Hi & Thanks in advance for any assistance...
I recently bought my 2 story on concrete foundation (no basement or crawlspace) home and all was well for 1st couple of months. Home is 6 yrs old and previous owner acted as the sub when house was built and claimed he kept no blueprints. (our relationship soured over other issues) 3 days ago while running washing machine, walked into master bedroom closet to find standing water. After brief search, found that the vent pipe was simply sticking up inside the closet about 1 1/2 foot and duct taped over top (simply never paid that pipe any attention prior). Although my plumbing expertise is very limited, I do know that this in itself is a major problem which I'm planning to quickly resolve. In addition to coming out of the vent pipe, both tubs were filling with sludge (lowest point understood). It appears strictly from location in house, that the vent pipe is past all of the fixtures and in my mind the suspected clog is past everything, including the vent pipe. I have a aerobic septic system and after digging around back yard between house and septic, was unable to locate any cleanouts. I borrowed a large sewer tape with a large ball & spade on tip and started pushing down vent pipe. After a few seemingly small obstructions, I seem to have reached a stop about 50' in. Upon pulling out tape, I found a large mass of hair & who-knows-what attached to the ball. Tubs drained, visible water in vent pipe went away, I thought all was well until today when I again ran washing machine & same thing happened again. Now to show my ignorance, a few questions if you please:
1. Am I snaking from correct location? My assumption from the way the pipe turns, I'm guessing I'm going backwards through the house plumbing and not toward the septic which doesn't seem to me like the direction I need to go.
2. Going from vent pipe & having no diagrams of my plumbing, how can I know when I've reached the other end? (i.e. is 50' where my snake stops the end or might this be a clog?) I'm very afraid of that spade busting the pvc so I limit my pushing/hammering.
3. Although Everything I read and hear says the likelihood of having a cleanout is almost a given, I often find that the clown that built this house skipped a lot of important things and it's fairly easy to convince myself that there may not be one... is this uncommon?
4. From the physical layout of the house, the washing machine would be the furtherest point from the septic tank, however, the ball on end of the tape I borrowed is too large to snake from washing machine pipe and I'm considering renting a electric or mechanical snake and thinking starting at this point should be a coverall... thoughts?
5. I've read much advice about bleach & hot water, just not sure how safe that is on septic systems?
6. Any other insight? (no, can't readily afford to hire a plumber :o )
Thanks again for any assistance,
johnv
