do not have problems with tree roots, but knew someone who did.
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david

Doing nothing is very hard to do - you never know when your finished.

[ergeist]

Best preventative for roots when on a septic system: Keep your trees pruned so the drip line (end of the branches) do not get close to your line or tank. Normally, the roots will only extend as far as the drip line with most fruit/ornamental trees (we all can think of exceptions, of course)

If you are on municipal sewer, it certainly wouldnt hurt to have your sewer line marked, and take the same precautions
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Eric