[Dee074]

Hello! I have a question or two that hopefully someone can help me understand. My brother lives in an apartment building in a city where his apartment is at the lowest level. (Namely the basement level.) He has frequent occurrences where his kitchen sink drain and his toilet will literally erupt like a volcano sending a jet of water one to two feet in the air. He's told his landlord about it and the man insists that there is nothing wrong with the plumbing, especially since the toilet flushes fine. I think otherwise. To my knowledge, there is no strong sewage smells and everything does flush down fine. There seems to be no blockages anywhere we know of. When the incidents occur, first there is a loud gurgle followed by a strong bubbling eruption. These incidents appear to be at random around the clock, but occur mostly in the wee hours of the morning. (Between 12:00am and 4:30am.) Has anyone ever heard of an incident like this happening? What would make the toilet and sink behave like that? Last question, is living in this apartment dangerous? Any help with this mystery will be greatly appreciated!

Dee

[tickle]

Aside from the noise there must be a large amount of water everywhere. How does he deal with that ? Does he wet vac it all out and has the landlord seen all this water ?

[Dee074]

It makes a mess but there's not as much water as you would think. This is because the water shoots straight up for about 10-15 seconds and then comes back down with a splash. It doesn't spray outwards and most times he keeps the lid down. He cleans what does land on the floor up with a mop and bucket. The landlord was made aware of everything, but like I said he claims that there is nothing wrong with the plumbing. I had never heard of a problem like this and neither has anyone else I've talked to. That's why I've posted my questions here. I figured maybe someone out there might have a clue as to what is going on.

[massplumber2008]

Dee:

There are just so many ways to answer your question... We have heard of this many times (apartment building... basement apartment, etc.).

This usually turns out to be a main drain that is beginning to clog.. and you, brother, and landlord should be aware that one day this drain may fully clog... and if knowone home, place could fill with sewage from all apartments above until discoverd!. *yuck*.

If I were your brother I would take out insurance that covers this scenario... just in case (should not be too expensive to add to renter's insurance policy).

You said this happens in the early hours.. That is odd.

If was a building sewer issue I would expect it to show up when building sewer is used most often (5:00 -7:30 am, 5:00-7:00pm).

Just for giggles... call the local sewer department and see if they have been working on the sewer lines in the area lately... specifically if they have been JETTING the sewer mains in street at night times!

Anyway, others will be along to chime in soon (what is so great about this place (Hi Tickle! ) ). I am sure together we will present a well-balanced answer to your questions/concerns!

Let us know what you think.

If this helped, please RATE THIS ANSWER. Thank you... Mark

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