Roebic FRK Foaming Tree Root Killer for Sewer Lines, 1 lb

This has stopped my recurring, yearly sewer rod-out because of the accursed Locust tree the city planted in front of my house. This will be the third year that I have not had to have the guy out to rod tree roots out of my sewer line. I use once a year about the end of June, so far, so good. What I suggest is the same as others, empty the two powders into a small, dry container, mix the two dry powders thoroughly by hand (do not add water!!). Remember, this stuff foams seriously so if you have one of the slower, older "swirly"-flush toilets, start your flush, wait until it is just starting to exhaust and then dump the powder in; if you have a more modern fast-flush, pull the handle and dump the powder at the same instant. You definitely do not want any residue left in the bowl at end of flush. I dump the stuff in just before bed, and let it sit overnight in the line. In the morning just use your bathroom/kitchen normally and the problem will be gone. [UPDATE JUNE 2014]: I have been using this once yearly and still no more problems. As a clincher.... my house is 120 years old and I have no record of the sewer being camera'd, so I hired a service to come in and run a camera through to the connection with the village main line. He completed about an hour ago, and totally clean, no sign of tree roots, collapsed tiles or anything else. Period. I saw it. The man couldn't find anything wrong at all. So, I think this proves that this stuff really works. Nobody will probably read this since is is an aged review, but at least I posted. :) [UPDATE JUNE 2015]: Still no problems, no backup or flooding. Next week I will treat the sewer again, but I think my tree root problems are over. [UPDATE JUNE 2016]: Yup, still good and no problems. [UPDATE MAY 2017]: Oh well, what the heck, I will update as long a I am thinking about it; I don't even think about sewer backup any more :) No problems last summer at all, I am using it a bit early this year, but I think I will be fine. [UPDATE JUNE 2018]: Yup, still root-trouble free. I had no problems last year at all. In addition, my next-door neighbor started using Roebic three years ago and his tree root problems disappeared. I still remind him of my big favor I did telling him about Roebic; very handy when I want to borrow something. :0) Incidentally, Roebic makes a couple of root remover products, be sure that the label specifies FOAMING, not just chemical or crystal powder. I don't know anything about those. My apologies about not answering some who posted a question!! For some reason Gmail stopped notifying me that I had a new post in my review. Guess I should check in occasionally. [UPDATE JUNE 2019]: Here I am again, it's time to do my yearly treatment tonight. No problems last summer/autumn, and my next door neighbor has no problems either since he started using Roebic a few years ago. It sure is a relief not to have to constantly call the sewer guy out. Keep on truckin' folks! [UPDATE MAY 2020]: Yup, still no sewer problems last year. I think this will be my last update, I am not sure if anyone is reading this anymore. Time marches on. This stuff works great for what it is intended. FEB.11/2021: Note that I have tried many times to find the questions directed to me about this product but can't locate them any more. I can edit my posts, but not answer questions, so I'm not ignoring anyone, I just cannot find where the directed questions are. Maybe Amazon doesn't allow this anymore?? I don't know. JUNE 2021: Still no more problems, same with my neighbor. New family moved in 4 years ago, I told them of the sewer problem, and they have no problems either. JUNE 2022: Well, I'm sure folks are getting bored reading this, but what the heck, it's a tradition now :) No problems last year as usual. New family moved in this autumn on the other side of my house, I told them about Roebic and they will use it just for insurance. I don't know what sewer guys are charging now but I'm sure it's a lot more than when I started using Roebic. Keep on truckin' folks! [EDIT] April 2023: Just a thought...I notice some folks post that it didn't work. If you have established root blockage this will not REMOVE it; you must rod-out the main sewer line to get rid of the established roots in it. Then Roebic will prevent new growth from blocking the line. Roebic will not remove established rootage in the line, you must clear it out first. June 2023: Yup. Same as last year, no problems. New family moved in next door, I told them about Roebic and saved them hundreds/thousands of dollars over the next few years of sewer rodding. May 2024: Is this getting boring? No problems last year, but the Cicadas (if you don't know what they are, just web-search it) love that hated Locust tree and are all over it. By the way...occasionally someone asks why there is a small paper in the middle of the bottle; I assume that keeps the two powders separated until you mix them. I don't know why, but it has always been there. Just throw it away. And...sometimes some of the powder is a bit lumpy. No problem, just use a paint stir stick to mix and crush the lumps, takes only 1 minute. May 2025: Yup, here I am again. No sewer problems last year. I will use it tonight as usual. Happy Sewers!! [UPDATE: May 2026]: Ok, still no problems last year. Let's see....to date is 15 years I have been using Roebic. So 15x$200 (plus or minus) service calls I have not paid for = $3000. Think I will take my wife out to dinner tonight!

This was easy to use and the directions were straightforward. We bought it to help deal with tree roots in our sewer line, and it has worked well for us. It’s a lot easier and less expensive than dealing with another sewer-line problem. I like having something we can use as preventative maintenance, and I’ll definitely keep using it as needed.

EDIT 9/10/26: I'll start by saying the product still works great. Now for my new info: I received my auto-shipment of Roebic Foaming Root Killer yesterday, and used it today in my mom's house. When I opened the bottle, there was a small towlette or cloth sticking out of the powder. Not sure if that's normal, but okay, not a big deal. Then I started dumping the powder into the toilet - now, mind you, it starts foaming right away and starts ascending toward the top of the toilet bowl - instructions are to flush right away or it will overflow. Well, I got about half the bottle dumped in and no more would come out. I looked inside the bottle, and the bottom half of the powder was all caked together. I had to quickly find something to poke down into the bottle to break up the powder... all the while, the stuff I already dumped into the toilet was rising toward the top of the toilet bowl. I was frantically trying to get the caked powder broken up to dump into the bowl. I was able to succeed mostly, at least enough broken up (with some larger chunks) to be able to dump the rest into the bowl before it overflowed. SO, either the bottle had been opened and exposed to moisture, or the product was old (there is no expiration date on the bottle that I can find). So, next time, I guess I'll take a screwdriver and stick it down into the bottle to make sure the powder is all broken up before I attempt to dump it into the bowl. (earlier post): My mom has issues with tree roots getting into her house pipes, causing flooding and major damage. Her whole basement floor had to be pulled up and replaced when her basement flooded from a backup caused by tree roots (thank goodness for insurance!). She used to have a roto rooter/plumbing company come out twice a year to ream out the pipes, but the roots still got into the water pipes in our dry climate between those appointments. Ideally, having the pipes reamed every 3 months would be the best, but it’s expensive each time they come out. After her basement flooded, they recommended she use this brand foaming root kill between her 6-month appointments. So she has the pipes reamed out, then 3 months later she uses the foaming root kill, then 3 months later the pipes reamed, and the foaming root kill in 3 more months. So far, so good. The plumber said they now get very little roots when they ream out the pipes. Seems this product is doing what it’s supposed to!

Works good as intended but do not breath the dust when you open the bottle Not Good

Fabulous company, excellent product. I contacted the manufacturer on this for a not-their-fault issue and they were spectacular. Kind, supportive, really listened, and resolved the issue without any fuss. A breath of fresh air from folks who specialize in septic and other less-than-lovely aspects of life. Kudos!

Solved the clog the snake did nothing for

Not sure how great this product worked. I had to use an auger

So, received my "Root Killer" a few days ago and went back and read all the reviews. So I thought I'd add my 2 cents in regards to what everyone else has already posted: 1. It is REALLY tightly packed inside this small bottle. The on-line pictures appear to make it look much bigger, but 16 ounces is 16 ounces, it's just that it's really tightly packed inside this rather small bottle. Saves shipping cost? Maybe. 2. So heeding everyone's advise, I emptied the contents into a bigger jar/can/etc. (Canning jar for me so I could see exactly how fine it was). I would recommend wearing gloves and perhaps a filter mask as I kept 'feeling' like I was breathing the dust in and it made my skin crawl. (Over active imagination I guess.) I used a fork (which I threw away later) and slowly emptied the contents of the plastic container into the canning jar. I would put in a few fork fulls, and then mash it up so all the lumps were out, then put in a few more fork fulls. A little bit tedious, and took enough time that my mind had already conjured up images of poisonous fingers reaching out of the jar and into my face, neck and hair...AAAHHH!!! (control, control) This process took at least 15 minutes as I was careful not to spill it and to make sure I had all the numerous lumps smashed into a fine powered. (Sort of looks like buckwheat flour) 3. So, let me ask you....why was there toilet paper inside the container? As far as I could tell, it wasn't used. (Eeeuuuuwwww!) It looked to be maybe two sheets worth of paper.....why? Why would you put in toilet paper. I mean the whole reason I'm doing this, is the toilet paper isn't making it all the way down the pipe and into the street in the 1st place! WHY WOULD I WANT TO ADD MORE?!!! GOSH! (Heeheehee) I'm not mad..just seems funny. 4. Hmm, I'm looking but I'm not seeing a place to attach a photo to this review. I see a Video tab, but who wants to see my ugly face. Suffice to say,the powder is in the canning jar and looks just like buckwheat flour and is not at all compacted. It appears to flow easily and tonight is the night! WOOHOO! Yes sirree! It's finally time to declare war on those roots. (Update: I'll try this link...not sure if Amazon will let me: [...]) 5. I plan on going to bed at my usual time, around 10:00 PM, and set my alarm for 1 or 2 AM (Practicing my waking skills for this coming Friday night's "Geminid Meteor Shower 2012" where I'll get up at 1:00 AM, make some coffee and head out to a clearing away from the city lights of Spokane, WA (all two of them) and wait for the show to start. 50 to 120 meteors an hour! Why that's (calculating) .83 to 2 meteor's a minute! Not sure what a .83 meteor will look like, but I'll be ready!) Anyway..where was I? Oh yes, I'll wake up at 1 or 2 and dump the contents of the recently sifted root killer..aka Poison, into the lower bathroom's toilet and flush like crazy! Or at least 3 times per the instructions. 6. Oh, just to be clear, it seems every year I have to have the evil roto-rooter like company come in and charge me over $300 bucks to clean out my sewer line only to have it backup on me a day or two after my Outlook reminder, that I dutifully ignored, reminds me to call and have it snaked again. Sigh. So in July when I successfully ignored the remind, the sewer backuped in August, and then it backed up again in September! Ah-ha! Certainly they won't charge me again! And...they didn't. Good people! But why? Why did it back up again. When the company came out they didn't really find any serious roots, just a few, less than a hand full. That's when I decided to buy the Root Killer. But guess what? Here it is in December and it backed up again! This time, I rented a 100' snake from Home Depot and (This is key:) Remembered to do two things...1. Bend the end of the snake, just a little, so the cutting end completely scraps the inside of the 4" pipe! That's a little trick a plummer friend told me. 2. Make sure the screw that secures the cutter end is REALLY REALLY TIGHT! Sigh...It appears I didn't do this as half way in the snake appeared to feel soft. Just seemed to float right through the pipe. Pulled it back and the cutter end was gone...ugh. But, I had grabbed two different ends and ran the full 100' snake through the pipe (just to make sure the loose one wound up in the main line) But back to the question, why did it backup just a few months after Roto-rooter had been out? Well, up until today, we had been using these Wet-Wipe type tissues that "say" they are sewer friendly, but when I ran the 2nd spring like end down the 4" pipe it bought back a piece of the wet-wipe and those things are TOUGH! It was difficult to get it unstuck from the spring like end on the snake. So..no more wet-wipes in this house! 7. All that to say, I have a recently,(last night 12/9/2012) snaked the 4" pipe and tonight, 12/10/2012, will dump the Root Killer in, and will set a reminder (that I hopefully will NOT ignore) in say....6 months to report back in to see if we have experienced any further backups. My guess is, the roots grew back just enough that the wet-wipes were easily snagged and "not so slowly" brought the normally flowing water to a halt. 8. So stay tuned, I will report back in (calculating) June 10th to let you know if the Root Killer worked, assuming of course I don't report back in sooner...ugh...I sure hope not! Thanks! Paul

Mousse à peine et n'attaque pas les racines

Worked for me! Had ongoing blockage in a toilet and plumber said it was likely roots and may occur again and require a camera to be sent down for $600. Bought this and the issue stopped.

Excellent product, kept having repeated problems of obstruction for a long time of my indian type of toilet, tried copper sulphate, got some relief but not enough, plumbers came doing inefficient work , quite a bad situation, nothing was really working so far but this product used once solved the problem, now several months have passed and the situation is no more problematic as it used to be , some little obstruction may sometimes happen but flushing more solves it , that's a real relief!!!...very precious ! I will repeat after one year..

perfecto

The first time I bought this, I wrote a bad review, as it didn't immediately do anything. But, after a few weeks I noticed my drains were no longer backing up during heavy rainfall. To my surprise the roots had obviously been killed & slowly been washed away. Unfortunately, as roots do, they grew back a couple of years later. Again, same process & same pleasing result. I'm now on my third purchase, which should tell you I'm really pleased with this, as an alternative to digging up the drain & physically removing roots. Which would cost way more!