[repairmanj]

My drains are backed up and draining very slow. There is a clean out hold in the sewer line about five feet from the house. No water is making it to this hole, so all the water is backed up somewhere from the house and before it gets to the clean out hole. I've plunged but not working. Am I just not doing it right or do I need to do something else? Thanks.

[ma0641]

You will need to auger out the drain lines. Depending where it is located you may need to go through the stack vent on the roof or toilet.

[mygirlsdad77]

Ma is correct. If you can't find a full size cleanout (minimum of 2 1/2 inches) inside the home then you will need to either snake from the roof (not fun hauling the large sewer machine required for the job up a ladder) or pull a toilet and auger from there. The good news is you won't have to put in too much cable, just enough to reach the outside cleanout. If it is still backed up after that, you can auger from the outside cleanout. Look for cleanouts in the home directly inside the house where the sewer exits (maybe under carpet or furniture) also look for a full size cleanout on the backside of the toilets (maybe in a closet, etc). Good luck and please do let us know what you find.

[speedball1]

Hi Repaimanj,
If you can tell us what's backing up we can tell you where to start snaking,
What drains are backing up? Back to you, Tom

[repairmanj]

I went and bought a closet auger - just a cobra 3ft long one. I was able to get the entire three feet in but it didn't fix anything.

The clean out is right outside the house by the bathroom. Closest to the outside wall is the bathtub and then the toilet by the door. Water is backing up in the bathtub and to the toilet. If I use dishwasher or washer it backs into the bathroom obviously.

Can I use the closet auger down the bathtub or do I have to take the toilet off.

I also used the auger in the cleanout back towards the house. Now it wasn't long enough but would one of those drill ones with a 25ft cable work that way? THanks

[mygirlsdad77]

Closet auger isn't going to cut it. Either is a drill powered auger. You need a large motorized auger to get this taken care of. Pull the toilet, rent a large augering machine, or hire a plumber to get this problem resolved.

[repairmanj]

Help me understand why you think this clog isn't something that can be knocked out with a smaller auger. Can you help me understand what/where this problem lies.

[speedball1]

One more time! If you can tell us what's backing up we can tell you where to start snaking,
What drains are backing up? Back to you, We can't help until you give a place to start. Back to you, TomTom

[repairmanj]

Sure thing. Thanks for the help by the way.

My house is one story ranch style. The bathroom has an outside wall behind which is a clean out buried in concrete. The bathtub is right next to the outside wall, and closer to the door and inside of the home is the toilet. Started with the toilet getting worse and worse and then started backing up into the bathtub. Once I ran the dishwasher and the water started coming out of the toilet overfilling.

Now its been before where the clog was far out in the field and the clean out was overflowing, but now there is now water even getting to the cleanout.

I've plunged the crap out of it (not literally)

I bought a closet auger

I've used a 20 foot twister auger from every possible angle.

The only thing I haven't tried is taking the screen off in the shower and running the long auger down through that.

[massplumber2008]

Repairman said, "help me understand why you think this clog isn't something that can be knocked out with a smaller auger"...

OK then, the reason a small auger doesn't get used in these cases where larger pipes are involved is because the smaller augers usually do nothing but bounce up and over the blockage or will just drill through the blockage and accomplish nothing. Finally, the greatest reason we don't use smaller augers on larger lines is because the auger can get intertwined in the blockage (roots are best example) and then you can't pull the snake back... gets stuck in the drain line... definitely a bad thing!

Rent a large auger, pull the toilet and snake the drain line... should be a quick job. While out at the store pick up a new wax gasket and toilet bolts so you can reinstall the toilet when you are finished. A pair of safety goggles and leather gloves is also strongly advised here!

Good luck!

Mark

[ma0641]

You need to look at the drain layout of your house, we don't know it. Find the cleanout closest to the sewer connection pipe. Now find the nearest fixture to that point and run water down it. See water? If so, the clog is before that point. If no water, the clog is between that point and.the cleanout. Keep working backward until you find at what point the line is clogged. You know its not a small line since you said the toilet was being backed up. Don't play with little 1/2" spring augers, they don't do much in a big clog. Get a machine and work from a toilet, the straightest largest pipe in the house.

[repairmanj]

Makes sense. Could I run the large snake back towards the house from the clean out. That might save me having to move the toilet at all. It seems like this happens every now and then and the plummers never had to take the dadgum toilet off before.

[ma0641]

makes sense. could i run the large snake back towards the house from the clean out. that might save me having to move the toilet at all. it seems like this happens every now and then and the plummers never had to take the dadgum toilet off before.

Sure, you can run from the cleanout.

[repairmanj]

Well thanks, pulling the toilet was easy, 60 bucks on a big snake and problem fixed. Thanks gain.

[speedball1]

Another option would beo snake from the lavatory roof vent. Put out enough snake to reach the base and 15 feet.. mre.
Good luck, Tom

[Mike45plus]

I'm familiar with Kohler, Crane, Toto, American Standard, Universal Rundle, Mansfield, Eljer, Gerber, Briggs, Case; can't recall ever working on a Dadgum toilet...

[mygirlsdad77]

Dadgum, maybe another name for Pro-Flow, hee hee. Of course, come to think of it, I have called Mansfield much worse names than Dadgum.