Whenever a large volume of water goes down my kitchen sink drain, it causes a back up in my basement sink, with food particles coming up as well. The basement sink is located directly beneath my kitchen sink. Based on some advice posted in similar threads, I decided to the snake the line between my kitchen drain and my basement drain by putting the snake through the p-trap in the basement and working my way up. The snake was able to pull out a bit of food, but not a large amount, a just a few blobs of mush. I was hoping I had solved the issue, but after running water in my kitchen sink, the water started backing up again.

Here are some pics of the drain in the basement.




As you will see the basement drain is connected to some sort of big drain pipe which the kitchen drain also connects to. I'm not sure what the "big drain pipe" is, is it a main drain and could it be the source of the backup? Any help is appreciated but I am thinking about hiring a pro at this point.

Thanks in advance!

Hello r2traps...

The blockage below the basement sink. Open that 3" plug and insert snake through the clean out. You should use at least 1/2" snake. Insert and re-insert snake several times. Flush well. You can rent snake from Home Depot for couple of hours. Good luck. Milo

Thanks for the advice Milo, will give it a try. Do I need anything special to remove the 3" plug or should it just pop right off?

r2traps, from your picture, it looks like the plug will need to be screwed out left handed, you can use a pair of channel lock pliars. Good luck

Hi Traps...

Definitely want to snake DOWN the drain. Pull the 3" cap by unscrewing counterclockwise as suggested by Parttime and snake the drain while running water into the drain from the basement sink.

Here, run water from the basement sink at a trickle so that it almost comes out of the cleanout, but doesn't, OK? Then, run the snake and when you hit the blockage the water will either start to burp/bobble at you or may even disappear. If it burps or disappears you will want to work the snake back and forth at that particular spot a number of times to clear the blockage real well... ;)

Once you think the clog is pretty well cleared run full on hot water down the drain as you retrieve the snake... will help to clear the drain and wash the dirty snake at the same time.

Be sure to purchase leather gloves and safety goggles and use them!

You will also need some TEFLON TAPE to wrap around the threads of the cap, if I am correct, as I think I see a damaged ORING on the cap. If I'm right, simply wrap 5-6 wraps of teflon tape around the cap threads and install the cap.

Finally, if the kitchen sink ties into the basement sink from abovbe then there is no vent on that basement sink and there should be as every time the water from the kitchen sink passes by the trap at the basement sink it can SIPHON out the water from the basement ptrap and that can allow sewer gasses into your home. At a minimum, a cheap mechanical vent (called an AAV) can be installed at the basement sink.. illegal in most places, but will keep the trap from siphoning, OK?

Care to discuss more? Let us know...

Mark

Good eye Mark, yes it looks like the O-ring is sticking out. Thanks for all the great tips, will report back on my results.

As for the aav, I'm not familiar with but sounds like I need one as I do know that when the sink backs up it's usually accompanied by a foul smell, which I'm assuming may be sewer gasses. How would I install one?

You need the AAV because the sink is unvented is all... ;) The foul smell that accompanies the back up is sewerage/and other yucky stuff!

See drawing below... should be pretty straight forward, OK?

Mark

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All great advice above. Only thing I would suggest, is using a larger cable and bit. Since you have 3 inch pipe with cleanout, I would suggest getting a larger power auger with 3/4 to 1 inch cable, and at least a two inch bit. Running a 1/2 inch cable won't really do a whole lot of good here(maybe for short term, but will have to do it again and again over the long term.) Use as big of a bit as you can easily get in the cleanout, and you shouldn't have any problems for some time to come.

I didn't have a chance to pick up/rent a power auger yet, but I did remove the plug to take a look. Upon removal, there was a thick solid guck blocking the opening to the pipe. It almost looked like I didn't remove the cap, yuck! I removed it and tried fishing a small 1/4" manual canister auger down the pipr but didn't get very far. Will definitely need to get something bigger. As for the auger, can you please post some links for some recommendations? I'm searching the web, but as I'm not too familiar with different types of augers, it's difficult for me to figure out what's what and what's good.

I am thinking about getting rid of the basement sink altogether. If I went this route, could I just cut off the appropriate pipe and then cap it? Would I still need some sort of vent for the kitchen sink if I got rid of the basement sink?

When you rent the 5/8" snake (we'll compromise here... ;)) it will usually come with a bag of heads... use the blades or even 1/2 of 1 blade that comes with it.

In terms of the sink, remove it if you want, but I think you would miss that sink someday down the road... nice thing to have in most cases. If you do remove the basement sink you would just cap the drain... no need to add vent for the kitchen sink (as long as there is a vent pipe for the kitchen sink somewhere upstairs, right).

I'm off for the day, good luck here!

Mark

Home Depot rents snakes (augers). They have several sizes. Rent the biggest one they have. Be careful: they are powerful machines. Always wear good pair of gloves and never allow snake to twist on you.

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Happy to report that my drain has been unclogged :)

Words cannot express how grateful I am to all of you for helping me through this. I could have called a plumber, but DIY is just so much more satisfying, not just from a cost perspective, but from a learning perspective. Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Here's the machine I rented from Home Depot today. Not the biggest they had, but the 2nd biggest ;)




I was a little intimidated by the machine and couldn't free up the clog at first. Turned on water (trickle) and fished the cable down the pipe until I hit the blockage and then proceeded to turn the machine on. Nothing. Tried, pulling it up and putting it back in several times and was still hitting the block with no results. Tried all of the different heads as well. Also, the water was pooling and not draining so I knew I wasn't getting anywhere. Frustrated, I read a safety label on the machine that said I should be holding the cable when operating the machine. D'oh on me! Went through the same routine while holding the cable and applying downward pressure. After a few times I was able to break through the blockage! Even after that, I kept feeding the cable through just to try to make sure there weren't any further blocks. Then I ran hot water at full pressure down the pipe for 10 minutes straight and it drained fine. Also used a water pitcher to send large volumes of water down and it went through without any problems.

Here's a pic of the head that too care of the blockage

Great job ! Glad we were able to help ! Milo

Thanks for updating us... will surely help others down the road!

Nice work.

Milo. Nice pics. The one on the left is actually the rigid machine we use for all lines 3 inch and larger. You are correct, they have some serious power (actually have had my t-shirt ripped almost completely off one time). We have two of these machines at the shop, and when you know how to use them, and select the correct bit, they will go through anything.