My 2 acre pond was built in 1938, and over the years various sticks & branches have been sucked into the 10" metal overflow pipe and are now stuck about 16' down in the 90 degree elbow.
I have tried poking at it with a long pole, but not having any luck in unplugging it. Water level has risen and is now running over the bank. Any idea's on how I can get these sticks out and unplug the pipe? What kind of tool can I lower down to grab and pull the sticks out? Love my pond, but worried about the water running over the dirt berm.
If it's a bunch of big sticks maybe a pruning saw with a LONG handle?? Cut them and maybe the flush on through? Not sure if the extend out 16'.
Would a grapple/hook on the end of a rope work? Let it carry down to the clog from above and hopefully "catch" some debris that can then be pulled up and loosened. Alternatively, can you get to it from below? Or attach a hook/claw on your pole and work it from above?
A word of caution, don't underestimate the strength of the "suck" if the clog suddenly breaks free. Make sure you are in no danger of being sucked into the pipe. I have a neighbor that had a kids basketball get in his drain pipe once and he was battling it from above and finally cleared the obstruction and was amazed at the hydraulic power as that clog was freed.
I've successfully unclogged a horizontal section by gluing sections of pvc pipe together and pushing up the pipe from the downstream side. My clog was about 120' up the pipe. 12 sections of 3/4" pvc pipe.
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Could you make an end that looks like a corkscrew on a pole. That way you could maybe twist it around a stick or what ever is pugging the pipe and pull it out. Maybe heat up an electric post or 1/2 inch rebar and make an eight inch coil on the end. Do not make the end too pointed so you would not poke a hole in your toob.
Arborists use manual pole saws. Some telescope to 21' or 22'. Silky Hayate, Silky Hayauchi.
We also use Jameson 6' fibreglas poles that snap together. 3 sections of a Jameson with the pruning blade and hook on the end could do it for you. Or the Silky saws.
Maybe you would have luck contacting a tree service company and asking for help. We rescue cats, kites, drones from trees. I'd certainly come out to help a pond owner with a plugged pipe.[align:right][/align]
I would definitely work from the downstream side for safety as others have noted. Might call a septic guy if you have the funds to pay him (or her). Explain you situation and see it the have the tools to clear it. As someone wrote earlier, I also used PVC pipe to clear a horizontal drain pipe that had a dead turtle wedged in it. I then installed a trash guard.
IF YOU ARE SAFE WORKING ON THE UPSTREAM SIDE,
then I would go get 20' of 4" sewer pipe at Home Depot and rent a powered plumbers drain auger. ($80/day at my local Home Depot, cheaper at a good equipment rental place.) Make sure you get a "root cutter" head, which is two flexible curved saw blades. Also get a boring gimlet, which is the thing that looks like a coiled spring. The gimlet will wind up and grab the small twigs and grass in the blockage.
Put a wood 2x4 on top of your sewer pipe and pound it as far as possible into the blockage. Put on the root cutter head and snake your sewer pipe. The cutter may make it through the blockage and your pipe will start to at least partially drain.
Sometimes the root cutter will grab the blockage material, sometimes it will not. If the root cutter did not initiate water flow, then run back in with the gimlet. See how much grass and twigs you can bind up and remove using that spring.
NO ONE CAN BE IN THE WATER WHILE YOU ARE HAMMERING ON THE SEWER PIPE, OR WHILE SNAKING THE BLOCKAGE.