Some Major Kitchen Sink Issues

[dbu8554]

Ok so my house is about 60 years old with galvanized pipe so I know its swollen up some over the years but, up untill about 2 weeks ago my kitchen sink drained fine never had any problems for the most part a bottle of drano could not fix.

So today after doing about a big bottle of drano every other day for a week we decided to get serious went out got a 25 foot long snake more then long enough (house is not build on a slab so there was more then enough room to go under the house and see what kinda distance we are working with).

We got one of those things that attach to the end of your house and looks kind of like a black sex toy you hook a hose up to it, it expands and then with high pressure it cleans out the line, got one of those also..

We got some mainline cleaner and a 16oz bottle of some kinda sulfuric acid that comes in a plastic bag with lots and lots of warnings on it...

First we tried the snake, it did not go down the line very far and kept getting stuck, so then we tried the bladder/sex toy device(I know the name but its 3:46 and I cant sleep but I cant remember anything right now either)And we ran that for 20 minutes on about 1/4 the full blast of my hose...

It didn't work so then we ate lunch and came back and did it again and this time we ran it on full blast for about 2 hours, we were very excited figured how can it possibly not be fixed?

Well it would still not drain, let me rephrase that, it drains just very slowly.

So then we put the mainline cleaner in there it did not say anything about sinks but we used about 1/2 of a 32oz bottle reason is I wanted to make sure it would get past the pea trap..

It said to wait 8 hours so I did and then sink is still clogged..

Kinda on a budget of nothing, and I know it cant be that big of an issue my shower and toilet work fine. Just trying to get the kitchen sink to work kinda just got clogged out of the blue we also don't use the sink that much, only 3 of us here and we all eat out. So we only wash dishes to eat leftovers so we don't use it often but we do need it still..

I am trying to think of anything else that I should need to tell you about the sink.. We did pull the pea trap and put the bladder/sex toy thing in past the sink do it didn't back up the right side, I also looked under the house to see if it was leaking out anywhere and it was not..

When the drain line from the sink goes down from the wall it hits a Tee that is 2 inches then it goes one way where there is a plug and the other way takes it to the 3 inch mainline, tried to take the plug off to clean it out but its 60 years old and never come off before so I didnt want to break it and have a bigger problem may get some bees wax and the torch tomorrow heat it up get the wax in there and try to take it off and clean it out that way, just wondering what you guys thought..

I have a full set of tools and am very mechanically / technically inclined..


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>l>>>>l l
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>l>>>>l l
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>l>>>>l l
>>>>>>>>>>>>> O============ l l
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> l l

This drawing is basically how my drainage is setup..

l - denotes one inch sink drain
= - denotes 2 inch drain that the sink meets
l l - denotes 3 inch mainline
o - denotes plug to clean out the system
> - denotes I don't really know how to do ascci(sp) drawings that well and had to fill it with something or it would not work
Also we have city sewage here we don't have a septic tank if that matter at all..

Oh yeah also a trick I learned on watching Martha Stewart is boiling water before going out and buying stuff I always do that first and it seems to work best over most anything even in this case it seems to help but does not do anything long term..

When I used the bladder / sex toy it helped a good amount and would slowly drain but better then before, but each time i used a chemical it would get worse overall it seemed just thought I would let you know.

-Tom

[SteveW]

Hopefully the real plumbers will chime in here soon, but in the meanwhile, stop pouring chemicals down the drain!

You will very likely need to have a pro come out and do what needs to be done, and having strong acids in the line 1) won't help and 2) exposes anyone who will be working on the drain line to potentially dangerous chemicals.

[rudytheplbr]

If your house is 60 yo I would seriously consider replacing your K.S. drain, with ABS OR PVC DWV pipe and fittings. Cut out all the old galvy pipe, from the top of the receptor tee in the wall behind the sink, to a short stub on the main drain. Clean out the remaining galvy and join the new to the old w/a no-hub coupling and re-pipe your system back to the sink and use another no-hub to tie back to the vent.
At the base of the drain from the sink be sure to use either a combo (tee-wye) or a wye branch and 45deg ell to make the turn from vert to horiz. with a clean-out on the back side of the fittting. (Req'd by codes everywhere).

Good Luck,

[Redwood]

Burn the house down and get a new one or, try explosives next.

You could always just...

Have a plumber come over and snake the line clear...
It will work alot better than all the crap you tried.

Sometimes its just too simple to see the real solution.

[adb]

Just out of curiosity....

After dumping 555 gallons of caustic goo down your kitchen sink drain, and running the drainmaster (the brand name of the pressure-clearing bladders I own; there are others) for two hours, your drain still drains slowly.

While the P-trap was off, did you happen to take it outside and clear it out (away from your face, god only knows what drain chemical remnants are laying in the bottom) with a garden hose? Or replace it?

It's entirely possible that the clog is right under your sink.

Otherwise, if the trap is clear, the 2" galvanized run may be corroded and fubar. Plastic is cheap and easy.

[Redwood]

Uh-Oh... The EPA is circleing over your house in black helicopters...
Your house is going to become a superfund site!