Sewer Cleaning Equipment

[TomFitz]

I have a question that perhaps someone can help me with..

I'm working on a fairly large construction project (17 government buildings) and just recently, one of the buildings (2 story) had toilets on the 1st floor back-up. These buildings, although still under warranty, have been turned over to the user and are maintained by a private contractor.
Rather than unplug the stoppage from the commode or the clean-out (about 10' upstream from the commode), they used a Vac-Con sewer cleaning truck with a one inch hydraulically fed hose putting out 2000 PSI at 80 gpm and went in from the sewer manhole to push it up the lateral towards the building. This nozzel was heavy metal with a sharp point..

After several attemps they quit and we brought in another contractor who cleared the blockage with a 25' hand snake. It was plugged up with paper towels and baby-wipes in the ladies restroom.

We later found that a 45deg fitting in lateral from the building to the manhole had been shattered and the area was undermined. (12" concrete parking area above it).

Now we have a can of worms where this contractor (that used the Vac-Con Truck) is claiming that the laterals must have been broken before they made there attempt to clean it out.

We feel that such equipment is not meant for cleaning laterals but for sewer lines and storm drains...

I'd like to get a professional opinion on this and would appreciate any info that someone could offer...

Thanks for any response..

TomFitz

 

[dicksewerrat]

This might have been a little overkill. However, did the sewer pass an air test before acceptance?
the private maintenance contractor should probably go to a few classes on bldg. maint.