Hi
My basement has flooded 2 times with sewage in the past 5 weeks. Two different plumbing companies cannot determine the problem. Is it possible that the duct tape we put over our spare bathroom's shower stall (we're remodeling and didn't want debris to go down) floor drain 6 weeks ago could have caused a vacuum of some sort? Thank you

Hi
My basement has flooded 2 times with sewage in the past 5 weeks. Two different plumbing companies cannot determine the problem. Is it possible that the duct tape we put over our spare bathroom's shower stall (we're remodeling and didn't want debris to go down) floor drain 6 weeks ago could have caused a vacuum of some sort? Thank you

Ya can't blame da duct tape. Let me know the details of the blockage and I'll try to help. Sewer or septic tank? What have the plumbers done? Where did they snake from? When they opened up the clean out was there standing water in the pipe? Let me know and I'll get back to you in the morning. Regards, tom

Both times, the water had receded by the time the plumber came, so no diagnosis was given. One said "possible soft blockage." No septic, yes sewer. Both plumbers snaked from a place in the basement near the floor drain where the water came up. The most recent guy used that video snake and found nothing. Everywhere the snake went, the pipe was filled about 1/5 with water (which he stated was normal/good), except 3 feet outside the house he found a 10 foot "belly". 10 feet in length, not depth, of a slight dip, but he said that shouldn't cause the prob. If that were the case, wouldn't the water come up at the drain closest to where everything exits the house? The city has determined it's not them. Thanks, Tom. Marla.

Hi Maria,
" Both plumbers snaked from a place in the basement near the floor drain where the water came"
Did they snake from a clean out in the house?
" The most recent guy used that video snake and found nothing."
Did he run the video camera all the way out to the street raiser and check the raiser? That's where we find most of the clogs in a line that runs from the house.
" Everywhere the snake went, the pipe was filled about 1/5 with water (which he stated was normal/good),"
Not in my book it isn't. You're talking about a pipe that has almost a quarter of it filled with standing water. The norm for standing water in a sewer line is a trickle of water that's not over 1/4". You're talking 4 times that much. Sewer pipes slope down one inch every four feet. This means they are draining all the time, EXCEPT when there's a partial blockage, ie:( soft blockage).
"3 feet outside the house he found a 10 foot "belly". 10 feet in length, not depth, of a slight dip, but he said that shouldn't cause the prob."
I would be very concerned about the depth of that bell and what effect it has on the "rate of flow" of the sewage. If the flow slows down too much then solids will drop and began to build up into a clog.
" wouldn't the water come up at the drain closest to where everything exits the house?"
If the blockage's between the house and the street the first place you would see water is at the open clean out. If the clean out were capped the next place would be the lowest out let in the basement, usually a basement shower or a floor drain.
Your plumbers are missing a partial blockage big time.
" Both times, the water had receded by the time the plumber came, so no diagnosis was given."
I'm amazed that none of the plumbers cycled a washer or flushed enough water down the system to back it up. That way they could a least tell how far out the blockage was. I hate to say that the plumbers you hired were incompetent but they sure seem to be missing a whole bunch of the obvious.
I would call out a third plumbing company, tell them two other companys couldn't locate the problem and show them my post. Good luck and please keep me informed. Tom

Hi Tom
Thank you so much for helping me. Both plumbers snaked from the clean out that is located 9 feet from the drain where water came up. I am not sure the one using video checked the raiser, but he did tell me that he got to where it meets the street. As far as running a cycle, both of them did run a lot of water i.e. had me flush both toilets at once, put the laundry sink faucet on full blast while running the kitchen sink faucet and flush a toilet, etc. But neither one could get the water to come up the drain again while I ran the water. However, the video showed that the belly filled up 100% during this time, “which isn't right but that shouldn't cause your problem.”?? Also, we have now been in the house for exactly 2 years. If it is the belly or whatever, wouldn't this have happened before?
Maria

What could be happening here is that something's causing a Partial clog that causes a back up. The weight of the water plus the static pressure built up by the slope then pushed the clog on out through the system. This could explain why your plumbers weren't able to duplicate a back up and why they didn't find the trouble. It could be a problem at the city raiser on in the "bell" in the line. But that's about the only explanation I could come up with, and that's just a guess off the top of my head. Regards, Tom