cast iron to pvc

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parvinr

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my house was built in 1959 and has cast iron drain lines the washing machine empties and backs up into my kitchen sink it looks to be 2 inch cast with a 1 and 1/2 inch vent at the washer and a 2inch vent at the sink what size pvc will i need and would i need to replace the vents or could i tie into the exsisting vents if i need to replace the vents how big of a job would this be i just had my house roofed i am sure that my cast pipes are constricted also there is pvc soil pipe from street to about 18 inches under my house and and connected to the cast iron


thanks for your advice
 

parvinr

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i dont think it is an actual clog i think what has happened is that the original 2 inch pipe in now about 1 inch diameter inside the pipe from all the build up have had the plumber out several times to clean it from what i can tell when i use a 50 foot snake is there is alot of slug inside i have spent 2 days snakeing the vents and drain line as well as using a bladder to blow it out
 

parvinr

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what would be recommended and could this be done in 1 day also i would noe be replacing the cast hub on the main soil line the washer and sink linr connect to but i know i probably should i am afraid ill get in over my head and it will end up costing me more than i need it to
 

Redwood

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Perhaps a better drain cleaner would do it in an hour or so...
You have a partially clogged drain that has not been cleaned very well.
 

Probedude

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Perhaps a better drain cleaner would do it in an hour or so...
You have a partially clogged drain that has not been cleaned very well.

But make sure you talk to the plumber and tell him what you want him to do.

I have the same situation since day 1 when I bought our 1965 vintage house 6 years ago. Our top loading washing machine (which I only just replaced with a front loader 2 months ago) would dump water out so fast that the drain could not keep up so it would back up into the laundry tub. About every 8 months to a year the line would become completely clogged - probably from kitchen grease. From what I can gather, the laundry drain line then ties into the kitchen drain and then out to the other end of the house to the toilets, then out to the city sewer. Only figured this out when the last guy said he could see his snake in the cleanout after feeding in 80' of line (the distance from the laundry drain to the sewer cleanout is 30' in a straight line).

I've had at least 3 different plumbers over the years come out. All were independents and all were quick to get in and out and not really offer how to completely solve this problem except for the last guy and only because I kept asking him questions. The cast iron pipe underground would not let much of a snake through - all these guys ended up just shoving the snake with no attachment on the end (not even an auger) to get through the line and open it up a bit. Something at about 50-60' blocks any further passage of a snake with a bit on the end. The last guy bent the end of his snake so it would flop around to try and scrape away the grease.

The last guy said they could tie in a new drain line from the garage and kitchen sink to the cleanout using a more direct path by sawcutting through my garage floor (slab constructed house), and punching a new drain line from the kitchen through the drywall into the garage.

Switching over to a front loader washing machine has really helped with the backing up. I'm still going to have clogs from the kitchen over time (we are careful with what we put down the drain - it's the guests that are the problem), but at least we won't have 50+ gallons of water on the floor from the washing machine dumping too fast anymore.

Redwood - what do you think of pressure washing the line? My understanding is that this descales the line very well, even removing corrosion but more importantly ALL grease deposits instead of just in my case the diameter of the snake.
 

Redwood

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Jetting cleans the lines very well. Usually at a higher cost than snaking though...

I have a customer that that owns an appartment building.
For years he had problems with kitchen sink drains...
He had endless drain cleanings where the drain cleaner put a bent 3/8" cable in the line and pronounced it cured.
Then one day he got me...
I was sent because it was a callback and the customer was angry....
Yup thats when they send me...:cool:

I went into the basement apartment that was catching the mess and reached a finger inside the wall feeling the pipe...
It was 3"!
I cut open the wall and found a 3" cleanout in the wall and proceeded to run my Ridgid K-7500 cable with a 3" blade through it.

I solved years of plumbing problems for that customer that day....:D

Yes a cutter big enough to clean the pipe has to go in the line.
Yes the cable does have to go far enough into the line to clean out the restriction.
 

parvinr

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thank for your help i was just looking at a diy fix do you think i could do the clean out part myself i dont mind renting a machine with what looks like cutter blades on it what i have been using is a regular curled snake and a bldder that hooks up to the end of a water hose money is tight wife not working a 2 small kids
 

Redwood

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Seldom do I see or hear of good results with DIYer drain cleaning efforts.

It's the kind of thing that experience works in your favor.
 
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