How to unclog water supply lines (not at valve or fixture)

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LOUnatic

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Ill try to keep this brief. My wife and I bought a 20 year old home 2 years ago. The house had a water softener in line outside and Ive never messed with it. I got a quote for annual refills and maintenance and it was $1000 anually so I said Ill just hit my shower with CLR once a month.

Fast forward to last Wednesday. She calls to tell me weve lost water pressure and one of the toilets has what looks like "rusty mashed potatoes" in the tank. It was the resin from the water softener. It had penetrated the filter and or distribution tube and made it into the house. I stepped her through how to engage the bypass but it appears to have still made it all over the house.

I spent all weekend cleaning out valves and supply lines under the cabinets and my hotwater heater and now Ive got 80% capabilities back.

I have 2 trouble areas left.
Downstairs guest and master bath: my guest (half) bath gets hot water to the sink no problem but no cold water to it or the toilet. Also the toilet in the master bathroom is back to back with this toilet so Im guessing these 3 things are coming from one line that branches off to the these 3 (or maybe just the toilets and the guest sink is branched off from the guest toilet). The rest of the master bath is fine, hot and cold showers, sink, bathtub. Whole deal.

Kitchen sink and hose bib on exterior wall: I get hot water to the kitchen sink no problem but like the guest bath, no cold water. There is also a water hose bib on the exterior wall maybe a foot or two from the sink so Im guessing there is a clog at that T as well.

I guess my question is this, is there anything I can do to try and suck this stuff out from the valves? Houston is still in bad way for plumbing repairs right now and everyone is still booked for weeks after the freeze destroyed so many pipes in people's homes.

Im not comfortable cutting and replacing pipes on my own so if I have to wait to get those two toilets back and keep filling them with a painters bucket from the tub so be it.....but just wanted to see if yall had any advice.

Sorry for the novel, and thanks in advance.
 
What type of piping do you have?
It appears to all be half inch copper. Even some of the supply lines (meaning from the valves into the fixture itself) are copper lines. Ive replaced all the toilets with flex as the toilet fill valves have died over the years.
 
How about flushing your main thru an outside spikot
Wouldnt I run the risk of pushing the clog further BACK into the plumbing and thus deeper into the system? Or worse yet, bursting a pipe from pressure coming in both directions?
 
Not sure, we don't really know what conditions
your up against, another thought,how about shutting off the main,going to the fixture closest to the water main, disconnect a cold supply put a wet vac on it,wrap a wet rag around the hose to get better suction, if that works keep moving on
 
Not sure, we don't really know what conditions
your up against, another thought,how about shutting off the main,going to the fixture closest to the water main, disconnect a cold supply put a wet vac on it,wrap a wet rag around the hose to get better suction, if that works keep moving on

Wouldnt it make sense to leave the water ON and suck from the spigot with the wet vac so the clog is being pushed by the water and pulled by the suction?
 
Do you expect someone to tell you exacty how to do it without seeing it? I would take the suggestions and use what you think will work. Try to build on ideas not shoot them down. People are flying blind just trying to help.
 
Turn off your water and take off your supply stops one at a time. Then turn on water and flush. Replace angle stop and check supply line and stem or cartridge clean replace as necessary. Same with the hose bibb take it apart. It’s unlikely the resin is stuck in the pipe work. It’s typically the stop valves, supply lines and cartridges/stems
 
Turn off your water and take off your supply stops one at a time. Then turn on water and flush. Replace angle stop and check supply line and stem or cartridge clean replace as necessary. Same with the hose bibb take it apart. It’s unlikely the resin is stuck in the pipe work. It’s typically the stop valves, supply lines and cartridges/stems
I assure you its not at the hose bibb itself or the valves of the sink. I literally took it off the wall and now there is just a copper pipe coming out of my home and Im not soaked.

Same for the toilet and sink in the guest bath. Ive just got copper pipe coming out from the back of the cabinet and wall.
 
One time I I had to shut the water supply to a horse farm down. When we started it back up there was one large section that would not flow water. It was odd.

What ended up working was hooking a garden house from the opposite end and blowing water back toward the source. I know this is hard to picture.

Try finding where you still have good flow. Probably somewhere near the very beginning. Temporarily hook a garden hose there. Cut the piping somewhere before the plug. Go to one of the outlets and hook the other end of the garden hose and blast.

Basically run water backward from the way it was meant to go, plug outlets but not all you'll want to bleed air. Or maybe let air build up and blast out by letting it out strategically.

Get creative.

Or start chopping out chunks.
 
Im thinking Im just going to let a plumber cut in to the ceiling and either A) blast it out with compressed air or B, just cut a chunk out and replace.
My only fear is that the kitchen sink supply lines may come up from the slab and thus not really accessible. I dont know why that would be, my hot water heater is in the attic and my "main shut off" inside my house is a vertical pipe that clearly goes vertically strait up in the air through the wall and up to the attic.
 
One time I I had to shut the water supply to a horse farm down. When we started it back up there was one large section that would not flow water. It was odd.

What ended up working was hooking a garden house from the opposite end and blowing water back toward the source. I know this is hard to picture.

Try finding where you still have good flow. Probably somewhere near the very beginning. Temporarily hook a garden hose there. Cut the piping somewhere before the plug. Go to one of the outlets and hook the other end of the garden hose and blast.

Basically run water backward from the way it was meant to go, plug outlets but not all you'll want to bleed air. Or maybe let air build up and blast out by letting it out strategically.

Get creative.

Or start chopping out chunks.


So just so I understand, youre saying go to my backyard hose bib which does get great pressure still and hook it up with a hose to my hose bib outside that does not get pressure and turn it on so that the clog gets hit from both the front and the back by water to see if that loosens it up?
 
Well since I don't know your layout I can't say if that would be best. If you do it that way you'd likley need a place for it to go.

The best would be of you could cut near the plug and push it the toward the cut. That could back the plug out.

All of this is actually very dependant on the piping schematic.
 

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