How long is your sewer line?

If you are going to try and unclog your sewer line, you should know the length of your sewer line. Why? Because your sewer line could be lets say, 100ft long, and the snake you are using has a length of 50ft. If the clog is within 50ft, you are in luck and you might try to use the same length all the time. But, if your clog builds up further down the pipe, the 50ft snake definitely will not work. You either will need to attach another snake or use a longer snake all together. Generally, the sewer length is less than 75ft. That is, from your house trap out to the city sewer connection. In some cases, the sewers run longer than 75ft and can even run upto 150-200ft. The longer the sewer pipe, the more access points it generally has.
You can basically guess the length of your sewer line. Check to see if your house trap is towards the front of house or towards the rear of the house. If the main house trap is by the front, then guess or measure the distance from the front of the house to pretty much the center of the street.
If your main sewer trap is towards the back of the house, then you have to guess or measure the length from the back of the house to center of the street, and add a few more extra feet to cover for turns the sewer pipe makes. As we have stated in previous posts, the longer the sewer line is or the further the clog is, the harder it is to unclog the pipe. If you live in Queens, Brooklyn or The Bronx, your sewer lines should pretty much be less than 50ft (Most cases). If you live in Nassau or Suffolk counties, your sewer line should be pretty much between 50-75ft(most cases). Some houses do have sewers that are 100ft or longer and those homeowners should be more agressive in keeping their sewers maintained, to avoid tough back ups.