Bailey 1961 6-Inch Drain Test Plug Plastic Cap, Brass

Every now and again my sure pipe gets blocked. The cost of calling out a service to unblock is costly, worst still if it is after hours it costs a lot more. How do I use this plug to do it myself?Luckily for me, I have two connecting shores several meters apart (this is key to my solution, it allows me to build up water pressure behind the blockage otherwise if you don't have x2 shores success rate drops).First you need to stop flushing to allow the water level in your shore to drop. it will drop slowly ( you will see this with the manhole cover off, the blockage is still there just the water has drained out. Note: If you are thinking of going down this route you need to know the flow of water in your shore and buy big rubber gloves.When the water is drained off I can see in my shore two pipes holes at the bottom (one pipe hole that comes from the other shore and the other pipe hole is where the sewage exit from my property Note: If you are thinking of unblocking yourself get to know the water flow when it is working properly in your manhole/s ).When I can see the two pipe holes at the bottom of the shore holes, what I do is: first tie a strong piece of twine (or wire) very securely to the bailey so I can pull it out later. Then I fit the Bailey 'Test Plug' into the exit hole and tighten it (not too tight as I will need to pull it out later with the twine/wire.With the plug in place, I turn on my garden hose and fill the other manhole I have up to the brim with water (what this does is it fills up the two manholes with water to the brim).With the two manholes filled, this puts a lot of pressure on the 'Bailey plug'. What I do next is quickly pull out the Baily plug using the twine/wire and this will suddenly release all the water down the blocked pipe putting a lot of pressure on the blockage in the hope to break it up and clear it out.If nothing happened (the water just stayed there but did drain out slowly (possibly a bit faster than before, if so you may have moved the blockage a bit and it is worth trying again.The above approach has worked for me a few times over the years but one time it did not and I went and bought my own rods.

If only I had more drains to bung. Love these

Great bit of kit when trying to unblocking a toilet and there's other outlets on the same run,plus can be used in a toilet to stop smells coming in if toilet isn't fitted.

It was perfect to block the pipe it was bought for.

Well I can't smell anything and there isn't any leaks so I guess full marks for this product!

Can't say anything other than it does the job it was bought for.

Bought to block up a 150mm hole cut into the wall in the summer to run an air conditioning pipe to the outside. Works very well! Place the thing in the pipe and twist the thing and it compresses the rubber making the diameter expand. Recommended

Didn't come with the rubber / plastic cap for the threaded part (the pipe in the middle) - I contacted the manufacturer and they just ignored me - so it went back.