Recurring plumbing issue with drain backing up.... any ideas?

[LeeH]

Not sure where to turn with this. I've exhausted my handyman skills, but am trying to avoid calling a plumber.

We have a single level house. the drain system is pretty much in the shape of a "Y" with one branch coming from the kitchen and one coming from the master bath. The hall bathroom is at the intersection of the other two branches. The third leg goes out to the sewer, and the laundry is off of that part.

A month or so ago we started hearing gurgling at the kitchen sink. Then, when we run a lot of water the kitchen sink will back up. Running the disposal while holding the drain down on the other side will push the water through, but it tends to gurgle and back flow into the sink once the disposal is turned off.

I've run a 50' snake through every possible location in the house. Theoretically, it the snake has been through every inch of the drain line. I've run it from the kitchen, from the hall bath, from the master bath, from the laundry and from the outside cleanouts in the yard.

After snaking the entire system, the drain was still acting the same. My last ditch effort was to run water in the kitchen until it backed up, wait for the level to go down then quickly pull the trap and use one of the expandable bladders to pressurize the line. I thought that worked. We didn't notice any problems for a couple of weeks, but now it's backing up just like before. Not sure what else to do. I'm afraid a plumber will just snake the lines (as I've already done).

I haven't checked to roof vents. Based on what's happening, could a clogged vent even cause this? We don't have any trees near our house so I know it's not filled with leaves. Dead bird, maybe?

Any ideas?

[stomachmonkey]

Vent is a possibility.

My guess is the main out to the sewer or something at the sewer itself.

We recently got a notice from our HOA directed at one specific subdivision, not ours.

It seems they regularly inspect the sewers and this particular subdivisions sewers have had to be cleaned far more often than any others due to excessive grease build up.

Seems like someone is eating a lot of bacon and dumping the fat down the sink.

[craigster59]

Like SM said, snake your vents. That might be where the problem lies.

[Bugsinrugs]

Any trees around where your line runs to the sewer? Roots can be a real problem.

[NY65912]

Sounds like a vent.

[Gogar]

Check the vents and if that doesn't do anything it's camera time.

[Rick V]

My first thought was a vent as well, and that one is easy, just get on the roof and snake it out, you should not run into anything but if you do you have found your issue. Do keep in mind that vents do not have to follow the same rules as the wet lines so there may be a series of fittings you cant get through with your snake. should this b the case try flushing your vent out with a garden hose.

[sammyg2]

I hate plumbing problems but will do almost anything to keep from calling a plumber.
But i had to call one and spend a grand last Tuesday on a drain.
Best grand I ever spent, I woulda still been fighting that problem and would have a hole in the side of the house by now.

There's a time to fight it, and a time to make the call. The hardest part is finding a plumber you can trust.
If you ever do that yer fortunate, they're good as gold.

[john70t]

I'd think only a slow draining would result from venting issues.
The active backing up sounds more like a main unless the roof vent is vacuum sealed.

Any trees growing closer than a hundred feet to an unsealed main will sneak 10-20ft of roots into that nice continuous flow of nutrient water.
They can squeeze through 1/4 inch.

You can rent cutting machines to bust them up.
There are different tips for the machines.
I think he used the oval all-purpose one. Slow gentle speed and a lot of pushing at first.

But if the problem is the main, why isn't it first coming out of the shower first? (3 feet lower than the sink)

FWIW: I had a basement backup and used a 50ft snake with no results. Called rotorooter. The guy found the problem at the last 10 feet of pipe next to the city hookup connection. He had experience with the cutting machine and could feel when it was binding and where. Back and forth and yanking back. He had technique.
Got a video camera inspection done as well. Total was about $500 or so. It turned out there was a small bubble in the junk Orangeburg pipe just big enough to collect the two rolls of daily toilet paper.

[fintstone]

I had a similar problem. Could not snake it out manually so that it was a lasting fix. Rented a larger ,powered version from Home Depot and it worked like a charm.

[GWN7]

You could have pushed the snake thru the blockage.

I bought a commercial machine a couple years ago because of the 60' Elm I my yard who's roots were blocking the line. It would happen every couple years and usually on a Sunday. What I paid for the machine I recouped in 4 years. Plus my neibour borrowed it along with my son to do their drains.

A buddy says his drain is backing up. So I load the machine up and take it over to his place. I start auguring and push it out the full 75' with no change in the draining. I do this a couple times and can't figure out what's up. Run the water and it slowly backs up to come out the floor drain.

He ends up calling a rotor rooter type guy for $175. The pro tells him the blockage (terry towel cloth threads) was 10' from the floor opening and he said I probably pushed the cutter head thru the blockage and never felt it.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

Any trees around where your line runs to the sewer? Roots can be a real problem.

This also was my first thought when I read the problem.


Plumbers (drainlayers actually) put an auger down and it chops up the tree roots or whatever is the problem. It seems to fix it for a few years. I've got a guy who comes around and I just give him $100 cash so he doesn't have to do the paperwork and the problem is gone for a few more years.

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

Any trees around where your line runs to the sewer? Roots can be a real problem.

I don't think Cacti have very deep roots...

Originally Posted by Gogar

Check the vents and if that doesn't do anything it's camera time.

My thought too... Would be best to get a camera out to check things out if you are banging your head against the wall.

[look 171]

Gurgling? Sounds like a vent. Run your snake through it and see if it clears out. If not, call the plumber. They can tell you if its roots down stream. At least you know it isn't the vent unless a whole bunch of things are being vented through the same vent pipe. If nothing is broken, you really don't need to spend the money on the camera. There's a time and place for them. This doesn't sound like its that time. I always say this to people, how did we do this without cameras years ago? How old is the house and how long has this been happening?

[look 171]

We were doing some work on this house and the owner kept complaining about a slow drain and backup on the lower floor shower. He called the plumber out so it clears only I found out that it was draining really slow. He thought it was normal. The plumber took him for a ride because I called my plumber to see about the slow drain and we found out the blockage was about 10 feet away. He couldn't clear it now matter how he tried. So we ran the camera only to find out the drain was completely blocked with very little hole for the water to flow through. We pulled out a freaking tree (root actually) that ran along the inside the 4" abs drain for about 15'. So, don't spend you money. Go through the process of elimination first is my opinion.

[Jeff]

Lee, I can't remember if you did this yet, but after you check your vents run your snake from your outside clean out to the street and also into your house.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by Jeff

Lee, I can't remember if you did this yet, but after you check your vents run your snake from your outside clean out to the street and also into your house.

I ran it through both cleanouts - the one toward the house and the one toward the street.

Pretty sure the snakes's been through every inch of drain line in my house. Did it multiple times on the kitchen line.

[vash]

vents.

and i think i paid a plumber $175 to run a camera down all my drains. i found a section that had settled so the water had to move down and UP a "dip". when we found the partially collapsed section and a tree root, i GULPED and wrote a check. the best thing of the video was that my connection to the city main was beautiful.

i already had all my vents cleaned. now with a TOTO toilet, i could flush a fat hamster treading water. my neighborhood, everyone DIY'd the sewer install when they closed up their septic tanks. nobody read a code book.

[URY914]

Do you know what type of pipe was used for your drain lines? PVC, Cast iron, etc?

[fintstone]

I had almost exactly the same problem when I lived in Albuquerque. I had always been able to snake problems out before. Finally got sick of messing with it and rented a commercial machine. Never had a problem again. You need to use something like this for tough problems:
Drain Cleaner 100' X 3/4"

The smaller, more flexible snakes will sometime ball up or turn before the clog (into a vent or another branch). Especially the nonpowered ones.