Hello Has anyone seen this issue? It all started when we saw a puddle of water on the floor in the basement in the half bath / laundry and room. After checking all the water pipes and washing machine with no sign of a leak! Finally I noticed in this laundry room that turning the sink water on and flushing the toilet 3 times caused the backup and very large bubbles in the toilet! The water came out of the bottom of the toilet on the floor. Probably from the toilet Flange in the floor under the toilet. So after a while the water would eventually drain and the toilet could be flushed once or twice at the most with large bubbles. So I put a 25 foot snake into the cleanout that goes into the pipe into the front yard. I felt something at approx 10 feet and a pulled out a small amount of organic matter. No fix. Next I put a hose down and got pass the 10 foot problem area and turned on the 100 psi water full blast and it drained fine. Then I pulled the hose back less than 10 feet and again turned the water on full blast. Sure enough the pipe filled up and backed up on the floor! So the problem is at 10 feet or 8 feet from the front of the house approx 2 feet down. Got the shovel out and started digging. No water on the ground but this is close to where the new PVC line from the street sewer pipe connects to the old cast iron drain pipe into the foundation just below the concrete floor. After digging the connection looks good no sagging or collapse. See pic Now today after 5 days of this traumatic event the problem is gone! During a shower we ran the sink and flushed both toilets a total of 5 times and no bibles in the basement toilet and no backup! Before the water leak we did have a strange smell and put baking soda and liquid plumber down the drain with no fix! Therefore now that it is working? I checked with the neighbors and they did not have a problem? Could a piece of iron inside the pipe flak off and clog it up? Or Due to the record high rainfall this spring could something have floated back into the pipe from the high water table to clog it too? Did the baking soda help or has the water table on the ground drop? Any comments? Pic 1 - iron drain pipe from house going into pvc pipe to street sewer Pic 2 - PVC cleanout that is in between pvc pipe to toilet and pvc pipe that connects to old iron pipe going to street. New PVC stack in back right corner that goes straight up to roof and second floor bathroom connects into it. Pic 3 - toilet right side where leak occurs and floor drain.
So glad to hear your bible problem is gone! Sounds like there may have been a backup of the city's line...better call them to check...or if they haven't done anything recently then maybe they need to.
If you can feed a line with a hook on it or something similar, you might be able to see if it is roots that are blocking your line. By pushing stuff through all the evidence goes down the drain. If you have a breach in the line with roots in there, a line cleaner like the one below would only have temporary effect. But it can get you temporary use of your system until you can fix it.. Best to dig up the line and replace if it is broken.
I dug up the line in pic 3 and it is not leaking or broken. Now that the blockage is gone and it works, nothing else to do?
Depends...how close are the neighbors? If the problem is (was) between you and them (and the sewer flows their way) they may not experience an issue. Also could be the whole neighborhood has an issue but you have the lowest drain, elevation wise, that makes you the first to have trouble.
As they say, leave well enough alone. If you’re satisfied that the problem is gone. Don’t want it to come back in the winter when it’s a lot harder to dig up the ground. Sounds like the problem was internal though, so a good snaking again if necessary. . Probably should review with everyone in the house what is acceptable to put down the drain. Not enough people know the potential effect of grease, hair, flushable wipes, etc, etc. 'Flushable' wipes causing clogging mess in Charleston area sewer pipes
Yes those woven wipes are the devil when it comes to anything plumbing related...they catch on the rough interior surface of old cast iron lines, tree roots, any imperfection along the way. No surprise to me, ever try using a wet wipe when your hands are dry and cracked in the winter? You can't let go of the danged thing! And grease down the kitchen drain...a big no-no too, it cools and solidifies in the drain...either yours or theirs (city) usually both...gonna cost ya money either way (remember the city operates off your utility bill) This makes the plug in Charleston look like a pimple in comparison... 'Total monster': fatberg blocks London sewage system I hope the diver in that Charleston story got half of the $180,000 they said it cost to clean that up!!!
Hello I just found out something! My neighbor who lives behind me had the same problem and spent thousands and they found in the pipe 3 feet from the front of the house by the stairs Which routes in the place as my house a stuck flapper valve that broke off the hinge in the metal sewer pipe!!! This happened in Feb 2014 to my neighbor and he saved the flapper and I took a pic of it! They had to put a camera in the pipe to locate this flapper and cut out that section of pipe to fix it for $1500.00!! The valve was put in as a backflow preventer back in 1962!
Maybe call the septic company to run a camera. (Mary be cheaper than a plumber) Shouldn't cost too much since there isn't a tank to pump out.
About half that here. We were debating having it done, until realizing the water table is so high after the snow melt, thus creating a damper lawn while using water. Like pouring a gallon of water into a qt jug. Building up the yard some would help. To do list.......
The camera scoping is $275 around here but if I do it myself it cost $27.99 using my laptop from Amazon!! See
