I would get then every 3-4 years. But have had 3 clogs on my kitchen drain this year.
When it clogs it never stops up completely, but takes several minutes to drain out a couple of inches in the sink.
When I get the clog loose I find that it clogged by a large amount of find grindings from the GD.
I used to attack it from the kitchen. But my 25 ft snake would not reach it. I got a “jet blaster” that goes on the end of a hose. That will work, but it is hard to work it down the sani-tee so that it only goes down and not up the vent. And the hose end fitting always catches and it takes alot of wiggling to get it free and I am afraid that one day it will get stuck.
The drain runs from the S side of the house to the N under a slab. The N side a bathroom and a few years ago when I changes some of the fixtures I move the drains a little and installed a T and a cleanout plug thinking that the problem was downstream. I used a T and it is pointed the wrong way.
It is difficult to get the snake pointed the wrong way, but it can be done. But my old snake was just 25ft of 1/4 cable and and piece of bent tubing for a hand. You could really turn it because the other end was always in the way. Nor, becuase it had to make a sharp bend to go “backwards through the T, you could not get an pressure on it.
That is what I used the last 2 times. And it would take a number of prodding to get the blockage to open up.
But I have since got a snake with a drum. That works much better as I can really crank it and it seems to work it way up the pipe.
Also this time after I got it free I ran water and as I ran the snake up adn down a couple of times. I think that in the past I might have only broken a hole in the clog, but still left lots of it behind.
I notice that even after I removed the snake and watch the water flow that there was still bits of material flowing for over 30 minutes. So maybe this time I got it clean enough that it will last several years.
My guess is that there is a low spot in the line. But around the location where the clog is there is also a connect from a floor drain in the basement under the garage. (I am on a hillside and the it is 1st floor, 1/2 flight to basement, 1/2 flight to 2nd floor, 1/2 flight to garage). And that connection might have some burs are something in it.
The area where the snake indicates that the problem is exactly where the stairs land. So it would be a major undertaking to open the floor at that place.
I will probably bust up the floor where the cleanout is and replace the T with a bidirectional cleanout so that will make that part easier.
But I need other options if I keep getting cloggs every few months.
Because someone read the places backwards the main stack is on the NE side of the house where all of the drains are, except the kitche, and then it runs to the SE corner where there is a cleanout under the flooring and then out. that is in the dinning room area.
And the kitchen and dining area are all open so I could redirect the line someplace in the middle of the kitchen floor and run it to the cleanout. But I am not sure I remember how the drains where araanged in the area of the cleanout and they might be real deep to get under the footings. I am afraind of having to dig a real deep (and thus wide hole) to make connections. But it would still be better than trying to fix it under the stairs.
Wondering if there are any other ideas?
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Edited 7/14/2007 4:52 pm by BillHartmann
Replies
@@ I used to attack it from the kitchen. But my 25 ft snake would not reach it.
You haven't lived until you get a 1/2 snake stuck 90'out. <g> My spring was spent with my failing cast iron - tile drains circi 1962.
Had similar problem and my DIY snake would not clear it. Used my fish tape with pan head machine screw screwed into the end of the Springie Thingie and it worked. (Thus far - 5 mo.)
FWIW - the pros I dealt with seem to favor 3/4 snakes with one cutter finger and 5/16 with drop head cutter for inside drains.
The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
I will probably bust up the floor where the cleanout is and replace the T with a bidirectional cleanout so that will make that part easier.
@@
If space allows, avoid the kelly fitting and use two sweeps, back to back so you can snake up stream and down. That way the snake goes where it should.
The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
I just did some looking. In CI I found 3 different ones. One is the single casting with a back to back Y. And other is the DeltA shaped one pipe is the straight trhough. At the top of the triangle is the clean out with a straigh line going to the left connection and one to the right. And the last is the more conventional "flatened" Y.In PVC and ABS the only one is the flatend Y. But they are only available in 3 and 4".I can get a Test/Cleanout T for 1 1/2". That is just a T with threaded on the side connection. Or since I need to extend to the top of the slab anyway I could use a regular T. But that does not give any directional guidance. And if I needed to use a cutting head don't know how well it would guide in the direction that I need.But since the line only runs about 3 ft past the cleanout to where it joins the 3" from the toilet and Idon't have much space I might just replace it with an elbow pointed upstream..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I think this is where a camera would answer a lot of your questions.Here in Wichita they charge $250 to come out and run the camera for you.If the plumbing company then does the repair I think they waive the camera fee.My brother was having some difficulties with the kitchen sink drain.Also, the dishwasher was emptying and it backing up into the kitchen sink, etc.I ran a snake into the drain line and I was surprised to pull out hard clumps of paint, dirt, sheetrock mud, plaster, you name it.He had been washing paint brushes, cleaning mud off trowells, etc. in the kitchen sink. Probably dumping a lot of paint down the drain. Cleaning rollers, rinsing out the paint tray, etc.Good luck !^^^^^^
a Smith & Wesson beats four Aces
I heard one plumb indicate that they won't use a camera down less than 3" pipe..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
@@ I just did some looking. In CI I found 3 different ones. One is the single casting with a back to back Y. And other is the DeltA shaped one pipe is the straight trhough. At the top of the triangle is the clean out with a straigh line going to the left connection and one to the right.And the last is the more conventional "flatened" Y.In PVC and ABS the only one is the flatend Y. But they are only available in 3 and 4".@@The plumber on this remodel had something nice in 4" ABS with a nice radius on the curve. It's an ABS Combination T and Wye according to <http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/52-298-abs-fittings.aspx?viewAll=yes&sortBy=>I have used a Kelly fitting in a drain I did, and came back to root it. Not enough guidance to the snake. That's why I like a pair of T-Y combis.The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
I am not sure if I have a combo T-Y in their now or a santi-tee. I would have to have them side by side. What I have now is fine, just pointed the wrong way.BTW, here are the 3 cast iron fittings.While not usable for my needs I think that they are worth looking at just for the designs..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
before i started busting floors i would get a real sewer machine with 50-75' of 3/8 cable and give it a good cleaning. really helps if the end is bent a little so it wobbles as it goes down.then if it keeps clogging ,it's time for the jack hammer.larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Nah, put the sweeps front to front so you can get the space between them.SamT
Nah, put the sweeps front to front so you can get the space between them.@@Not being a plumber, which end of a combi T-y is the front end? When done, this set of cleanouts looked like the wishbone on a bird. front to front or back to back or ?The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
I had that happening in my house. Every year or so, the house drain would back up and flood the garage and/or basement. Finely got sick of snaking and had a plumber run a camera down the line. Turns out that when they built the POS house, the underslab tile hubs were joined with concrete that flowed into a pipe that had a nick out of the end when it was laid. It made just enough of a "bump" in the pipe to snag stuff every now and then and cause problems. Of course, the only solution was to bust up the garage floor and re-lay the line. But it was worth it. No problems since. It's worth getting someone to camera the line.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA