Well, here's an update. We finally rented a powered auger from a local rental place. It would spin the cable, but we still had to manually push it into the pipe, and then pull it back out. Or at least, that's how it would work for someone who isn't me. We rented it close to five this evening, right before they closed, took it home, and got ready to go. We plugged it in, and I started to pull the cable out to put it in the clean out hole. As soon as the tip of the cutter blade hit the cast iron of our floor drain, it shot sparks out everywhere from the tip. The damn thing has a short in the motor somewhere that electrified the cable. Thank god for leather gloves and the fact that I didn't touch the cable with my bare arm, since I was wearing a short sleeve shirt. After we went outside and smoked a cigarette (and changed my shorts) we decided to try it again, but manually this time. Instead of using the motor to turn the cable as it was going through the pipe, MommaCat turned it while I shoved the cable into the hole. We hit a few blockages that we were able to muscle through, and figured we went through at least half the cable on the drum. We still have a clog somewhere, though, because things are still backing up into the drain. We're gonna try it again and send the whole cable reel out through the clean out. We're also going to put it down the y-pipe behind the washing machine, and also down the y-pipe behind the sink. We finally got the overflow cover off the bathtub, and ran one of the smaller 20' snakes down it. All we pulled back from that was hair. We were figuring on that.
I swear, karma must really have it in for us right now. On top of the drain issue, a week ago Friday MommaCat's car started overheating. We get it to the shop late, and have to wait until Tuesday because of the holiday to find out we've got a bum thermostat. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. I've replaced thermostats on my Ranger and on the Camaro. Not in the Volkswagen. You have to remove the entire front of the car, as well as the timing belt, to access the thermostat. $25 for the thermostat, and 3.8 hours labor brings the total up to $381 and change that we don't have. We decided to clean up the Camaro to try to sell it again. I was trying to pull the wiper arms off so I could replace the wiper motor, and I cracked the freaking windshield! I tell you, I can't win for losing! Got that fixed, and we were able to rent the auger today so I thought we would be good. But no, something else had to go wrong. If it wasn't for the fact that I have a phone interview for a job on Tuesday, I'd think we were cursed or something. Either that, or one of us REALLY pissed someone off in another life.
Sorry for the sob story/pity party, but I needed to vent, and I wanted to update you all on what was going on with our sh*tty sewer. Pun intended.
