Hi all,
This is Scott in Minneapolis and I am new to this group! I have a question about an old floor drain. My home was built in 1927, and the plumbing is all cast iron. Acouple weeks ago, the drain became so clogged, that the de-humidifier was backing the system up. After sucking all of the water out with my vac, I discovered that many years ago, someone had dropped the original threaded cleanout plug down into the trap. It took my 3′ crowbar to dislodge it. I also discovered that I had sucked out about 4 gallons of water from the trap… Where did it come from? Well, just under the grate, opposite the cleanout plug, there is a hole which runs under the floor towards the back of the house (away from the main). I have no idea where it goes, but there was a lot of water backed up in there.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
-SWS PS GodSend was the only name I could come up with not in use.
Replies
is it a hole or a pipe wyed in to the trap fitting..
possibly an old sump drain line....
outlet for a field drain under yur slab...
do you have a boiler???
a length of pipe can hold more water than you might believe...
the water in the trap line could have went out the hole and up under yur slab...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
No boiler... I do have the oldest forced air furnace on the plannet - 1952 I believe. The drain field idea does make some sense. Over the past few months, the mustyness level of the basement seemed to be getting worse - now, after the clog is gone the de-humidifier is doing a much better job keeping up.
do you knoe where the clean out plug belongs...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Old houses often had a toilet in the basement. These connections did not have a trap in them. If your floor drain was once for a toilet, you may be lacking a trap. All of which is to say, if this is the case, your floor drain goes to the sanitary sewer system.
BTW, the plug should not have fit down the pipe, if it was correct for the pipe.
In older houses, downspouts sometimes were tied into the sewer lines, so that could be a possibility too.
Aaron
No, the odd pipe coming into the drain isn't big enough for rain run-off or a toilet. It is about the same size as the cleanout access plug directly opposit it. As for the original cleanout threadded plug... Yes, it fit almost perfectly into the trap. It almost reminded me of a sink or shower sized pipe, but there is nothing down there to indicate the existance of a shower and the laundry sink is hooked directly to the stack."When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."-Sinclair Lewis
so there ya go...
originallly thet plug fit the hole... it "wasn't" anything but perhaps a clean out..
over time the plug came out and and you now have what ya got...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!