Water backing up

[cindylane]

Please Help Me!

For several weeks when washing clothes and using dishwasher we have a gurgling and bubbling coming up in toilets. We have had our sewer pumped. We had a plumber come out and we were told that we needed an air vent, which they put under the house. We have a mobile home that is 11 years old. From how it was explained to me, they couldn't find anything on the roof so they had to cut a pipe and put it under the house. We didn't have bubbling for about a week but it has gradually returned. However, upon washing a load of clothes water came up in shower in one bathroom and tub and separate shower in another bathroom. What could the problem be? Who should I call for help?

[jadnashua]

When you say had the sewer pumped, it sounds like you have a septic tank system. It sounds like it may have a problem...the leach field may be shot and needs to be replaced. OR, you have a clog somewhere. If a septic tank is not pumped out on a regular cycle, it can fill with solids and eventually get washed into the leach field, plugging it up. How often that is needed, depends on the use and size. A vent system is required for any plumbing system to function properly. It normally goes up and through the roof. Something they could put underneath may not resolve any inadequate venting. A manufacturerd home should have been built with a reasonable venting system, but over time, it could have been cut off and plugged if the roof has been redone and whomever did it, didn't know or care about the ramifications.

If you don't have a septic tank and leach field, and things are backing up, you have a clog in the sewer line, and it needs to be cleared by a competent plumber. The people that did yours may not be, or they didn't go far enough.

[hj]

IF the gurgling were caused by the lack of a vent, and that is NOT a definite diagnosis, there is NO "vent" that could be installed under the trailer to cure it. Therefore, you had an inexperienced plumber, or an incompetent plumber, or more likely, a dishonest plumber. WE cannot tell you where the problem is and therefore how to fix it, but get a "reputable" plumber and they seldom have the words like Roto, or Sewer, or Rooter in their names, and they seldom have full page ads in the yellow pages.