[Boston369]

I ran a snake about 25 ft. did not find a clogg. The only vent on the roof is over the up stairs bath .all the rest of the drains thew out the house run normally

[speedball1]

i ran a snake about 25 ft. did not find a clogg. the only vent on the roof is over the up stairs bath .all the rest of the drains thew out the house run normally

Mass plumber oughtta jump on this. But I'll stand in for Mark.
You snaked the wrong vent. I hate these calls where all the vents are tied back in the attic to a single roof vent.
You'll have to go up in the attic and locate the kitchen vent, cut it loose and snake from there. Put out enough cable to reach the base of the stack and 25 feet more. After you're through replace the line with a primed and glued PVC coupling or shielded coupling,(see image). Good luck, Tom

[massplumber2008]

Hi Neighbor:

Tom's right... cutting into the kitchen vent upstairs and then snaking will work great!

Just be clear that when you ran the snake down the drain in the kitchen it could have gone up the VENT almost as much as it could have gone down the DRAIN...

When snaking a drain from a vented bath sink drain or kitchen sink drain I usually go into the drain a number of times, have a friend/customer confirm that I am going DOWN the drain, and work the cable back and forth VIGOROUSLY!

I also have a DROP HEAD on one of my small snakes that makes it so the cable will automatically drop at a TEE fitting... instead of going vertical, up the vent!

Anyway, I would try to snake the drain again from the sink... confirm going DOWN the pipe and into the basement... most likely the blockage is near the kitchen sink itself OR it is near where the kitchen sink drain line joins into the larger drain pipe in the basement... you should be able to chase the drain pipe out... yes..?

Otherwise, up into the attic to cut into the vent for the kitchen sink and snake from there.

Let us know how you make out...

MARK

CELTICS RULE!!

[Milo Dolezal]

Kitchen drain is the "dirtiest" pipe in the whole house. That's especially true if you use garbage disposer. The clog itself doesn't have to be directly in kitchen area but can be down the pipe where it connects to another pipe. UPC asks for clean-out for kitchen sink. Therefore, you should have clean-out somewhere behind the sink on outside wall. Look for it. It will make your life much easier. Use that clean out to insert the snake. Run 50' or 75' - 3/8" snake. Run it several times. When finished, take a hose with high pressure nozzle, insert it inside the pipe and let it run for few minutes. You can rent good snake from Home Depot for few bucks.

Snaking any plumbing fixture using roof vents doesn't work all the time especially when you have 1 1/2" or 2" vents. The reason is that we are allowed by UPC to use "vent 90" in the venting system. Vent 90's are too sharp for snake to bend and travel through.

[speedball1]

I also have a DROP HEAD on one of my small snakes that makes it so the cable will automatically drop at a TEE fitting... instead of going vertical, up the vent!

What a neat idea,(see image) Wish I would have had one of those when I was out running calls. Milo's correct about the vent ells but we never used them on our new installations. We offset with 45's.
Regards, tom

[Milo Dolezal]

Additional thought: your cloggage can also be located in vertical section of your kitchen drain, in the wall, before your drain turns into horizontal. There are at least 2 fittings that can cause cloggage: San-T transition from horizontal to vertical and Comby transition from vertical to horizontal. If this is the case, I would take apart tubular under-sink drains to access my San-T. You can insert snake through there. After finished, re-assemble your under-sink drains to its original condition.

[speedball1]

Milo, Just curious. Are you a working plumber and what in hell's a "Comby transition". Can I buy one at a wholesale house and what's it doing in the kitchen drain line? For your information we always remove the "J" bend and snake the lateral in the wall before we snake from the vent. Most kitchen clogs can be found there unless the kitchen and laundry are using the same branch. Then the garbage and grease from the disposal matted in with the fiberand lint from the washer puts us one the roof snaking the branch. Regards, Tom

[Boston369]

Milo, Just curious. Are you a working plumber and what in hell's a "Comby transition". Can I buy one at a wholesale house and what's it doing in the kitchen drain line? For your information we always remove the "J" bend and snake the lateral in the wall before we snake from the vent. Most kitchen clogs can be found there unless the kitchen and laundry are using the same branch. Then the garbage and grease from the disposal matted in with the fiberand lint from the washer puts us one the roof snaking the branch. Regards, Tom

Tom, I checked that the snake went down the drain, it did. Before I climbed into the attic I took a shot at the roof vent with the snake. Some how it got the drain started but it seems it does not take much to slow it down again. I run very hot water for a while and it clears again . So tomorrow I am following your directions and up in the attic I go. Oh by the way I did remove all the piping under the sink and ran the snake down into the floor ,it went down about 6' then hit a turn after some vigorous movement it made a turn went about 25' more and then I hit a turn I could not make. I figure that is all right for all the other drain work and I was past at least one of them. Thanks very much, you have all been a great help. I will be back to you with the details tomorrow night, thanks again

[Milo Dolezal]

Milo, Just curious. Are you a working plumber and what in hell's a "Comby transition". Can I buy one at a wholesale house and what's it doing in the kitchen drain line? For your information we always remove the "J" bend and snake the lateral in the wall before we snake from the vent. Most kitchen clogs can be found there unless the kitchen and laundry are using the same branch. Then the garbage and grease from the disposal matted in with the fiberand lint from the washer puts us one the roof snaking the branch. Regards, Tom

Thanks for asking: 3 year of trade school (plumbing) followed by 3 year of supervised, on job, experience, followed by 10 years as journeyman ( 4 years NYC; 5 years Houston, TX and 1 year LA, California). Licensed, bonded, insured plumber since 1973. Last 22 years I am running my own company, a plumbing corporation based in So.California with 17 field employees and 4 office employees. Last year we plumbed 172 houses for total of 579 new bathrooms. ( yes, all toilets were roughed-in 12" on center - and from rough framing, too . Surprise: there are no gaps between toilet tank and wall :-D ) Everything we build is inspected, and signed off, by City Inspectors. We have numerous manufacturers certifications including Kohler, Rinnai, Takagi, Groudfo, Bradford White, AO Smith, Trac, Grohe, Price Pfister - just to mention those few that are in my view in front of me on the wall. We do not do new service work for new clients any more - but we exclusively service our own work since 1992. We don't work on mobile homes.

[Boston369]

Mass plumber oughtta jump on this. But I'll stand in for Mark.
You snaked the wrong vent. I hate these calls where all the vents are tied back in the attic to a single roof vent.
You'll have to go up in the attic and locate the kitchen vent, cut it loose and snake from there. Put out enough cable to reach the base of the stack and 25 feet more. After you're through replace the line with a primed and glued PVC coupling or shielded coupling,(see image). Good luck, Tom

Thank you Speedball ! I went and bought a coupling before I cut into the pipe. I would not have had the b-lls to cut into that pipe without your advice and the picture of that piece. I am grateful to all of you folks. This is a wonderful web-site I have had this problem on and off for years and just muddled threw using harsh chemicals that did next to nothing. Once again Thank you!!