MichaelinTexas
New Member
Background: We live in a rural area with a septic system. The standing rule is NOTHING solid goes down the drain, period.
We have an island sink in addition to the kitchen sink. About two or three years into our new home water backed up and spilled out of the island sink vent while the kitchen sink was being drained, so I knew the source of blockage was downstream of the "Y" where both come together. I got a manual cable snake and out came a white,viscous, granular grease like material---almost like shortening, but with no odor. Very strange, I thought, but probably easy to manage. So I initiated a PM program at the end of every month when we crank up the hot water heater and run a couple of sinks of hot water down the pipes to keep things moving. That worked for probably 6-7 years, until now.
During last weekend's maintenance the island sink vent overflowed which surprised me. I ran the clean out cable down and hit something just downstream of the "Y" for both sinks. Once I thought I had dislodged the obstruction I ran hot water and monitored the outside clean out and caught these pieces of solid material on their way out. My wife's first reaction was that is was dishwasher soap powder, but I find it difficult to believe that in the wet confines of a drainage line powder would dehydrate back into a solid. The material is homogenous, if you break it open it is a solid, white, chalk like material with no organics or others embedded in it. If you assemble these pieces they form a perfect 2" cylinder. The ID of the blockage material is pockmarked with numerous small craters which is indicative of erosion, not deposition. Further the ID of the build up is coated with black slime, which I think would not be conducive to additional deposition. This would almost lead me to believe that this was possibly there when the home was built, but I don't know how I could have missed it the first time. If it was subsequent to our move in I want to identify the root cause to prevent it in the future. Any comments or ideas, anyone? Thanks!
Michael Arvanetakis
Cypress, TX
We have an island sink in addition to the kitchen sink. About two or three years into our new home water backed up and spilled out of the island sink vent while the kitchen sink was being drained, so I knew the source of blockage was downstream of the "Y" where both come together. I got a manual cable snake and out came a white,viscous, granular grease like material---almost like shortening, but with no odor. Very strange, I thought, but probably easy to manage. So I initiated a PM program at the end of every month when we crank up the hot water heater and run a couple of sinks of hot water down the pipes to keep things moving. That worked for probably 6-7 years, until now.
During last weekend's maintenance the island sink vent overflowed which surprised me. I ran the clean out cable down and hit something just downstream of the "Y" for both sinks. Once I thought I had dislodged the obstruction I ran hot water and monitored the outside clean out and caught these pieces of solid material on their way out. My wife's first reaction was that is was dishwasher soap powder, but I find it difficult to believe that in the wet confines of a drainage line powder would dehydrate back into a solid. The material is homogenous, if you break it open it is a solid, white, chalk like material with no organics or others embedded in it. If you assemble these pieces they form a perfect 2" cylinder. The ID of the blockage material is pockmarked with numerous small craters which is indicative of erosion, not deposition. Further the ID of the build up is coated with black slime, which I think would not be conducive to additional deposition. This would almost lead me to believe that this was possibly there when the home was built, but I don't know how I could have missed it the first time. If it was subsequent to our move in I want to identify the root cause to prevent it in the future. Any comments or ideas, anyone? Thanks!
Michael Arvanetakis
Cypress, TX