So the wife calls a plumber out to unclog an upstairs toilet while I was out of town. Downstairs toilet flushes fine. Plumber unclogged toilet but has convinced her now we need a scope(as in anal camera 😬) ran down the pipes to make sure there are not other clogs or issues. He told her one problem is a 3 inch pipe was used originally instead of 4 inch. I told her we don’t need the damn sewer scope since downstairs toilet is flushing fine and upstairs toilet now works also. They told her it can lead to bigger issues if down the road if a problem found on anal camera is not fixed now. I feel this is the usual “wife takes car to mechanic and gets sold on spending 3000 thousand dollars on shit not needed”. Am I right or wrong plumbers? I can see maybe replacing the 3 inch pipe but it’s no bigger a problem to replace 5 years from now or 10. Women😬😬

Oh year they also told her we needed a new toilet we she bought also 😬. The old one is fine it’s flushing not leaking anywhere. Dammit 😬

I wouldn’t trust the plumber. He sounds shady to me - your second comment pretty much told me everything I needed to know about the “plumber”.

If your plumbing is filling, hot water is hot , flushing , draining and not leaking , is working fine.

Good grief what does she eat when you're out of town?! 3" isn't uncommon, but maybe you need 4" to handle those burrito binges.

In my experience 3 out of 4 plumbers are shady and inept.

Tell her to put the plumber on the phone with you.

that’s what I’m doing tomorrow 😬

If mine was a slab house, I'd prefer 4" toilet drains, just in case. But with a crawlspace it's easy to access if repairs are needed. I'd be more concerned in the size of the gooseneck in the toilet itself which will be smaller than the drain. It should be glazed throughout and the bigger the passageway the better. You never know when a guinea pig or feminine products will get flushed. Don't ask how I know that.

She should have told him to camera the line to make sure he did a good job unclogging it. 3” is absolutely fine for a branch line.

Well why stop with a 4 inch when you can have six inch?

That’s what she said….

He's using fear to sell. I go after those contractors all the time. Electricians are the worst.

If you have iron waste lines, it never hurts to have a sewer scope. If you don't, then there is no reason for it if everything is working.

I've had plumbers, electricians, handymen and many others try to take advantage of my clients. I got after them with a vengeance.

A couple are no longer employed. A couple are no longer licensed. I don't play with dishonest contractors. I simply don't.

I knew a pot-head plumber who showed me how to rig an upstairs to downstairs water bong. You could take a toke from the downstairs kitchen sink but the fire-bowl was in the upstairs bathroom. When you flushed the toilet water and smoke would come out.

3" is standard . You said it was an upstairs bath . If he starts on the 4" pipe story, ask him how you run 4" pipe in a 4" wall when studs are only 3 1/2" and the pipe OD would be 4 1/2" ?

he's not completely wrong. Although he is trying to upsale her on the camera. If you've been living there several years (5 or more). I wouldnt worry about it. The new toilet was probably a good idea. Some toilets are terrible and can be constant problems. I changed a korky flapper on one of mine and the the thing stops up 3 times as much now. This water conservation crap is nothing but trouble.

Why doesnt he just snake all the lines out if he is worried? It seems to me it would take about the same amount of time and eliminate any problem.

I got tired of replacing valves and cleaning deposits out of two twenty years old toilets. The flush was always weak, but the leaking will kill a well pump over time. The new 1.28gal I replaced them with flush much, much better. They're loud, though.

My 81 year old ex hunting partner in Texas had to have a plumber run a camera through his pipes. They had cracked underneath his foundation and mud started to come up through the guest bathtub when his wife did laundry. The plumber took him into the backyard and showed him a live feed. Said the shady ones would show you a prerecorded video to convince you that you had a serious problem.

I went with Toto toilets on my last remodel (two of them).
They flush amazing compared to our old 80’s model Kohlers.