"The septic system has quit"

[Frank Cox]

A friend of mine came to the show tonight and told me a story that's too good not to share here.

His son phoned him earlier today and said that his septic system had quit and he thinks the line has collapsed.

So Bill goes over there with his air compressor and pressures up the line a bit and tells his son to go outside and see if he can hear or see anything. "But whatever you do don't stand in front of the outlet."

The son comes back inside and says nothing's going on out there, so put in a bit more air. Bill does so, the son goes outside again and yells, "Still nothing, give it a bit more."

BANG! SPALOOSH!

Turned out the line was just blocked.

Bill said that since he had told him the first time don't stand in front of the outlet he figured he didn't have to say it the second time.

But he had been standing with his ear right in front of the outlet.

Bill said that he told him they should reenact that for a video but he declined.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Is Bill's son of the tik-tok generation? Only that generation would come away from that experience wanting to do it again, for the views.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Monty Python should have done that on one of their movies...????

[Leo Enticknap]

A variant of this happened in a little arthouse I worked at in south-west England in the mid '90s. The restrooms were on one side of the lobby, and for a period of several months, a mild pooey smell had been getting gradually worse in the lobby, concessions stand and box office area. In the middle of the lobby was a cover in the floor, about 2" square. Until one night, we had no idea what was underneath it.

The lucky escape that one night was that the following happened while both screens were mid-show, and therefore no-one was standing anywhere near the cover. As it was reported to me, there was a loud "pop," the cover blew off 2-3 feet, and a shower of sewage burst into the lobby. It turns out that below that cover was the main sewage drain connecting the restrooms with the sewer that ran along the street. Its lining had collapsed, "content" had built up behind the blockage, and eventually the inevitable happened. We were closed for several days while the lobby and Screen 2 were dug up to repair the sewage line. The lingering smell took months to disperse fully, despite the use of heavy duty air fresheners all over the downstairs lobby area.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

A variant of this happened in a little arthouse I worked at in south-west England in the mid '90s. The restrooms were on one side of the lobby, and for a period of several months, a mild pooey smell had been getting gradually worse in the lobby, concessions stand and box office area. In the middle of the lobby was a cover in the floor, about 2" square. Until one night, we had no idea what was underneath it.

The lucky escape that one night was that the following happened while both screens were mid-show, and therefore no-one was standing anywhere near the cover. As it was reported to me, there was a loud "pop," the cover blew off 2-3 feet, and a shower of sewage burst into the lobby. It turns out that below that cover was the main sewage drain connecting the restrooms with the sewer that ran along the street. Its lining had collapsed, "content" had built up behind the blockage, and eventually the inevitable happened. We were closed for several days while the lobby and Screen 2 were dug up to repair the sewage line. The lingering smell took months to disperse fully, despite the use of heavy duty air fresheners all over the downstairs lobby area.

Don't know if you are familiar with them Leo, but Mersey Rods (The Drain Unblockers) in the UK has a youtube channel where they deal will all kinds of showers and blockages.

There is also another character from Down Under (Sydney) with his antics with his helpers, Two toy rats and a magpie:

Guess there is a lot of social media potential in poop.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Guess there is a lot of social media potential in poop.

For sure, believe it or not one of the first AVE videos I ever watched was him wrestling with such a pipe under his house.
https://youtu.be/toewD0VInlc?si=bF0SoqGU_DLqkl8I

(Language Warning)

And then there are the strangely popular culvert unclogging videos. Such as those from Post 10. The whole channel is basically unclogging various roadside things.
https://youtu.be/WlBq7EZSQ2M?si=dJR13LACqcCEziIC

[Mathew Bailey]

how about sewage pumps? Mike Rowe helped replace one on his show Dirty Jobs. My preferred brand of such pumps here:https://www.grpumps.com/

[Dave Macaulay]

Puebla Mexico. Omnimax theatre. Big 10hp air compressor as usual, with a 6 foot high air receiver tank. Has to be drained down nightly. Drain connected to a pipe to the wall, never wondered where it went, probably outside? Nope. To the sewer. On a major service two of us were there. Finishing up, my mate went to piss in the booth crapper. I drained the tank. Came out of the machinery room to him soaked and not too happy, the toilet erupted on him as he was doing his business. I had wondered why the toilet room was often wet, foolishly thought cleaners had been in there. Nope again.
No other tank drain in the hundred or so I serviced was connected to anything. Loud, yes, but no shit fountains.
Plenty of other crazy stories from that weird town and theatre.

[Randy Stankey]

That was a shitty thing to happen!

Sorry... I had to say that.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

That was a shitty thing to happen!

Sorry... I had to say that.

Actually:

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Oh, and since it's almost Christmas: