Hi All,
Really got a puzzler here: I’ve got a drainline in my house that overflows when I’m running my washer. yet the drainline snakes clean. A plumber said venting of the washer drainline was a problem (it had no separate vent) but it’s worked fine for years. The washer drainline connects with the kitchen sink drain before connecting to a cleanout and continuing on to the rest of the drain system. The kitchen sink handles its flow without any backup problems.
Here’s what I’ve tried:
- When I snake the sink, snake the washer, snake the cleanout directly below the washer, I can detect no obstructions.
- I’ve also used a bladder hose attachment to pressure clean the lines.
- When pressurizing from the washer box, the kitchen sink will begin to fill up.
- When pressurizing from the kitchen sink, the washer box will begin to fill up.
- When pressurizing from the cleanout (which is just beyond the washer and the sink), there is no backing up of water, in fact, I ran the water full blast for a half an hour with no backup. This looks to me to be a blockage at the “T” junction but, again, snaking has come up with nothing…
- Finally, I’ve double-dosed the sink and the washer box with sulfuric acid – no effect.
Any ideas? Or additional diagnostic test I could run? I’m just stumped…
Thanks for any help here,
Dave in Boone, NC
Replies
A lot of laundry drains plug up at the sanitary T fitting. It is where the horizontal pipe drains into the vertical one. I installed a cleanout just above it to remove the lint that tend to buildup there. Your snake can easily miss it or go in the wrong direction. Try spinning your snake at the location on the picture may help.
I've just snaked backwards from the cleanout below the T with the washer (it's only about 24" away) and come up with nothing. Due to pipe configuration that's about as close as I can get if I were to plumb in another cleanout up stream of the T. Do the roto rooter guys have a tool that fills the whole pipe and reams it out?
Thanks for your input -- dave
Are you on a septic and lateral field system or a municiple sewer system?
If the first, have your tank pumped and check the lateral field for blockage.
If the second, look for some minor blockage between the house line an the sewer tap at the street.
Small flows like the sinks and tubs will drain fine, but high flow from the pump in the washer is over loading the drain lines.
Dave
Thanks for your input Dave -- I am on septic and there is a semi-blockage, but from diagnosing with the hose-bladder cleanout tool it appears the blockage must be between the cleanout and the washer. The volume delivered by the hose will back up the drain at the washer or sink, but not at the cleanout which is located just downstream of the kitchen sink and washer. The mystery to me is that neither snaking, water pressure, or sulfuric will dislodge it!
What I did was open up the wall and cut out the pipe 1" above the "T".
It expose a build up of water logged lint that reduce the flow of discharge. I removed the lint, then replace the cutout with a "Y" fitting for another clean out.
Espo,
I'll be watching this tread closely. We had tree roots professionally removed from the outside clean-out to the street. He got out about 25 lbs. of roots. Still the floor drain gurgles and sometimes the toilet right across the hall "bloops". This happened right after the clean out too and I had them back and saw the water flowing freely in the clean-out, which is outside.
Then I wondered if the roof vents were clogged by debris and the recent roof inspection for hail damage told me they were clear.
I did notice that if you use a full cap of detergent it seems worse. Hubby was using the lowest water setting and the most suds. I asked him to use the highest water level and 1/4 cap of liquid detergent and that seems to help a bit, but doesn't resolve the problem. (He has to do the gym clothes - yuck!) I have heard that using powdered detergent is worse, but don't know if that is valid or not.
I've also tried pouring some water into the floor drain in case the "water seal" was dry. I haven't tried that for a while, but now that I think about it, I should try it again to evaluate. With a sewer smell at a former workplace, the maintenance guy said to pour a little vegetable oil in the floor drain to prevent the evaporation of water for a time. This did work.
We also do not flush the adjacent toilet when the washer is draining, which seems to help and, if the machine is filling it takes forever for the tank to fill due to low pressure.
I also read recently, maybe here?, that flushing facial tissue is bad for a septic as it doesn't degrade like toilet tissue - maybe it is the treated kind to be easy on a very runny nose? I'll be watching to see what else I can try. Good luck to you in resolving your issue.