My upstairs shower drain has been running more and more slowly over the past few months. We tried chemicals and snaking it, to no avail. I finally called a plumber last week. He opened the crawlspace and pointed out the drum trap, and said that it was likely a clog in the drum trap. He said that he didn't work on drum traps because they do not meet current codes (my home was built in 1928). He also said that "some people might open it up and shop-vac it out." He then proceeded to explain that he would need to remove the drum trap, open an access hole in my kitchen ceiling, put in a P-trap, etc. He said that if that didn't solve the problem, he would snake it. The estimate was approximately $1,000. Yikes!

Taking the tip from the plumber, my husband and I opened up the drum trap this weekend, vacuumed it out, and snaked it both toward the shower drain and to the main drain (but I'm not sure how far).

The problem: the shower is no faster AND now the bathroom sink is backing up into the shower drain.

So, a few questions - why is the sink now backing up? if the drum trap has been cleaned out and this hasn't solved the problem, does it really need to be removed? what are my options for cheap solutions? Cleaning the drum trap pretty much reached the limit of our DYI abilities!

Thanks so much for any and all help!

speedball1

Hi Crissy,

"I finally called a plumber last week. He opened the crawlspace and pointed out the drum trap, and said that it was likely a clog in the drum trap. He said that he didn't work on drum traps because they do not meet current codes (my home was built in 1928). He also said that "some people might open it up and shop-vac it out." He then proceeded to explain that he would need to remove the drum trap, open an access hole in my kitchen ceiling, put in a P-trap, etc. He said that if that didn't solve the problem, he would snake it. The estimate was approximately $1,000. Yikes!"

And "double yikes!!" I think your plumber was blowing smoke!! While drum traps may be outlawed by your local codes from new installations there is nothing in the code book that would prevent him from snaking out a existing one. He must have known that cleaning out the trap wouldn't unclog a blockage farther on down the line. if anyone else gives you a hard time about a drum trap just refer them to Chapter 7, Section 702.4(a) of the Standard Plumbing code.

Now, on to your problem. You've cleaned out the gunk from the trap. Good!
The tub is wet vented by the lavatory vent. That means it's connected to the lavatory drain.
When you snaked the tub drain line you pushed the clog out into the lavatory drain line.
All you have to do is rent a longer power snake and you can snake through the drum trap or come down the lavatory roof vent. You're halfway home and just think of the weekend you can have with that thousand bucks you've saved. Cheers, tom