HELP! Plumbing problem that should be simple

[Rot 911]

I believe Pazuzu identified your problem. I had a similar problem with our cabin down at the lake. Turned out to be the line to the septic tank was full of thin roots. Like a root ball. All it would do would let it trickle of water go through. And of course the more solids that went down the line, the more things got clogged up.

If I didn’t run any water for 24 hours I could get two or three flushes or one shower before things plugged up again.

I went to Home Depot and got a professional grade drain auger with both a 2 inch and a 3 inch cutting blade. Watch a couple of YouTube videos before you do it yourself. At least for me, that solve my problem.

Here is the one I got. You can rent one, but if you have roots in there now, you’ll have roots in there a couple of years from now.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by masraum

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1st pic - small pipe has plenty of pitch. No hangers on the second one, could it have dropped and is now flat or backpitched?

2nd pic - The cap on the end is a cleanout cap. You can unscrew it, run water and see if it is flowing, and snake it from there if the clog is after the cleanout. I don't like the rubber fernco repair above, again, perhaps the pipe sitting on dirt has settled and no longer has enough pitch.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

I believe Pazuzu identified your problem. I had a similar problem with our cabin down at the lake. Turned out to be the line to the septic tank was full of thin roots. Like a root ball. All it would do would let it trickle of water go through. And of course the more solids that went down the line, the more things got clogged up.

If I didn’t run any water for 24 hours I could get two or three flushes or one shower before things plugged up again.

I went to Home Depot and got a professional grade drain auger with both a 2 inch and a 3 inch cutting blade. Watch a couple of YouTube videos before you do it yourself. At least for me, that solve my problem.

Here is the one I got. You can rent one, but if you have roots in there now, you’ll have roots in there a couple of years from now.

I did once pull the snake out and found the last inch was full of what seemed to be super fine roots. I was afraid that the issue was due to the small snake not really cleaning them out enough, and with spring coming on, maybe more have grown.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by dad911

If nothing is going into the tank, you have a blockage. Snake, Camera, or hire a pro. That's a job I won't DIY.

Baffle at the inlet forces the solids down. Baffle at the outlet keeps solids out of the field. That will cause very expensive damage.

Newer systems also have a filter at the exit, which is a good idea to retrofit.

Thanks for the info.

I'll do a lot, but sometimes, it's better to get someone else to do things.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by dad911

2nd pic - The cap on the end is a cleanout cap. You can unscrew it, run water and see if it is flowing, and snake it from there if the clog is after the cleanout. I don't like the rubber fernco repair above, again, perhaps the pipe sitting on dirt has settled and no longer has enough pitch.

I don't have anything but the small snake so even if I crawled under there now, I'm not sure what I'd be able to do.

I've got something like 10' of 1.25" sched 40 and then maybe some 1.75 or 2" (the other fits pretty tightly inside. I've wondered about cutting a reverse V in the end (like a pacman mouth) and then putting a bolt through the two and using them as a sharp ram rod to clean out temporarily.

[mattdavis11]

Well, you did say you don't mind snakes. Lol, just had to Steve.

[masraum]

Roflmao!

[flatbutt]

I'd hire a plumber, if he makes the poo go away I write the check.

[A930Rocket]

I’m no plumber, but shouldn’t those 90*’s be wyes?

Also, what size pipe is the large drain...3 or 4”? How many gallons are your toilets? With low flow toilets, the 3” pipe works better, as it helps push the turd down line. New toilets with a four-inch pipe, don’t have enough water behind it, to push the turd down.

[masraum]

OK, I bit the bullet. I really didn't want to crawl under the house. It had some seriously black, sticky mud/dirt. It was probably only 8-12 feet from the entrance. I did what I said, telescoping PVC, hole drilled through both with a bent nail through. The bigger pipe's end was cut in a V (like a mouth, not a spear). When I pulled the cap, a little bit of toilet paper and water came out but not much, a cup or two. Then I rammed the ram home. It went most of the way in and then jammed. I gave it a few good whacks and it went the rest of the way through. I screwed the cap on and came inside. I've run the sinks (no more glugging noise in drains) and flushed the toilet several times. Things seem to be working again.

It felt like a hard obstruction, not a soft one like I imagined roots would have felt. I left the ram down there. It was a pain in the ass to weave through all of the piers, and I was just ready to back my ass up outta there.

I think there was 15-18' of pipe from the clean out to the septic. I think I had 13-15' of PVC as a ram rod. I ran the ram rod to the hilt into the clean-out. I figure if that didn't work, I would always pull the lid off of the septic again and go in from the other end. Fortunately, I didn't need to do that.

Hell, it's entirely possible that the 2 year old flushed a hot wheels down the toilet. I'm not going to go dredging the septic to find out what it was.

I will look into getting a baffle installed.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

I’m no plumber, but shouldn’t those 90*’s by wyes?

Also, what size pipe is the large drain...3 or 4”? How many gallons are your toilets? With low flow toilets, the 3” pipe works better, as it helps push the turd down line. New toilets with a four-inch pipe, don’t have enough water behind it, to push the turd down.

It was a big pipe, not sure what size. I really don't want to go back down to find out. Yes, 3 or 4".

Good info though, and I can see what you mean.

Speaking of working plumbing, it's time to hit the showers for Capt Turd!

[pmax]

Originally Posted by Jolly Amaranto

Or you can run it up from the septic tank.

Use this for some furious 2 handed cranking action.



Works great and a lifetime warranty.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by pmax

Use this for some furious 2 handed cranking action.



Works great and a lifetime warranty.

I had one of those once. Horrible! I can't believe they're asking $27. I paid $25-30 for the one that I have.

[pmax]

Originally Posted by masraum

I had one of those once. Horrible! I can't believe they're asking $27. I paid $25-30 for the one that I have.

2 hands is better than one when it comes to stirring the crap, get some arm action into, both arms ....

but if that didn't work, you do need the power rotorooter. I assume you are plumbing thru the right access port.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by pmax

2 hands is better than one when it comes to stirring the crap, get some arm action into, both arms ....

but if that didn't work, you do need the power rotorooter. I assume you are plumbing thru the right access port.

If the house was a women, she'd have been in a porn yesterday. I think I ran my snake through just about every orifice possible.

Problem resolved. I ended up running 2" PVC from the clean-out toward the septic tank. I felt an obstruction and rammed through it. I have no idea what it was. The toilets have been flushed many times, showers, sinks run, no issues. I left the ram rod under the house in case I've got to do this again.

[BK911]

From what little I can see from your piping pictures, it appears EVERY one of your elbows is the wrong type. You have standard sweep elbows or Ys. Anytime you discharge into a horizontal all the sweeps must be long sweep.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by BK911

From what little I can see from your piping pictures, it appears EVERY one of your elbows is the wrong type. You have standard sweep elbows or Ys. Anytime you discharge into a horizontal all the sweeps must be long sweep.

I don't know code, and I don't know plumbing dos/don'ts, but I will admit that when I crawled under the house, I found myself thinking "that just doesn't look right to me."

[BK911]

The fitting circled in green is questionable, but I would probably let it slide if all else was ok. The two in red are just wrong and will cause blockage every Wednesday after taco Tuesday.

[BK911]

Also appears you have an uninsulated hot water line down there.
The smaller yellowish pipe looks like cpvc, versus the white pvc line.
Maybe not a big deal in TX, but here in TN I would definitely want insulation on all exterior pipes, especially HW.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by BK911

The fitting circled in green is questionable, but I would probably let it slide if all else was ok. The two in red are just wrong and will cause blockage every Wednesday after taco Tuesday.

Thanks, I understand. I assume you're saying that the 1 green circled should be a much greater angle, but is not too bad. And the red circled is bad, presumably something like what this image is saying.

Originally Posted by BK911

Also appears you have an uninsulated hot water line down there.
The smaller yellowish pipe looks like cpvc, versus the white pvc line.
Maybe not a big deal in TX, but here in TN I would definitely want insulation on all exterior pipes, especially HW.

Yes, during the big freeze back in Feb or Mar, we got lucky and didn't have anything freeze. I'd done some things to try to prevent freezing and got very lucky that they worked. But yes, I need to get under and probably, I assume insulate all of the pipes down there.

I don't think we're too worried about the hot getting cold, but I think we'd be best served if all of the lines were insulated, so we don't lose heat on the hot lines and we aren't in danger of any of the lines freezing in case there's another freak freeze event.