[commondetail]

Hi there,

I live in a three story building with a stack that hooks into just the shower/tub and bathroom sink. I live on the second floor. When the person above takes a shower, the water comes into my tub through the drain. Both tub and sink drain empty into a small drum (that captures sewer gases) that then empties, by way of a pipe, into the stack. I've just had the stack snaked. The water that collected in the tub ( now extremely black and thick-like sludge (plumber said this was "soap grease that accumulated over time)) could not be cleared until our plumber snaked the pipe leading from the "small drum" to the stack. The tub cleared after some effort at "snaking" the relatively small pipe leading to the stack from the drum.
The plumber indicated, once again, that the pipe leading from the small drum was thick with black soap grease. Once the pipe was snaked and cleared leading to the stack, we ran water for a long period to make sure the pipe was clear.

My question: How did water get into my tub (coming up through the drain?)
Did the water travel through the pipe from the stack into the small drum?
How could water travel through the pipe leading from the stack if it was already clogged?
Could the water have travelled through the pipe leading from the stack through the small drum and up into my tub through the drain due to the pitch of the pipe? Perhaps the sludge in the small pipe allowed movement of the water in one direction, but because of the accumulation of sludge in the pipe, water could not travel to the stack?
Could the water have travelled into my tub, via drain, by way of the vent?

I welcome your comments?

Many thanks,
David Myers

[speedball1]

My question: How did water get into my tub (coming up through the drain?)

Water can only back up if there's a blockage in the line. The fact that you have a drum trap tells me that you have a older home probably with 1 1/2" galvanized drain lines. What sounds to me is that the plumber opened the line up by pushing his snake through the grease matted with hair but failed to flush out the line with boiling water and the greasy crud remaining simply closed back up. That's my take. Perhaps some of the other experts have another opinion. Regards, Tom