Need opinion on whole house trap problem

Hello Everyone, Thanks in advance for any help you can provide with this situation. I will try to explain the best I can:

I have a very old house that has cast iron piping in the basement that leads to the town sewer.

I have had issues with roots getting in to the line to the street for the past 10 years and I have had both Roto-Rooter come in and auger out the roots, and I have also done it myself a few times with a rental unit. This last back up I chose Roto-Rooter because I just didn't want to deal with the whole issue of getting the machine in to my house and the mess it creates. Roto-Rooter came in and was able to go out 100 ft into the line and clean as much of the roots as possible, and the line is again clear for the time being. They said I have a few "belly's" out in the yard that slows down the flow, but they also commented that I should remove the old "whole house trap" (see attached picture) located in the basement. They also recommended that I have the line to the street "Watter Jetted" to remove all the roots, which I am looking into. One thing I found out by having Roto-Rooter come in, was they went out about 60 feet with their camera and couldn't go any further due to a slight belly that they encountered . The technician went out with his camera detector and found that it was about 8 feet from my neighbors house. He feels that the septic line from my house to the street goes "under" my neighbors house....UGH! Based on the direction of the line I also agree. I believe the neighbors house and my house may have been part of one big parcel back in the 1800's.


SEE ATTACHED PICTURE - The whole house trap will be cut at the cleanout going to the sewer (right side of picture), the other cut will be much to the left of the trap after some corroded areas underneath the 4" line (left side of picture). The "vent" that is shown as a vertical line goes up about 4 feet and then elbows out through the brick foundation and has an "screened inlet" under my porch. I know that this "intake air" line is plugged as I saw it last year when I was under my porch insulating the floor.

Questions for you all:

1. If I remove the Whole House Trap, do I really need the "intake air" line? I have a main vent much further upstream that goes through the roof that all the toilets and sinks are tied into. I could put a Tee off of the new clean out I will install in the straight piece that I will install when I remove the house trap if I ever need to add the air intake..

2. If I have the line water jetted to the street (about 150-200 feet), would starting a monthly program of adding root killer get me by for a forseeable future?

There is nothing here in my town in Massachusetts that would prevent me from removing the whole house trap, and I'm sure if I could get better acceleration going through the pipe to the street it may reduce the amount of times I have had to do this root cleaning. I just didn't want to have to add an "intake air vent" if I didn't have to. The fact that it has been plugged for so long tells me I don't need to.

3. Any comments on water jetting the clay piping I have going from my house out to the street 150-200 feet away? The pricing is ridiculously expensive but I don't want to keep throwing good money after bad.

I appreciate any and all helpful comments. Thanks in advance everyone.

Removing the trap will do nothing to solve the stoppage problems you are having. Your problem is the clay pipe that needs to be replaced.

John,

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

Yes, I realize that to solve my problem I will need to replace the clay pipe. I still need to investigate my piping going under my neighbors house, which obviously would require me to re-route the sewer line to another spot where I can pick up the town sewer. I am just off the main street so I would have to tie into a different street and I already know that it will be expensive.

I am trying to eliminate the flow of water and waste from slowing down once it goes through the house trap, so eliminating it can only help (in the short term). My question was do I really need the "air inlet" into the new straight piping I will be installing (PVC with a cleanout plug)?

I realize these are short term gap measures in totally fixing the problem once and for all, but until I can afford to have the whole line re-done, I am hoping for the best case scenario until then giving me more time in between cleanings, which is what the other question was regarding the benefit of the water jetting.

Thanks again!

there are companies out there that can actually repair
breaks or bellies even re line the drain without digging anything
I work for a university in Boston we have 50'of
6" with 2 breaks it took about 2 hrs
per break and 8-12 hrs to re line
they give a great garrantee
we have another line that's broken
in a couple of places and its about 8' below grade
it's about 100' long we are putting it off until summer break
we have affected fixture being pimped into another drain main
good luck

A liner will not fix a belly you have to dig it up if it is and get rid of it put off in

Take the house trap out, tie the vent back in it cant hurt. Be careful when jetting older pipe, it could blow it out. Rooter always says you have a belly, they like the upsell. Read some reviews about them. I would call a local drain guy and get him in there.

Word of advice cast iron does not belly it off sets

The first thing a relining company will do is jet the entire line because it has to
be cleaned to reline, Relining consistence of air blowing a special resin filled
felt liner though the pipe that forms a new PVC inner coating inside the existing
pipe,

But the best and Cheapest way is to get ROOT-X and run down the drain it will
kill out the roots for a year or more then reapply