Slow (old) basement drain

I live in a 130+ year old house that has a basement drain through which all sinks, showers, toilets, etc appear to be routed through. Approximately 16 feet further there are some pipes above the cement floor (guessing a cleanout), just before the pipe leaves the house.



Once in a blue moon, when there is a lot of water outside, it will eject water into the basement through this one drain and eventually drain back out. Very recently we had a lot of water outside, but this time the drain only filled up to the top and every time water is run or a toilet flushed in the house, some of it ends up in the basement.

The water outside is now gone and everything is frozen again. At this point the basement drain has emptied out a lot (at least 6") but it is still slow. Not sure how low the water level typically is in the drain.

The drain itself is a 4" pipe that goes down about 2 feet. Approx 1 foot down, under water is a pipe that heads towards the middle of the house and at\near the bottom is another pipe that heads towards the closest outside wall by our driveway. On the inside of the outside wall is the supposed cleanout that I mentioned earlier.

I am assuming that we have a clog but we have no cleanouts or anything for approx 16 feet between the drain and the outside wall. I have tried to snake it but I cannot get it down the 2 feet and then make a 90 degree bend into the outlet.

How do I go about snaking this or are there any good alternatives?
Does my included picture show a cleanout and should I attempt to open it up?

looks like the top fitting coming off the 4" pipe is abs there looks like a threaded plug you could snake thru hold back on the fitting that the plug spins into

Geofd said:

looks like the top fitting coming off the 4" pipe is abs there looks like a threaded plug you could snake thru hold back on the fitting that the plug spins into

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Thanks for your reply Geofd! I have posted on several forums with no luck until now.

I realized that my picture wasn't very good as I had to shrink it a lot for this forum to accept it. I have cleaned up the pipe & managed to get a slightly higher res picture uploaded. See my first post for it.

So you are saying to not touch the end cap on the pipe coming out at 45 degrees. Instead unscrew the hex nut above the vertical pipe adapter?

I'm assuming that I should use a sewer auger but what size?

Also do you have any tips on getting into the drain? It is 2 feet down (4" pipe) and then a sharp 90 bend. After that it appears to head for about 15 or 16 feet to that Y pipe (picture) before leaving the house. I have read about shooting water down pipe. I could try putting my wet\dry vac in reverse if I can manage to get the end of the hose into the pipe.

3/8 cable should do it....it should pass thru that 90 with out to much trouble I would rent a snake so it reaches the street when you loosen the nut on the 2"if you have water coming out of the threads stop...that means the pipe is full and under pressure once its drained down snake it thru the 2 inch cap with water running so you can see when it starts flowing normally you then need to get into the 4" at the end of the wye.....not sure of the condition of those nuts and rod but that's your best way to clear itbut if its in rough shape stick to the 2"

Thanks Geofd, things are working great again!

CyberScooby said:

Thanks Geofd, things are working great again!

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that's great!!!!!!