confusing "clog" please help...


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Old 12-23-02, 11:08 AM
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Angry confusing "clog" please help...

I've had a re-occurring "clog" in my sink/tub drain. The clog affects both the tub and sink drains in our main bathroom on the 2nd floor. This has been clogging off and on for about 6 months. I've gotten it "unclogged" 3 or 4 times now and it drains just fine for a shower or for any time the sink is used. However, when I try to drain a bath's worth of water, it will just let out a deep "gulp" sound 2 or 3 times and virtually stop draining. The water will go down in about 3 days, if left alone. The curious part is that even when the tub is finished draining if I then run the shower it will back up instantly as if I never cleared it. Thank god my wife and I belong to a gym so that we can still bathe on a regular basis.

I can then repeat the process of "unclogging" the drain by bailing the water out, plunging the water in the drain back into the tub through the tub overflow opening. I then bail that water out, pour a large "dutch oven" full of boiling water into the drain (which seems to drain pretty quickly), wait a little while for the pipes to be warm, but not too hot, then begin a 3 day treatment of enzyme (I found that the liquid enzyme seems to be much more effective than the powder-ish type you mix with water). This has worked a couple of times in a row, but is tedious to say the least.

I've tried snaking and have gotten virually nowhere, getting one ball of hair once, but nothing on 6 other tries. The sink drain has a number of turns and eventually the snake kinked and is now useless. I can't snake from the tub because the stopper will not come out, it's somehow fused together (the stopper and linkage) and will not come out (I posted on this before). Plus the tub drain is all copper, so I can't just take it appart at the trap like I did with plastic sink drain.

I CANNOT afford to call a plumber and will contiue my routine of bailing and boiling if I have to until I can afford a plumber if need be. I just can't understand why it will drain OK (once it's been "cleared") for a shower, but won't drain OK for a tub (I understand it's more volume, but then it won't drain for a shower again until I "re-clear" it.

Could this be related to venting? No other drain in the house has any problems (fingers crossed). I've put so much drain opener and enzyme through these pipes over the past few months I can't imagine that it's just debris getting swept down to the clog point whenever a tub's worth of water is drained. Really, the pipes should be spotless at this point and even the snake came back virtually clean the last few times I was able to use it.

I'm a reasonably intelligent person, but this has me feeling as if lead paint is a staple of my diet. Any suggestions on what might be causing this or how to fix it?

At the end of my rope,

Matt
 
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Old 12-23-02, 11:23 AM
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You will need to snake it. You may want to try it from the overflow. If not you'll have to find a way to get to the pipe, and use the cleanout plug at the end of the sink/tub line). Most of them have one. You can also try an organic enzime cleaner. That will work better then hot water.
 
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Old 12-23-02, 12:09 PM
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no luck...

Unfortunately there is no cleanout that I can find. I have good access to the drain end of the tub and I can follow (visually) the drain pipe back under most of the length of the tub, but I can't see where it joins the sink drain. The house is between 60 and 70 years old, so I dont' know if cleanouts were code then. there certainly isn't one in evidence. I don't even have a cleanout for the main drain, we have a house trap.

I've tried snaking from the overflow, but the snake usually doesn't get past the stopper/linkage. I got it past once, but the friction on the snake slipping past the stopper/linkage and getting through the trap was such that I had to use all of my strenght just to inch it along and eventually it just wouldn't go anyfurther. I don't think I hit anything, it's just that the snake was out so far (only a few feet past the trap) that it wasn't rigid enough for the force I was applying at the opening to translate into pushing any further down the drain.

I have tried (and had my best results) using an enzyme (Drain Care brand from DEP) shortly after the boiling water. As I posted before, the powder type didn't seem to do much, but the liquid type (same manufacturer) has been (seemingly) much more effective.

I just can't figure out why it will re-clog after every time a tub full is drained, but not the shower. I could be way off, but I feel like this is the key to the problem and I'd rather not rip appart the celing of the kitchen to find out.

Matt
 
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Old 12-23-02, 12:43 PM
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I'd pull the trap on the lav sink and run from there, the lines are plugged up, only good cure is to clean them out. Thats all I can tell you.
 
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Old 12-23-02, 01:09 PM
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You say you have access to the drain from the tub end. You should be able to disconnect the tub drain from the drain line, and feed a snake that way, the trap shouldn't give that much trouble. Do the same from the sink.
 
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Old 12-23-02, 05:04 PM
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You have a stoppage in the tub and/or sink... Both lines probably need to be snaked... If you want the answer, you have to take the tub overflow out,... I have had this discussion before, so I will only say that you HAVE to get the overflow loose... If you have to tie it to the bumper of your car and snatch it out... You want to do your own work so you don't have to pay the plumber, then do what a PLUMBER would do... Take the overflow out!... That is the place to snake it from, then go get an electric hand snake from a tool rental place and run it through the TUB overflow AND the sink line... Don't stop because you hit a couple bends... the bends are made to allow a cable to go through... an electric snake will navigate the turns MUCH better though and won't be as frustrating... Snake the line atleast 20 feet or so... and remember that you are not necessarily trying to pull stuff out, so don't assume that you aren't doing any good just because you don't get a big ball of hair on the cable... Also, actually the shower lets out more water at a time than the tub, but it might not put as much TOTAL volume down over the course of a shower as you might run in a FULL tub, but it may also be further along the restricted area and simply drains slightly better... Tell us what you finally find out... Don't waste another cent on a drain cleaning chemical until you have run a good electric snake...
 
 

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