DS bought a house a couple of months ago and now the sink in the kitchen won't drain, off and on, and the adjacent bathroom tub drains slowly. He took the J trap out from under the sink and attempted to snake it to no avail after pouring various drain cleaner liquids down, also with no results.
He called a plumber who put the trap back on and went to the roof and s***** the vent pipe. This immediately allowed the water to drain. Unfortunately, the next day when doing dishes, the water, again, wouldn't drain. When the plumber came back he said that he'd bet money that there was a collapsed pipe somwhere under the house to the sewer. The house is on a slab.
Get a plumber with a camera scope and put it in the pipe. Best way to see if there is a issue with the plumbing and where it is. If the snaking corrected the issue for a short time, my bet is roots in the pipe. Do you have any large trees in the area of where the pipe leaves the house and goes to the street? We had the same issue (crushed pipe below slab)on my last home which was a slab. Our home owners insurance covered the repair of tearing out the floor and restoring the repairs. Check with your insurance carrier if you find out that is where the problem is. Most will not however cover the pipe once it leaves the foundation wall and goes to the street connection.
Posts: 1016 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 31 January 2006
THANKS Home Care Club, but we live out in the middle of nowhere here in TX and I'm sure no one here has a "camera scope". The nearest big town is 45 miles away and almost impossible to get anyone to come here. There are no trees on his lot. Why wouldn't they have done anything with the drains themselves, like clogged with grease, hair, etc. They ONLY s***** the vent stack. When he bought the house there was no disclosure of problems with plumbing (but we know how that goes!!!)
Most of the larger franchise plumbing companies that do drain snaking have them. Even if you are in the sticks you should be able to find someone.
What did the plumber find on the end of his snake when he pulled it out? I am sure he went past the vent and into the drain area. A lot of folks put the snake down the vent as its eaiser then removal of the plumbing pipes on the sink trap to feed the snake in. If he hit a blockage and could not get the snake down to far, he should be able to tell by the length he got in the pipe about where the issue lies. He might need to use a larger head on the end of the snake to remove the blockage. If he just used the point which is about the size of the snake wire he only pushed a small hole into the clog which would make it work for just a short while.
If you purchase liquid chemicals to clean the drain yourself. Get a product called clobber. Its an acid and not something you can get in the big box stores. Go to a plumbing supply store for it. It is very strong. Not like the stuff you buy in the stores. When using this use gloves and eye protection. Do it in the am after the use of the sink in question is at. Pour it down the vent pipe. Do not use any water in the sinks or toilets for a few hours so the stuff has a chance to work on the blockage. Then later put a hose down the vent and run it for a short while. After which you then can use the sinks and fixtures in the house.
Posts: 1016 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 31 January 2006
The Home Care Club, THANKS for all the info. We had the city come out and locate which direction the sewer is from the house and it's in the alley behind his house. He also DOES have a big tree back there near the garage.
He says the sink has been fine for 2 days now and I'll tell him about Clobber. There is a roto roter (sp?) in the bigger town 45 mi. away so he'll most likely give them a call and see if they can scope it.
