Installed food waste disposal, now have problems


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Old 03-05-09, 08:49 AM
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Installed food waste disposal, now have problems

Hi. I installed a 1hp Kenmore garbage disposal in my kitchen. The sink is a double sink, and I installed it with ABS with a P trap, etc. Everything works, and I tested it by running the dishwasher drain at the same time I was putting some vegetables through the garbage disposal. Everything drained, all is well. The next morning, when I turned the tap on in the sink, the water backedup in to the sink, and food waste came up. As well, when I went to the washroom located adjacent to the kitchen, the water is backed up there and food waste is in the sink as well. I can't understand why it got backed up after all the testing I did, and why the adjacent bathroom is impacted. I thought the food should go down the stack, and not over, across it and up the washroom sink. I think there is a clog in the stack??? Can someone recommend what I could do? thanks.
 
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Old 03-05-09, 05:31 PM
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Well we know the clog is anywhere south of the washroom sink.

You can use hand snakes that can be bought for $10-15 that have a relatively small head and can go 25 feet, from a home center.

Or you can buy a sewer tape (these can be bought in real long lengths, like 50 feet or more. But you have to have pipe without any sharp bends for these to work.

Or you can buy one of those clog-buster end-of-garden hose devices where you open up a clean out, stick it down the line some in the cleanout, turn on the garden hose, the device swells in the drain or sewer line, and blasts the obstruction clear from the force of house water pressure (say 60-80 psi!).

The latter being a very effective tool I have used many times. They can be bought in home centers in 3 sizes to be able to go in 1 1/4 drain line or 1 1/2 -3 inch or 4-6 inch drain line. Just be careful that water does not go up a downstream vent and come out poor joints or out the roof. Or that the clog is immoveable, and when you release the pressure(turn off the hose), a wall of water, under back pressure, does not come back at you!!! (Not to worry much though if you are in a basement that does not have good stuff stored or finished off basement in the area you are working.
 
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Old 03-05-09, 08:41 PM
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is anything else backing up, such as toilets etc.?
 
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Old 03-06-09, 06:10 AM
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Nothing else is backing up, I checked that last night.

I also tried my best to knock the clog loose...I covered the kitchen sink drains, and used a plunger on the bathroom sink...I could get the water to go down a tiny bit, but not unclog it totally...incredibly, I put 10lb weights on the kitchen sink drain covers, and the pressure when I plunged in the bathroom knocked the weights off...whatever is clogged, its clogged really, really well.

I think I'll go with the snake to try and knock it free. Maybe I should have noted that this house is about 55yrs old, and the main stack is copper...the plumbing under the sinks is ABS, but connects to copper going down. Does that matter?
And if I get this drain unclogged, should I be using a garbage disposal? or is this old copper system going to cause problems all the time?

Thanks for you advice, really appreciate it.
 
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Old 03-06-09, 07:49 AM
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unless you clean the line from the right spot and with the right equipment you may keep having problems
 
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Old 03-06-09, 03:18 PM
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fixed!

hi everyone...thanks for the advice. I went to Home Depot at lunch today, and got a 25' snake. It was pretty tough work, and it took about 20min to get at it...I had to be about 15' down the stack...and some getting used to how the snake worked...can't be gentle that's for sure...what I did was fill the stack up with water, and after working it, I heard the air start to come up when the water started to go down the stack. I ran a cycle with the dishwasher while the tap was on, and no problems. A pretty cool tool, and good investment. I'm just afraid to use the garbage disposal for a bit
 
 

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