Backflow to shower from toilet and sinks.

I have a standalone shower and separate tub. When flushing the toilet, water is backing up to the standalone shower. Same happens when sink water drains, it backs up to the shower.

The sink and toilet drains the water fine, once the water backs up in shower, it takes forever to slow drain. This bath is at upstairs in two story home. I'm guessing the sink, toilet, shower, tub is all merges into one pipe going downstairs and it's blocked.

This is causing large amounts of water leaking from the ceiling downstairs. I have poured some liquid draino into the shower drainage. It's taking long time to slow drain. Do you think I may have to tear down that ceiling and cut the pipe?

 

First, stop pouring dangerous chemicals down the drain. Next, I would try one of the hair removers you can buy next to those chemicals and see what that pulls out of the drain. If that does not resolve the issue, I would snake the drain.

Have you checked the vent at all to make sure it is not clogged?

 

Water has finally drained from the shower. I'll stop using the draino.

When I run the water down the shower drain, it drains no problem. But as soon as I flush the toilet, it backflows into the shower and slow drains causing leaks through the ceiling. This doesn't make sense. If it drains fine from the shower, why doesn't it drain the backflow water from the toilet? And why is it leaking through the ceiling downstairs?

When toilet is not flushed, and all the backflow water has drained in shower, I can dump bucket full of water while running the shower to flood it, and the water drains no problem.

The shower drain pipe goes straight down about 13" deep and curves towards the toilet side. I have a fish tape, but it hits the bottom of the pipe and can't get it to turn into it. I'll go pickup a snake and see...

Where's the vent? On roof? If so, I'll have to get a plumber for that, as the roof is like 30ft high.

Thanks.

 

That is a wire fish tape not a plumber snake. You are hitting bottom of trap. Standard toilet flushes 3 1/2 gallons of water fast, shower even at same volume is a lot slower and may be draining by clog. May have to run snake from roof vent.

 

I think you have a bigger problem than just a clogged pipe if this is happening, I think you need to call a plumber before the damage gets worse.

 

I found out the water was leaking around the sealing of the PVC pipe. I caulked around the PVC pipe, and it stopped leaking.

I also picked up 25' snake. After feeding about 24' into the shower drain without success, on 4th try it picked up a hairball mixed with tissues. Water drained much better, but still flushing toilet and showering at same time caused overflow again after 10 minutes or so. I fished few more times with the snake, and then did same from 2nd bath and from all toilets. Not sure which one did it, but water drains properly now, haven't had any issue for 2 weeks.

Thanks all.

 

Glad to hear you were able to dislodge the clog!

While this may be working now, I'd caution against it being a long-term fix. The PVC pipe really needs to be solvent cemented together for a secure seal. I would be surprised if the caulk lasts a year. (sorry)

Unfortunately, it's usually a bit of a project to cut out old fittings and redo them. Certainly a DIY project if you plan it well, or a quick and easy project for a plumber. Depending on the location of the section that needs to be replaced, it may be a good idea to add a cleanout to make it easier to snake next time.