The benefits of having trenchless pipe repair capabilities really hit home for Colin Luttrell last winter. That’s when on a job at a mansion in an affluent suburb of Rochester, New York, the owner of Colin the Plumber encountered a separation in a stormwater line under a recently poured patio located next to a new in-ground swimming pool.
Debris and tree roots had entered the drainline through the separation and caused backups at the home’s downspouts, which were connected to a stormwater drain system. The homeowner suspected a problem when he noticed ice accumulating around various downspout connections, Luttrell says.
“There was no way we were going to rip up that patio to fix the line,” Luttrell says.
Not only was the patio almost brand-new, there was a gas line buried under the patio, too, which further complicated matters.
When the 4-inch-diameter drainlines had thawed out sufficiently, Luttrell inspected the system with a RIDGID Mini SeeSnake push camera equipped with a 200-foot cable. After locating the line break, which was about 80 feet away from a two-way cleanout, he cleaned the line with a RIDGID K9-204 FlexShaft drain machine.
Then he installed a 2-foot-long PipePatch point-repair liner from Source One Environmental.
“It sleeved the separation perfectly,” Luttrell says.
But the installation was not hassle-free by any means. The line included two short elbows between the cleanout and the separation, which made it difficult to get the Source One packer through the line.
“We used a lot of cooking oil to lube the packer,” Luttrell explains. “We also did a dry run first because after you activate the resins, it’s go-time. You’ve got to put on your big-boy pants and get after it because if it doesn’t work out, you do what you were trying to avoid in the first place. And you end up looking like an amateur.”
The job took about a full day.
“The owner was very happy,” Luttrell says. “We received a five-star Google review right away.”
