Clogged Drains: Plumbing Knowledge?
- Thread starter MichealKnight
- Start date
skyking1
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
My sink trap arms, you know the ones that hook the two drains together to go to the trap? That one filled up with solid starch, that's about the only way I can describe it.
It was from rinsing tofu and beans and all sorts of things where you have this suspended material and it was just condensing in there. The solution was to pull the pipe off and just clean it out. It was several years worth of accumulation.
I use stainless strainers in my sink, and don't have a disposal. Everything gets tossed in the garbage.
It was from rinsing tofu and beans and all sorts of things where you have this suspended material and it was just condensing in there. The solution was to pull the pipe off and just clean it out. It was several years worth of accumulation.
I use stainless strainers in my sink, and don't have a disposal. Everything gets tossed in the garbage.
HawkeyeNFO
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I bought one of these a few years ago, and have used it for plumbing, outdoor drainage, automotive, and because it's on a 10 or 12 ft long cable, I can take a look at gutters without having to use a tall ladder or having to get on the roof to see if it needs leaves removed. Mine has an adjustable LED on the end. Highly recommended and inexpensive.
Ronstar
Moderator Emeritus
You're probably right, but I was thinking that the 2 sinks shared a trap along with the dishwasher.
Seems I can't win with my house
In the kitchen there's (2) sinks both on the same counter at either ends. Years back one of them wasn't draining, and someone came out, used a camera and "snake" and all was well. Anyhow, same problem now. So a guy has come out.....spent considerable time doing the snake thing, and the sinks are still backed up. So now, he's doing it to the other sink hoping that will help.
In the meantime - dishwasher flashing a code that means "leakage protection' meaning it senses water at the bottom - - so I figured its related to this drain thing, and had plumber out today BEFORE dishwasher guy comes out.
If snaking the 2nd sink doesn't work.......does anyone have an idea what else to do? This is on main level. FYI - in basement is a sink that also drains slowly if that's any clue. Otherwise - all toilets, showers, etc drain fine. House is on well/septic but I think we had that serviced within 2 years ago. Thanks for reading!
Has anyone checked if you have a vent issue. That will cause problems in multiple areas
Sunset
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Especially in the severe cold, an ice plug could form restricting/blocking air flow.
Had a toilet slow drain in a house for 11 years. Multiple plumbers. When we sold the home we had to replace the bathroom floor. That required taking up the toilet. We found the pea protector from my son's potty training chair lodged in the drain. The plumbers never caught it. By then my son was 11 years old. We let him off the hook for the blame game 
)
)A thought
We just bought a house for our son.
Disclosure mentioned slow drain & owner said snakes it out 2x/yr.
We opted to pay $250 for a sewer inspection.
Good thing we did.
Sewer line was broke at the end of the house line as it entered the city line.
Owner had to have it fixed for several thousand dollars.
You might consider a sewer inspection...
Seems I can't win with my house
In the kitchen there's (2) sinks both on the same counter at either ends. Years back one of them wasn't draining, and someone came out, used a camera and "snake" and all was well. Anyhow, same problem now. So a guy has come out.....spent considerable time doing the snake thing, and the sinks are still backed up. So now, he's doing it to the other sink hoping that will help.
In the meantime - dishwasher flashing a code that means "leakage protection' meaning it senses water at the bottom - - so I figured its related to this drain thing, and had plumber out today BEFORE dishwasher guy comes out.
If snaking the 2nd sink doesn't work.......does anyone have an idea what else to do? This is on main level. FYI - in basement is a sink that also drains slowly if that's any clue. Otherwise - all toilets, showers, etc drain fine. House is on well/septic but I think we had that serviced within 2 years ago. Thanks for reading!
We just bought a house for our son.
Disclosure mentioned slow drain & owner said snakes it out 2x/yr.
We opted to pay $250 for a sewer inspection.
Good thing we did.
Sewer line was broke at the end of the house line as it entered the city line.
Owner had to have it fixed for several thousand dollars.
You might consider a sewer inspection...
My experience does not flush with this (sorry, could not resist). We had 3 builder grade (I think they were American Standard), 1.6 G toilets, from the late 90s. For years and years, I would be unclogging one of the three about once a week. I had always assumed we had messed up pipes. I switched all 3 to Kohler 1.28 G toilets. In a year and half, I have had to plunge maybe twice.
Sometimes it is NOT the pipes, but the toilets.
We had a similar issue. Kitchen sink was snaked, all was fine for a week or two, and then it backed up again. Second time they ran a camera through it and confirmed that the line sags a little, allowing water to sit, and also evidence of grease. There is something the plumbers can do with essentially an industrial pressure washer to clean the drain, but that was rather expensive, on the order of $1k. Trying to fix the sag in the drain would be on the order of $10k or more, as it is buried in the slab. From google I found the suggestion to run hot (boiling) water down the drain, then 1/4 to 1/2 cup of Dawn dish soap (Dawn, not just any dish soap) down the drain, wait 15 minutes, then hot (boiling) water again. After the last snake it had already started running slow but no issues after using Dawn and hot water. I'm doing this quarterly now to prevent issues.
SecondAttempt
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I had occasional backups in my 1943 house in Tucson for years. A plunger always cleared it. Then one day it didn't. I got a plumber out and they ran a camera all the way to the street (city sewer) but by that time the clog had cleared on its own. Everything looked pretty good except for one small root about halfway to the street. They did not think it was a problem but said it could be catching TP and backing up but was so small that a plunger would knock it loose.
I had them replace the section of clay sewer pipe where the root was. They gave me the option of digging down to the old pipe myself or paying plumber wages for him to do it. I opted to dig myself. Paid the plumber $400 to replace a few feet of pipe and install a cleanout for the future.
Lived in the house about 6 more years and never had a problem again.
We did run Ridx root killer down the toilet every few months after that.
I had them replace the section of clay sewer pipe where the root was. They gave me the option of digging down to the old pipe myself or paying plumber wages for him to do it. I opted to dig myself. Paid the plumber $400 to replace a few feet of pipe and install a cleanout for the future.
Lived in the house about 6 more years and never had a problem again.
We did run Ridx root killer down the toilet every few months after that.
bigadventure
Dryer sheet aficionado
So do you use the dishwasher? Both drains are on the same line downstream from the dishwasher. The issue is powder dish wash soap. The solid particles settle out and form what will appear as grease. Stop using power soap. Use only liquid dish soap in the dish machine.
The powder soap will harden like concrete.
The powder soap will harden like concrete.
