water backs up into sink and dishwasher

[augusta]

I have a new issue with water draining in a kitchen sink. It has an Emerson 1/3 horse garbage disposal and an attached dishwasher. Both sides of the sink fills up with water and takes a long time to drain. Turning on the disposal has no effect. Also, the dishwasher is backing up as well. No other drains in the house are backing up. Any ideas what the likely problem is?

With kind regards.

[MACPLUMB 777]

Yes your kitchen sink drain is clogged going over to the main sewer,
you need to call a plumber or drain cleaning co. To clear blockadge

please do not use drain chemicals as they can not run though 20' - 30'
of clogged drain pipe ! !
And can hurt the plumber and his sewer cables

[augusta]

Thanks for the reply. Looking for other "do it yourself" possibilities here in the do it yourself forum. There must be *something* I can try myself.

With kind regards.

[Gary Swart]

Problem is, a snake that you could rent is too puny to clear most clogs. They often just compact the the clog and make it worse. A professional has the equipment that can auger the drain clear to the street. Even if you could find this equipment for rent, it is quite dangerous for a novice to use. You might want to analyze what you are putting into the sink that is causing the problem.

[Ian Gills]

It's risky, because you could make things worse, but with two plungers you could theoretically try GENTLY plunging both sinks at once with a helper.

I would not bother though if the blockage is so bad that when you turn on the waste disposal the water gushes back with the effect of a fountain. You'll know what I mean if this is happening. Then you really do need to call a plumber.

But if it still flows, it's risky but it might work.

The risks are:

1) making the blockage worse

2) damaging the plumbing if you plunge too hard.

[Terry]

Step one: Pull out the p-trap and make sure it's clear.

Step two: If it still doesn't drain, rent a snake.

Step three: Find someone that knows how to use a snake, or maybe even has one.

One Thanksgiving, someone plugged the kitchen drain with potato peelings. We made an awful mess, I didn't have a snake, so we tried everything else. We even tried one of those rubber ends for a garden hose. Wow! What a mess that makes.

I had a friend come over the next day with his snake, it's beening running well for over twenty years now.

[Dunbar Plumbing]

I have a new issue with water draining in a kitchen sink. It has an Emerson 1/3 horse garbage disposal and an attached dishwasher. Both sides of the sink fills up with water and takes a long time to drain. Turning on the disposal has no effect. Also, the dishwasher is backing up as well. No other drains in the house are backing up. Any ideas what the likely problem is?

With kind regards.

NO AIR GAP.




This thread I will use along with others for viewpoint proof that Air Gaps stop the reversal of flow into a device that produces sterile goods used for eating utensils for human consumption. (Dishwasher)



WHY AIR GAPS ARE NEEDED IN REGARDS TO KITCHEN SINK DRAINS, DISHWASHERS

[augusta]

Excellent advice. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it. I pulled off the p-trap and it was strangely clear (usually there's all sorts of "pond scum" looking stuff in there). Tried plunging both sides...still nothing. Yeah, after trying *something*, time to call a plumber.

Regarding the air gap - Yeah, that seems to make sense. Not that this issue (possible clog) was caused by the lack of an air gap but regardless of the "why" it has in fact backed up into the dishwasher. Now whether or not an air gap would prevent it *and* not cause other problems in return - I have no clue. I'll read your thread though. I'm not a plumber but I still like to know how things work.

With kind regards.

[hj]

There must be *something* I can try myself.

There is, YOU can call a plumber. If you knew how to do it yourself, and had the equipment, you would have. Most people with this problem call a plumber FIRST, they do not head for the Internet to find out IF they should call a plumber.

[SewerRatz]

There must be *something* I can try myself.

There is, YOU can call a plumber. If you knew how to do it yourself, and had the equipment, you would have. Most people with this problem call a plumber FIRST, they do not head for the Internet to find out IF they should call a plumber.

I like the ones that try first, they make the mess for me.

I just did a job at a warehouse where the "handyman" of the bunch there went out and bought a power rod from the big box store to unclog one set of bathrooms backup out of the floor drain. He was at it for a couple days. There is a clean out on the floor in front of the lav sink but it was dry as a bone (which is where he was trying to rod from) and he tried to rod from the floor drain but kept coming up the other floor drain in the womans bathroom. After I did some investigating I found the lav and the urinal do not cause the back up its just the water closet in the mens and womans handicap stall that backs up out of the floor drain. Trouble here is everything is back to back so the rod likes to come up on the other side. Well I bring in my rod which is a tad bigger than his he bought, put a nice bend on the end of my cable about 45 degree, stuck it in the floor drain worked it through the trap then stooped the rod hand fed the rod in till I felt the combo, pushed firmly on the cable then ran the machine, two seconds later the water goes down.

Now the satisfaction is the whole job took me all of a half hour. The guy was complaining he had to pay me for something he could of done if he had more time.

[augusta]

There must be *something* I can try myself.

There is, YOU can call a plumber. If you knew how to do it yourself, and had the equipment, you would have. Most people with this problem call a plumber FIRST, they do not head for the Internet to find out IF they should call a plumber.

In the spirit of maintaining some reasonable amount of respect, even if from one anonymous man to a plumber, I'm going to go easy on you. Your logic is so far off that I can only deduce you must be far off as well. Relax, oh greedy one. There's enough business out there for everyone. *You* are not the only plumbing gift from God who can take basic troubleshooting steps *before* calling a stranger who may or may not be good at his trade. A license, or working for someone who is licensed, makes you no authority on the "right way". Take a look around in this forum at all the "plumbers" who can't agree on any one detail including - is water really wet?

Based on your extraordinarily admirable wisdom, I can only assume the next time your car doesn't start, you will immediately call a tow truck and a mechanic. Don't you bother calling someone to ask for something you could try (because I'm sure you know it all, right?). What a joke. This is a DO-IT-YOURSELF forum. If you don't like giving advice on the Internet - then don't. Just spare us all your R-tard logic.

For the record, the great magnificent plumber came out today. He snaked the line and said, "I have no idea what the problem was. There was nothing caught in the drain. Sometimes these things just suddenly start to work." Yeah, sounds like a bigger genius than I.

@SewerRatz: don't see how any of that helps anyone. Try moving over to the thread category titled "Rants, anyone care to listen?" and rise above your username.

Thanks for the advice Terry. Hopefully the occasional clown, who has a bad day, and decides to come here and kick the visitor won't mess things up for you.

With kind regards.

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Excellent advice. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it. I pulled off the p-trap and it was strangely clear (usually there's all sorts of "pond scum" looking stuff in there). Tried plunging both sides...still nothing. Yeah, after trying *something*, time to call a plumber.

Regarding the air gap - Yeah, that seems to make sense. Not that this issue (possible clog) was caused by the lack of an air gap but regardless of the "why" it has in fact backed up into the dishwasher. Now whether or not an air gap would prevent it *and* not cause other problems in return - I have no clue. I'll read your thread though. I'm not a plumber but I still like to know how things work.

With kind regards.

In the state of Kentucky we require an Air Gap to prevent the reversal of contaminates back to the dishwasher.

A kitchen sink drain when clogged can allow for the reversal of wastewater right into the dishwasher without the user being aware of this.

This device, without any moving parts provides the best level of protection for the device installed in your home that prevents contamination.

Did I say contamination? Oh yes. The bad stuff you never want on any eating utensils for preparing food.


They are under $15 and protect you and your family. No other method offers the same level of protection, ever.

[SewerRatz]

Augusta, I am sorry you took offense to me. I have a tendency of telling stories and did not mean to upset you. When the others said call a plumber, it was sound advice for any DIY.

Back in the day when I was younger and dumber, I didn't mind seeing people at the rentals renting a drain cleaning machine, 90% of them may have been able to unclog their drains with no issues. But there are people that do get hurt by these machines. I know of many plumbers that are missing fingers, and even a hand due to one of these drain cleaning machines cable wrapping around their limb and tearing it off.

Still it never phased me till one day I went on a clogged kitchen sink line for a nice lady. She came across a little odd since she kept wearing driving gloves around us the whole time.

When we finished clearing her drain she then said to us " I have a whole new respect for you drain cleaning guys." I asked here why is that. She then proceeded to tell us," Well about 3 years ago you guys where hear and unclogged my sink, and you guys made it look so easy. Well last year it clogged up again, so I went out and rented a rodder. The cable shot out of the drum and wrapped around my glove real tight, and my knee jerk action was to pull my hand away real fast." As she was saying all that she took of her glove to show us that she was missing 3 of her fingers. Then she finished saying, "Next thing I noticed there was blood everywhere, my fingers where still in the glove."

Ever since then I cringe when I hear or see home owners wanting to try and clean a drain themselves. Maybe instead of the story of a maintenance guy trying to clear a blockage I should of told this one first. Honestly it isn't that we want to see plumbers make all the money clearing what might be a simple blockage, we are concerned with your safety. Other than removing the p-trap to see if the line is clear and trying to plunge it there is nothing else you can do that would be considered safe. So please do not take offense to anyone here that doesn't seem to helpful with their answers.

[kingsotall]

"When DIYers attack!!!!!!!!!"

[augusta]

@SewerRatz: You sound like a genuine guy. No big deal on the exchanged words. I'm not upset or offended, just a little annoyed. I don't want to continue this forum drama, I only want to say that you're point about the snaking doesn't apply here though. I never asked for advice on how to snake - I asked for advice on what to do to determine there was nothing else left to do other than call a plumber. I don't know how that was missed, I mean there were only 8 posts. Terry gave exactly what I was looking for. So I got stuck on his step 3 and called a plumber. The end. Only thing left was for me to follow up with what the plumber did and said. Nope, post number 9. Not only did that stuff not apply, but it didn't even make sense.

Every plumber in here was a plumbing do-it-yourselfer at one point in time. If you had never tried to learn and do what you could yourself, you never would have gotten where you are (master plumber or plumber extraordinaire ). Now whether or not you regret it, that's another story.

@kingstoall: Excellent observation. Looks like the same observation given to that "hunter" who was "attacked" by the deer on video. Now what exactly did he do to the deer just minutes before that video clip?

@Rugged: Makes sense to me. It reminds me of a similar thing. I was putting in my 13 zone sprinkler system and was surprised to find out I needed a permit from the County to do that. I thought, "I don't need no stinking permit." I later learned to check for permit requirements on just about any construction, even seemingly small. The County informed me that they had a new requirement for sprinkler system installations. It was a $10 backflow preventer. Rainbird didn't put one on the requirements list that they sent me because they have no idea what the code requirements are from one area to the next. As I'm sure you already know, this backflow preventer does the same thing - prevents the water from leaving the pvc and coming into my drinking water.

With kind regards.