Found dirty water in my kitchen sink. Help!!!

[Girl1988]

Hi everybody,

My neighbor's kitchen sink and my kitchen sink are separated by a wall. Recently, I've noticed water goes down the drain slowly. When both of us turn on the water at the same time, my water wouldn't go down at all.

Worst, when my neighbor turns on the garbage disposal, the dirty water end up in my sink. It's kinda yucky, the smell and everything.

So, I went to Home Depot and bought a "snake" that came with an electrical drill. The package cost me $90. I guess my question is, can I go ahead and apply the snake? Or should I try something else?

 

[phishfood]

If the drain piping arrangement is as I suspect, the snake will probably cross over and come up in your neighbor's kitchen sink drain.

From what information I gathered from your post, I am guessing that you will end up needing to hire a professional to take care of this one. If it were just your sink backing up, you might be able to clear the backup, but it is very likely that the two drains are connected with a drainage cross, allowing the snake to travel across the fitting instead of being forced to go down the drain pipe to clear the clog.

 

[Girl1988]

If the drain piping arrangement is as I suspect, the snake will probably cross over and come up in your neighbor's kitchen sink drain.

From what information I gathered from your post, I am guessing that you will end up needing to hire a professional to take care of this one. If it were just your sink backing up, you might be able to clear the backup, but it is very likely that the two drains are connected with a drainage cross, allowing the snake to travel across the fitting instead of being forced to go down the drain pipe to clear the clog.

My heart sunk as I was reading this response. Does this mean I have to go back and return the snake & power drill to Home Depot? I'm hoping there's a way to get the snake down the drain and not end up in my neighbor's kitchen drain? Do you think you can provide a diagram on this "drainage cross"? I can't visualize it.

 

[phishfood]

I have no skill with whatever programs would allow me to draw a diagram. But imagine a lower case t, with the bottom leg of the t being the drain that is shared by your and your neighbor's kitchen sink. The upper section of the t is the vent for the drains, and the side branches, or arms, are the drain pipes leading to the sinks. Now think of the snake going down one of the branches. You should be able to understand how the snake might cross the t and enter your neighbor's drain pipe.

Again, I don't KNOW that this is the situation you are facing. But from what you have described, this seems to be the most likely case. There are ways to clean such a drain, but it requires a professional to be done safely.

 

[bob1231]

When you are trying to snake drain put cable in slowly and use a light and make sure it goes down actually watch cable it will take a couple times you will get it

 

[bob1231]

It's like a actual cross four connections. One on top bottom two side each unit con nets to side snake goes straight bend tip to go down

 

[Girl1988]

It's like a actual cross four connections. One on top bottom two side each unit con nets to side snake goes straight bend tip to go down

Does it look kinda like this?

(photo attached)

 

[phishfood]

Yes, that is pretty much what I am envisioning.

 

[Girl1988]

Please see another diagram below (photo attached).

If I were to attach a shield to a stick (see red), push it into the other end of the shared pipe, would my snake (see green) be able to go down the pipe easier? The shield would block the snake from going into my neighbor's drain. Once the snake hits the shield, it would have no other ways except going downward.

Just a thought popped up last night.

(photo)

 

[Fansplumbing]

I would be very wary of putting things into the drain that could break off or get stuck in there. If you take the end of your snakes cable and a pair of pliers, you should be able to bend the end into a sharp curve. Then you can just feed the cable in with the curved end pointed down and manually "shove" the curved end into the drain's bottom and make the first turn like that. Also, I would HIGHLY advise that you go talk to your neighbors about what you're doing and make sure they're not running the kitchen sink while you're snaking it out. Otherwise, you might just get very wet. Hope this helps.

 

[johnjh2o]

Return the snake it's to small. A cable that size can easily turn around on it self in a 1-1/2 line when you hit the first obstruction. At that point the cable will either become stuck or break off in the line. Save the money on the snake and call a plumber you will be better off in the long run.

John

 

[Draindit]

Man, I know this is an old thread and through reading it I see that everone who posted did their best to help this person with the problem. But part of me would have loved to tell them to just go for it. Let them see how tricky dropping a cable into a back to back sink line can be. Then, if they finally ended up getting it, they get to feel the head buzz of accomplishment. But if not, when they call the pro they know their money is being well spent on a skill not easily aquired or practiced. But hey, either of those scenarios may have happened anyway.

 

[Mr_David]

Man, I know this is an old thread and through reading it I see that everone who posted did their best to help this person with the problem. But part of me would have loved to tell them to just go for it. Let them see how tricky dropping a cable into a back to back sink line can be. Then, if they finally ended up getting it, they get to feel the head buzz of accomplishment. But if not, when they call the pro they know their money is being well spent on a skill not easily aquired or practiced. But hey, either of those scenarios may have happened anyway.

I agree. sort of. Had a customer on a 3rd flr stack, take his kitchen drain apart and broke the plastic flanged elbow coming out of the disposal.
So he left it apart and I didn't get there until 3 days later. He is very lucky that the stoppage was not in the common line shared with the 4th floor. He would have had a very unpleasant experience.

So I remembered a sign I saw posted in a service station...

$30 /hr labor
$40 /hr if you watch
$50 /hr if you help
$100 /hr if you tried to fix it yourself before you brought it in

 

[Draindit]

I mean I am all for people doing it themselves. I always explain to my customers everything I am doing, how I do it(basically) and what they can do to prevent it from happening again. But I always stress that it is best to do there research, expect to make mistakes, expect to get dirty, and mabey expect to spend some money, if they plan on taking on even a minor drain cleaning project on their own.