Clogged Kitchen Sink Line

Our kitchen sink is backing up after running the water for a minute or so.

I've disassembled the under-sink plumping completely down to the straight pipe coming out of the wall.
I've snaked the pipe with a 25-ft drum auger multiple times. Hit one or two patches of resistance. Broke through then backed out and redrilled multiple times to clear completely.

I've tried to flush it clear with a drain bladder. Used it trice. Both times I ran the water from the outdoor hose line for a few minutes. Once I turned the water off and the bladder deflated, water gushed back up the pipe from the pressure release. This tells me it was not cleared.
- Also after running the water with the bladder for a few minutes, water was coming up and out of our gutters somewhere outside. I'm thinking the water pressure was backing up the water line somewhere.

The sink line meets with the other bathroom lines after spanning the house and there was no backups in the bathrooms, so again I'm thinking the sink line is still clogged.

Water is slowly draining in the sink, so it's not clogged completely.

Does anyone have any other suggestion?
I'm going to try some good chemical drain cleaner to help break it down. Thanks!

67.6 oz. Hair and Grease Drain Cleaner

https://www.homedepot.com/p/100169339

Instant Power from Home Depot has worked well for me and many others I know.

As long as your sink drains slowly, the Instant Power can get down there to the clog.

Let the sinks drain until totally empty.
Then you can fill the sinks with very hot tap water, from the bathtub or elsewhere.
This gets the clog warmed up, which helps the drain cleaner, because the drain cleaner also makes heat.

Once the sinks drain again, pour in a quart of the Instant Power down one sink.
Don’t pour it into a food disposal.

Pour in about a gallon of hot tap water behind it.
Wait for a few hours, then try running hot water.

If it drains, run hot water for ten minutes, to move the clog away to the bigger sewer pipes.
Otherwise, start over with the rest of the bottle.

Meanwhile, water coming out of the gutters somewhere sounds totally f’’d up.

Is that really what happened?

Think it through again, and if you mis-spoke, try stating it more correctly.

And “somewhere” is too vague.
Where was the water exiting from?

Or you on city sewers, or your own septic system?

I'm very new here and no expert, hopefully one will weigh in soon for you. To me it sounds like your snake was going up the vent rather than down or towards the clog or the snake just wasn't long enough....run it again and take a look at your roof vent. As for water in your gutters, it had nowhere to go but up your vent pipe and onto the roof it sounds like....and that only makes sense if your sink is the only thing being vented on that line....if not i would think you'd be having drain issue at other places as well. good luck!

Kyle, your in luck cuz you got the right guy now helping you out.

NMick that is very good thinking, about the drain bladder water pushing up out of the roof vent.

My mind never went there, but it will next time.

Thanks for the tip!

Thank you both for the information. I'll certainly try the hot water and drain cleaner. I'm praying that works.

This is our first house, so regarding how the plumbing layout is typically done, I'm a novice. My judgement is based on what piping i can see.
All I can see is a horizontal pipe going into the wall from under the sink. Based on the multiple times I've snaked the drain, there is a downturn within the first 12" followed by another 90 degree turn back to horizontal after another 12" +/- (visible from the basement coming from the sub-floor). After that it's a long straight shot to the main line spanning the length of the house (roughly 20'-30'). I'm not sure where the vent pipe is typically connected to the line. I don't believe the vent pipe is within the first 12" of the sink.

The drum auger I used is 25' long, so entirely likely I didn't reach the clog. However, I did feel plenty of resistance that I ended up punching through. I'm thinking there's just more blockage beyond the reach of the drum auger.

Thanks again!

Yeah that's the problem when your kitchen drain backs up it backs up because of grease and food particles sneaking will do absolutely nothing you'll punch a hole through it but then you pull the snake back out and the grease will re clog itself.

So I found three ways to fix a kitchen sink drain that is backing up

the option that is the easiest but not recommended is chemical drain cleaners

You have a company that can come in and hydro jet your sink drain completely removing all the grease with a high spray of water

Or you completely cut out the old drain and replace with new piping.

Trust me from experience you can snake a kitchen drain all you want it's only going to temporarily solve your problem eventually will eventually close back up on itself and the same problem will occur

sounds like it could be grease.....just went thru this today,i had to change heads on the snake,had a spade head on it.as i snake the water level dropped.as i pulled the cable back the sink started to hod water,so i changed to a drop spring head,these flop around the drain a lot more the water did drain, i ran LOTS of hot water

BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN USING DRAIN CLEANER AND HOT WATER SOME CAN HAVE A VIOLENT REACTION!!!!!!!!!NOT TO BE USED BY A NOVICE!!!!

when snaking you must go past the clog if you have more than 25 ft in your drum use it all .....if you bring it back and its relatively clean,you are going up the vent
if its dirty your going in the right way....you can rent a big diameter/longer snake at the big box stores....if you can access from the basement try it from there

what kind of material is your drain made?????

The pipe is PVC

Kyle Thorpe said:

The pipe is PVC

Click to expand...

If have access anda bit handy you could cut the pvc and glue in a(dandy) cleanout somewhereon that line that way you could snake in both direction

Just FYI, do not add BOILING water anytime during the Instant Power drain cleaner process.

Boiling water is not safe to carry around, and can splash when dumped, and can soften pvc pipes or fittings.

Very hot tap water is fine to use.

I may try cutting and putting in an access. The long span across the house leaves the pipe with a little dip in the pipe. I’m certain that’s the culprit.
I’m thinking adding the access will be useful if/when this happens again to make access with the 25’ auger possible.

I would just cut the sink drain.to fix the sagging there are rubber coated (strap) hangers you would screw into the wood.if that copper is to close ,there is a (string) saw that any hardware store will carry its a metal cord with a loop on each end.it works on friction.very easy to use

I actually already have some fiber straps I used to try and fix the sag. Thanks!

It looks like the slip joint connection at the right side of the Tee right after your disposal is leaking or soon will be.

The tubing going into it looks crooked, and looks like it is not inserted far enough.

Geofd said:

...cut the pvc and glue in a (dandy) cleanout somewhere on that line; that way you could snake in both direction

Click to expand...

You took the words right outta my mouth. You need a cleanout on a long run, and, given there's a sag in the pipe, sounds like there might be a question about the "pitch" of the pipe. Ideally, drain lines under 4" should slope down toward main drain at 1/4" per foot of length. So for a 12 foot length of drain pipe, the pipe should drop 12' x .25" = 3 inches. (Measure the drop from bottom of joist overhead).

I've been disassembling and assembling the undersink plumbing quite a bit to snake the drain, so that picture was not completely put together. But thank you for pointing that out!

I'll take some measurements tonight to get the pitch, but yes I guarantee the pitch is not sufficient. It's only a 1-1/2" pipe.

Jeff, I did try the Instant Power last night (only used the 1 Liter bottle) directions said 1-2 cups for a clogged drain. Clearly was not enough. Still backing up.
I snaked the drain first, flushed with some hot tap water, let drain a bit, poured about a cup of the instant power, flushed 4-5 cups of hot tap water, waited 20 mins, flushed with hot water (backed up again), then poured the rest of the bottle, flushed with hot tap water (maybe another 4-5 cups), waited 1+ hr, tried running water again and still backed up.

I should have just grabbed the 67.6 oz bottle in the first place. I'm thinking of going back and trying again with more. I was hesitant thinking there would be more volatility with cleaner. I didn't see anything come back up.

It definitely feels like a grease clog. I hit resistance with the snake, pushed through, then when I back out and dry to redrill, it slowly starts filling in and I feel more and more resistance.

One cup of Instant Power will get too diluted, trying to reach a far away grease clog.