I wonder, is it normal for there to be standing water, level with the basement floor, in the floor drain? I had a pool of backed-up water that apparently came from the a/c condenser drain, but had gotten icky with sludge from the drain. I vacuumed it up, ran a hook/wire down and pulled out a clothes pin and a half of a clothes pin, plus some gunk. I then ran an auger down the pipe, but seemed unable to get it to advance very far. The drain continued to flood. The toilets and all drains in the house are working quite well, so I don't think it's a main-drain issue. I got the clean-out open (that took some doing!) and ran an auger down that. I heard some water running through the pipes, so maybe something opened. After 24hrs, the floor drain still has standing water in it, but only level with the basement floor. Is this the way its suppose to be, or is this evidence of more blockage? If it is blockage, how in the world can I get it cleaned out?

Hi RN

Yup, sounds pretty normal from here. All floor drains have PTRAPS that retain water in them to keep the sewer gasses from the drain pipes from entering your home... how plumbers, "protect the health of the nation"... :)

To test the floor drains run some water down them. If water flows fine then the floor drains are AOK! If the water backs up a bit, it is OK as long as water quickly drains off after you shut the water down, OK?

Finally, just FYI, all plumbing fixtures have a PTRAP associated with them in some way... again, only way to keep the sewer gasses out of your home!

Questions? Let me know, OK?

Mark

Yep, if you did not have that standuing water in the trap you'd have a pretty smelly basement

Thank you, All, for your answers. However, it looks like the drain is backed up. The water is not accumulating at the original rate, but now there is a little more water... i.e, it's overflowing the drain edges and now on the basement floor (cement). I really think the blockage is between the drain and the area where the clean-out is. From the clean-out to the large drain (that collects sewage and water, and directs it out of the house, to the main drain) seems clear when I used the auger (it's a small manual auger... nothing like Tim the Toolman Taylor would use). Is it possible to use the auger backwards, from the clean-out to the floor drain? Does the fact that the water in the floor drain is brown-ish and icky (no odor) mean anything? I noticed a couple days ago there were nasty little worms in the water. Originally, there was silt left behind after the water was removed.
I was reading about using an electric auger. Would that be effective in "drilling" through the floor drain's pathway? I still have to wonder if there is a clothespin stuck in there, with the accumulated gunk around it. (ugh) I have clotheslines above the area.
Any suggestions would be most welcome.

There should be no sewage collecting in a clogged floor drain. They should not be ythe same line, are you sure there is sewage? You likely can rod up steam from the clean out since most are installed with a wye connection pointing downstream. Floor drains have a square plug in them slightly off to one side which can be removed for rodding. You may need a shop vac and a flashlight to be able to see the plug and how to remove it.

Hi RN

Check for the cleanouts at the floor drains as Ballenger suggested, but if your floor drains are anything like in my area, your floor drains won't have them.

Further, in my area we have all kinds of floor drains tied into the sewer system... should have been eliminated or covered years ago, but we still find many in use. If that is the case and your floor drain is tied into your city sewer then I'm thinking the issue may be the MAIN DRAIN and it is only backing up and out the floor drain(s) when you use large volumes of water, as in washing machine or tub draining.

To test this, I'd have you run a couple loads of laundry and maybe fill/drain a tub at the same time and see if you can get the main drain to back up at the cleanout or at the floor drains. If things back up, then the main drain needs to be snaked with a large cable machine (see image).

If the main drain doesn't back up and the floor drain(s) is the issue you'll need a smaller cable machine (see image) and you'll need to snake down through the floor drain PTRAP while running water to clear the drain line. The PTRAP is u-shaped and is hard to get a cable through, but once the cable gets past the PTRAP snaking the drain goes pretty easily.

Back to you...

Mark