Yes, yet another plumbing opportunity - snake tips and thoughts

[cgilley]

So in my house I have two laundry rooms. The downstairs one works fine with the exception of an insane front loading washer. I'm in discussions with Whirlpool about this. While we wait on Whirlpool, I need to re-engage the upstairs laundry and have found the washer drain is not draining. Down to lowe's I go, bought a snake (manual) and simply cannot get it past the p-trap.

Context - the upstairs laundry has not been used in over 5 years. So I suspect dust and debris may have accumulated. Can anyone offer some tips on getting the snake past the p-trap? The manual snake just doesn't do it, but Lowe's has one you can connect your drill to. Do these work better?

Appreciate any thoughts and guidance.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Buy this one and then buy a 5/16 x 50’ cable for it. It doesn’t come with the cable.

https://drainbrain.com/en/products/spin-drive/

 

[cgilley]

huh, okay.

 

[amj105]

So in my house I have two laundry rooms. The downstairs one works fine with the exception of an insane front loading washer. I'm in discussions with Whirlpool about this. While we wait on Whirlpool, I need to re-engage the upstairs laundry and have found the washer drain is not draining. Down to lowe's I go, bought a snake (manual) and simply cannot get it past the p-trap.

Context - the upstairs laundry has not been used in over 5 years. So I suspect dust and debris may have accumulated. Can anyone offer some tips on getting the snake past the p-trap? The manual snake just doesn't do it, but Lowe's has one you can connect your drill to. Do these work better?

Appreciate any thoughts and guidance.

Remove and replace the p-trap, if not in good codition replace.

 

[Geofd]

Not to step on twowacks shoes but you may be able to rent that same snake, but it
Owning is good too, it will pay for itself

 

[cgilley]

So karma seems to be coming in waves. My brand new Whirlpool front loading clothes washer is now fixed. The design of that washer is not pertinent to this discussion, but wtf, the design. I could not find the filter to clean out. Turns out you have to disassemble the front of the washer to get to it. So, we're getting clean clothes again.
Meanwhile, after my aborted attempt to snake the line, I just said f*** it and called a local plumber that comes highly rated. To snake the line was a base cost of $280. The 25' snake didn't work, and the larger 50' snake either. Water is still standing in the washer drain. Hmmm, time to open the sheetrock. I'll post a follow up when it's all said and done.

PS - I'm pretty sure it's enemy action by my children. We've not used the laundry upstairs in 10+ years maybe longer. I would not doubt that some child said to itself, "Cool, a hole, I wonder how many <blank> will fit?

 

[Twowaxhack]

If the drain backs up immediately after not using it for a day or so then the obstruction is usually close by.

 

[cgilley]

he's gone way, way down, removed the p-trap, etc. Even after pulling water from the drain and the p-trap, there is still standing water in the pipe. Likely going to need to go into the crawlspace (this laundry is on the 2nd floor). The line T's into the kitchen drain and the kitchen works fine. Still favoring enemy action by the munchkins

 

[cgilley]

To close this out, the line is clear. Plumber tried both a 50' and a 75' snake, still standing water in the pipe. Replaced the p-trap and added a cleanout for future use. Left muttering and pondering his life choices not really. He traced the drain down into the crawlspace where it has a right angle and then ties into the line used by the kitchen sink. The sink drains fine. hmmm.

So, later in the evening I'm cleaning up after dinner and the kitchen sink isn't draining. I get my plunger and get it moving again, and started running hot water, issue resolved. This got me to thinking and the next morning I ran hot water through the washer line upstairs. The line is clear now. So, what I think happened is that over the 10+ years the upstairs washer had not been used, grease from the sink slowly built up as a back flow. Sometimes a snake can poke a hole in it... as the plumber worked with it, it moved downstream past the kitchen... On to the next project.

 

[Twowaxhack]

To close this out, the line is clear. Plumber tried both a 50' and a 75' snake, still standing water in the pipe. Replaced the p-trap and added a cleanout for future use. Left muttering and pondering his life choices not really. He traced the drain down into the crawlspace where it has a right angle and then ties into the line used by the kitchen sink. The sink drains fine. hmmm.

So, later in the evening I'm cleaning up after dinner and the kitchen sink isn't draining. I get my plunger and get it moving again, and started running hot water, issue resolved. This got me to thinking and the next morning I ran hot water through the washer line upstairs. The line is clear now. So, what I think happened is that over the 10+ years the upstairs washer had not been used, grease from the sink slowly built up as a back flow. Sometimes a snake can poke a hole in it... as the plumber worked with it, it moved downstream past the kitchen... On to the next project.

Yep