Clearing a Blocked Drain on a ROOF | How to Use a Plumbing Snake

Sometimes when you're dealing with blocked drains, you have to get on the roof to run your sewer snake. Today I'm clearing a blocked drain on a roof and showing you how to use a plumbing snake a clear a blocked drain. Also while we're up there we'll use a sewer inspection camera to look down in there and determine what was causing this blocked drain. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Thanks for watching! I'm Roger Wakefield, LEED AP, The Expert Plumber and welcome to my channel. On this channel I teach homeowners how to save money on their plumbing by doing DIY plumbing projects. I also teach plumbers and plumbing company owners how to be the best plumbers in their area and run successful plumbing businesses. My goal is teach you everything you need to know about plumbing.

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[RogerWakefield]

What do you think should I do more blocked drain videos?

[kennethdelacruz]

Professional and honest service like this is what every plumber should strive for! Love your channel and keep up the good work!

[LisaLongDesigns]

Thanks for unclogging my bathroom so fast! I hope to get this completely fixed sometime soon! Those roots were insane.

[Samhain]

My wife asks me why I'm always listening to you !!! I explain that every word you speak is worth gold !!! That you are literally a master of everything possible in the industry !!! She doesn't understand !!!

[jordon]

I'm grateful to those who taught me take the sewer line glove off when using the camera controls.

[kaneamora]

I’ve done this on top of a 3 story apartment. Getting that beast up there was always tricky. Most of the time we were pulling out baby wipes that people swear they never flush.

[krASHExxx]

Roger! When I was younger my dad and I would snake the drain out from the roof every now and again. I remember carrying that heavy snake up and unclogging everything

[timprior]

Roger, I have the exact scenario! I never thought of snaking from the roof. Thanks Tim

[verbalswagrawkey]

Ok, Roger I found a clean out behind the kitchen drawers. I was super excited, got my 25’ snake, my DeWalt hand drill and Snaked and baked my way to and thru the kitchen pipe. I think I even whistled Dixie because I’m bad, I’m fix’n dad’s worrisome problem. When finished, I proudly showed pops, that I, , , his middle son, was worthy.
He came to the kitchen to see my miraculous accomplishment. Turned on the tap and now everything is more Plugged. Now we have no drainage at all. The water stands in the sink, nary a drop goes down, basically it’s worse now.
I give the fk up!!!

[UrbanVanlife]

this is fascinating how times have changed when you can go in with a camera, nice vid man i hope your going to film the whole repair and job if you can . i want to see more . and wow that thing on the roof iv never seen any thing like that before we dont have them in the uk, not that iv seen

[hmpAK]

I’m an electrician by trade but these videos make me want to start over. Even my kids love the videos and actually learn useful information

[oldironsides]

I do the exact same thing with Interior stoppages it is better to go through the vent then through a toilet waste arm. Also I try to do a tunnel if it's the cost effective way to not destroy their house. Love the video.

[ChuckD]

I've got a 60' pine tree growing nearly over the outflow of my foundation drain. It came with the house. Took a few basement floods to figure out what was happening (on my own). There was no cleanout and it left the foundation at about 7' down. On the advice of an excellent septic man we dug down and installed 2 verticals to the surface about a foot apart with 90 degree bends at the junctions, one going toward the house, one going away. So now once a year he comes up with a cutting tool on a snake and it's about a 30' reach (7' down and about 25' toward the foundation) to where the roots typically appear.

Point being, there is a tool that could be snaked down to cut through roots. Then I guess it'd be nice if there was a way to install an inner sleeve at the break and seal it. Blasting through concrete seems pretty radical, but I'm definitely not a pro.

[brianrobertson]

It used to freak people out when I unclogged drains from the roof. They thought I was crazy.

[randys]

I’ve been plumbing for 8 years now with 1 year drain cleaning experience mixed in. I’ve been told the taking a water hose to the vent first is best. The weight of the water usually pushes the stoppage down(nest, rodent). The one issue I see with a machine on the roof is reventing. You won’t know if your in the right branch of the vent. Any thoughts on that?

[garyberliner]

Really like your videos! As a homeowner you give good information for understanding to make informed decisions.

[cockasorrus]

Time to sell that house!
Man that tree is loving all that water! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[anthonyb]

I'm a drain technician, my company don't let us go on roofs. I wanted to see how it's done anyways. I always wondered how difficult it is to get your heavy equipment up there, and how difficult it'd be on a steeper roof.

[Orrphan]

Nice vid. I thought Billy Bob Thornton was narrating it until I saw you talk.

[andrewrose]

I have a k50 sectional with a 25 ft 3/8 reinforced cable drum attachment and 100ft of 7.5 and 10 ft sections of 5/8 ths cable. For roof vents, showers and sinks the 3/8 th cable drum attachment is awesome. Light weight and versatile. For main drains it's slow and cumbersome and you have to lay out a tarp and manage the cable but this was my first machine I started out with. Now I own a 3/4 hp general drum auto feed machine witch is heavy but I'm more efficient and faster along with cleaner because it's all together. Living in a small town it's not feasible for me to get a camera but I'm looking for a used one. Never know what you find. Not to ramble but you need two machines. One big and one small. I use a jetter for mobile homes with is a game changer. Mobile homes use ABS that's glued and not primered so the jetter is not as violent as a spinner machine. Plus the membrane under the trailers you have to cut if the pipe comes apart. So many things to doing what we make look easy like anything else I guess. Thank you for your videos, it's nice to see others work and get tips here and there. YouTube university!