In our basement we have a small laundry closet with our washer and dryer. The washer has a 2"pipe that the rinse water drains into. The "rinse pipe" stands about 48" high. It then connects by a "J" to a 2" horizontal pipe. From the "rinse pipe" the drain travels horizontal about 30" off the floor approx. 6-8 feet before exiting out house (somewhere behind finished walls.)

Our main kitchen sink drains down from the above floor, and the pipe for the kitchen sink meets up with the drain pipe about 12" down from the rinse pipe (which puts it behind the dryer). The next room over is a small kitchen (we purchased our ranch because it is a mother/daughter...my 82 y/o grandfather lives down there). The kitchen sink also hooks into this drain line. All 3 items (2 kitchen sinks and the washer) drain into a drywell in our backyard.

There is another pipe about 6" over from the upstairs kitchen sink pipe. It is the same height from the rinse pipe, but it has a black cap on it and doesn't appear to be used for anything. It is connected to the drain pipe by a "T".

Our house is approx. 60 years old. There were plumbing upgrades roughly about 15 years ago by the previous owners when they finished the basement and upgraded the septic system due to a bathroom installed in the basement.

When the washer rinses our main kitchen sink gurgles, and water backs up into the basement kitchen sink. Lately, the rinse water has been coming out the top of the rinse pipe up during every wash load. When the washer rinses, I usually have to stand there and stop the rinse cycle for a few seconds as soon as I see the rinse water get to the top of the pipe, to let the water drain down (which takes a second or two) then turn it on again. When it is really bad, I'll have to do this a few times for each rinse cycle.

We had a plumber come out, but he didn't seem really interested in finding the cause... for a $75 "service" call, all he recommended was this stuff called Cess-Flo, which we purchase at Lowe's. That seems to help for a little while, but the problem starts back up again.

My husband and I are basic do it yourselfers. We tackle simple home improvement projects, but leave professional work to the professionals. I like to learn as much as I can because I don't want to waste my husband's hard earned money, either by calling in a professional to do something I could have done myself, or from being taken advantage of. As a Police officer, my husband puts his life on the line every day just to keep a roof over our heads... being responsible with his paycheck is very important to me!

Is there something we can do to fix this problem once and for all? If you think it might be a relatively simple fix, I'll gladly give it a try! If not, what would you suggest I ask a professional to look for? Thanks for your help! Any suggestions are helpful and greatly appreciated!!

It sounds like there might be two problems

1) a blockage in the pipe somewhere between all the connections you described and the sump. If drain cleaner did not work, then you can always try snaking it out. This is a long flexible metal spring available for under $20 at Home Depot. Feed it into a convenient entry point in the pipe and try to push the clog out. If there is no convenient point, then it might be easiest to cut off the cap on the old tee and use that... then glue on a new cap when you're done.

2) venting problems. Can you describe how the plumbing is connected under both kitchen sinks? Gurgling is usually a venting issue.

While you're doing all this, use a level and have a quick check on the slope of the drain pipes. Code calls for a minimum of 1/4" drop per foot of pipe run. If you have less than this (for example if your pipe droops between supports) then there may not be enough water speed in the drain piple to flush kitchen & dishwasher waste away. It'll pile up and eventually block things.

I'm not sure how to describe the plumbing under the kitchen sinks because I'm unsure what I'm looking at (I don't mean to sound ditzy) but, here goes:

Upstairs main kitchen is a dual sink. It "appears" that orininally there was one sink. There is a straight PVC pipe in the back that has a weird black cap on it that is connected to nothing, but located roughly where the center of a single sink would be. There are silver bands that tighten where the black cap connects to the PVC pipe. Branching out from that is a PVC connection that connects to a big "U" metal pipe for the dual sink drains. At the bottom of the "U" there is PVC piping that does kind of an "S" thing and disappears through the floor.

The basement sink looks pretty basic... the drain comes down from the sink, does a kind of half loop and exits out the back of the cabinet.

One thing that does happen... If either sink drain plug is in when I do wash, the rinse pipe definitely over flows. Also, I keep reading about roof vents, and I'm not sure that I have any. There is one vent that I know of that is for our Radon system. I can't recall any others.

I will definitely check to see that the drain pipe has the correct "slope". I just have to have hubby find me a level;) (he never puts anything back where it belongs!)

I apprecaite your reply so much! At least it gives me something to look for now!

Let's describe a little experiment. Make a funnel out of a piece of round paper by folding it twice and cutting the tip off so you have about 1/4" opening. Put the funnel in a bottle. Try to fill the bottle using the funnel. It won't work because you have no way of displacing the air. You need to make sure your homeade funnel doesn't contact the side of the jar (lift it a little) and it will work. The hole and the air both determine the rate you can add liquid.

For washers there should be an air gap in the discharge.

The vents on the roof are just open pipes. Critters sometimes like to crawl in them and plug them.

The gurgling and the stopper condition strongly suggest a vent problem.

You can run a snake doen the vent stack, but be very careful that you don't loose it down the pipe.