Help! 50m Ducting and draw string snapped!

[Andeh1]

Per title, have nearly 50m of Ducting buried under the garden, and I've found the draw string has been damaged somehow... No idea how, buts it's been there for 18 months.. The Ducting is 50mm diameter and pretty smooth poor. Angle down the garden.

Any bright ideas on how we can get a new drawstring in there? I fear there may be some water in the middle of it.

[Rough101]

Was it tight/snapped?

Assuming it’s clear and straight, you can use cable rods.

I’ve seen it done with compressed air, but with giant engine powered road crew compressors.

[Jimbo.]

Could you beg/steal/borrow a few (!) drain rod sets, and use them together to push some new ones through?

[Evanivitch]

How many fibreglass tent poles can you get your hands on?

[dxg]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf0BCW9t3Zk

Or push a long garden hose or thick electric cable through it.

[biggiles]

Done this several times, try both vacuum and leaf blower. I find the vacuum is better. Tie some fluff or bit of plastic bag to some fishing line, it will go through very easily. 50m is not a long distance.

If there are existing cables in there then it gets harder, as it's easy to get snagged.

[IJWS15]

If there is already a cable use that to pull a rope through then pull old cable and new one back in with the rope.

Or hire a cobra.

[peterperkins]

I've seen cats/ferrets with string tied to them encouraged to go along pipes..

[mickk]

biggiles said:

Done this several times, try both vacuum and leaf blower. I find the vacuum is better. Tie some fluff or bit of plastic bag to some fishing line, it will go through very easily. 50m is not a long distance.

If there are existing cables in there then it gets harder, as it's easy to get snagged.

Agree, it's what Henry Hoover was made for.

[phil-sti]

peterperkins said:

I've seen cats/ferrets with string tied to them encouraged to go along pipes..

his next post

"help, i have 50m of ducting with a snapped guide rope and a cat stuck in it"

[normalbloke]

Go and rent a Cobra from one of the hire shops for a few hours. Put two draw cords in. Maybe 3 if you’re that feckless!

[Andeh1]

Thanks all!

Alas a couple of hours with hose pipes show that hose pipes are actually very effective.... But I must have a blockage!

Water gets through so it isn't fully blocked, but hose pipe from both ends definitely seem to hit something. No matter how much wking the damn pipe down the hole I try... Doesn't make it through. I stupidly didn't block the ends of the pipe, but over a years worth of crude and debris must have solidified at the lower points of it.

Im out for a week with work, but next attempts will be pressure washer hose, then digging the damn thing up!!

[Evanivitch]

Andeh1 said:

Thanks all!

Alas a couple of hours with hose pipes show that hose pipes are actually very effective.... But I must have a blockage!

Water gets through so it isn't fully blocked, but hose pipe from both ends definitely seem to hit something. No matter how much wking the damn pipe down the hole I try... Doesn't make it through. I stupidly didn't block the ends of the pipe, but over a years worth of crude and debris must have solidified at the lower points of it.

Im out for a week with work, but next attempts will be pressure washer hose, then digging the damn thing up!!

Rodent issue?

[wombleh]

Could be something crawled in and died, mate had that when he thought the draw string was stuck so yanked hard and got a face full of decomposed rabbit. String snapping might have been a lucky escape!

[Simon_GH]

Leaf blower taped to one end to concentrate the air flow to help clear the pipe?

Cheap reel of cable that’s rigid enough to feed down the pipe. Perhaps a loop at the end would help it glide rather than grip imperfections. You might even be able to wriggle it past Roland Rat’s corpse.

[Simon_GH]

Two packs of 30m garden wire may work and it’s only a £7 gamble: https://www.toolstation.com/galvanised-wire/p52042

[Snow and Rocks]

As others have a said, a good powerful petrol leaf blower and a rolled up ball of plastic bag and tape usually work pretty well to pull through a length of thin twine that you can then use to pull through some decent rope.

Will also help blow out any water/debris that's somehow ended up in there.

[John D.]

It's possible the duct has collapsed rather than been blocked. Sounds like you need to try to identify the point of blockage and dig it up.

[Smurfsarepeopletoo]

Mark the hose with tape every meter and then feed it back down, when it stops, you will know how far the collapse/blockage is, and then you will only need to dig to clear the collapse/blockage.

[Andeh1]

Well, those of you on rodent suggestions were right.... After 20mins of "plunging", with the armoured cable I intended to use, I got a loaf of fur washed out. 2 hours of more plunging and hot water running through washed various bit fur and 1-3mm type debris, with clean water...

No big enough bits if debris to reveal the rest of the rat (I suspect) but it does explain why the draw cord was cut and why I couldn't pull the other length of it out without some serious force. I wonder if ratty entangled himself half way down the pipe??

... However I'm still here another 2 hours later running out of ideas short if digging it out!! Urgh....