backflow, vent pipe collapsed...

Hi, I am having several plumbing issues which may or may not be related. I leased a restaurant recently, the building was built in 1974, and has seen a lot of grease in it's days. Anyways, the toilet started backing up so I had a plumber come out he ended up snaking, jetting, and putting a camera through the lines. He said I had a break and needed to replace the cast iron. Had a second plumber come out they sent a camera down and said they didn't see any breaks but I should empty my grease traps, and jet the back lines which I did.

Toilet issue was fixed so I opened the restaurant. Now there is a horrible smell if I drain my kitchen sinks. Also the mop sink never completely drains. The floor drain behind the bar which has about an inch of 2.5 pvc pipe sticking out of it (so not really a floor drain I'm assuming) overflows if I drain a sink fully and then begins to overflow in a similar floor drain in the kitchen. I ended up tearing out some damaged tile in the restroom and found rotting drywall so after tearing that out I saw what looks to be a vent pipe completely crumbled.

So many problems! And unfortunately no more money left to throw at all of them without (hopefully) a fix... any thoughts?

The first plumber may have been right. If it's piped with no- hub cast iron the lines may be failing. No-hub cast iron in a restaurant will break down. Do you have a basement or are you on a slab?

John

Sounds like you need to replace the sewer system in the ground. Don't be cheap about it. If this was anything other than a restaurant, I would say fix the little stuff. However, you are serving the community a prepared consumable product. Your sewer system failing in that extent is probably at the end of its life expectancy. It is considered a dangerous hazard and you will have more and more problems with it. Based on these facts my professional recommendation is to at least replace the groundwork in the slab. Serving the public food is the most dangerous environment when sewer fluids and gasses leak. Find a licensed and bonded plumbing contractor immediately to get an estimate. Oh ya, do not serve food until this issue is resolved.

John, its slab no basement.
AQUALITYPLUMBER, what do you mean by sewer system, what does that all entail? The gas station across the street sometimes has a sewer smell, could there possibly be something wrong with the city's system as well?
btw there is cast iron until the middle of the parking lot when it becomes plastic until it meets up with the city's system across the street. does that mean half of the piping was replaced to plastic?
Thanks

Also, obviously there is a bigger problem but could the smell be from no ventilation? It doesn't come from the kitchen it seems to be coming from an entryway off the front of the building. We used the sinks before discovering all these problems and never had a stinky problem. the second plumbers who came out opened up a cleanout near the front door that also never had a smell which would have been extremely noticable but after having it opened and resealed definitly lets out an odor. we worked on the building for about 2 months (using sinks, flushing toilets) before these problems arose. Just some more info

The only real way find out what is going on before breaking up the floor would be to get the lines cameraed. That will tell you if the line or lines needs to be replaced.

John

If a sewer system is installed correctly you should not smell any gases. You may consider a smoke test if you can't find the leak.

AQualityPlumber said:

If a sewer system is installed correctly you should not smell any gases. You may consider a smoke test if you can't find the leak.

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I don't think it's a question if it was installed correctly or not it's a question of if he has any broken lines.

John

johnjh2o said:

The only real way find out what is going on before breaking up the floor would be to get the lines cameraed. That will tell you if the line or lines needs to be replaced.

John

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I had the lines camera'd twice. I couldn't see or tell if there was a break and I just got two conflicting responses for either plumber. (she btw)

Did the plumbers offer you a video of the drain that was camera -- Can you post some photos of the crumbled pipe. The cleanout cap may need some pipe dope to seal it.

IFIXH20 said:

Did the plumbers offer you a video of the drain that was camera -- Can you post some photos of the crumbled pipe. The cleanout cap may need some pipe dope to seal it.

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No they didn't offer it. I'm not sure if they keep the videos, but I would imagine not. I'm going to call the initial plumber and I can find out, I think part of the crumbled vent pipe made it into the lines as well, which at the time they came out I didn't realize it was broken. I asked about resealing the clean out to the 2nd guys the next time they came out but he said the silicone would just break from the gases. I probably just need to have the parking lot excavated and the lines replaced. I'm young and a girl and also know nothing about plumbing so I just want a little more info to make sure that my ignorance on the matter isn't going to end up in a bigger bill. Thanks for the help.

The 2nd plumber doesn't sound like he knows what he's talking about. A smoke test may be the only way to find an illusive gas leak.

I would replace the vent and add a few more in if at all possible the more air in the system the better fixtures will flush and drain,

Its very possible that there is heavy grease accumulations in the branch lines still. Grease tends to form from the top down so its possible that one or more vent wyes are clogged with grease. I'm going to bet the bar sinks feed to a branch that passes the cooking line.

Need to get as much of the system videoed first then decide the next course of action. Think you've got a few more lines to jet. Maybe a broken pipe to fix too.

Camera time first.

Beni Bacon, PE, CIPE