Hey guys. I'm hoping for some advice here. I moved in to a 50-60 year old house about 6 months ago. I'm in central CA so the winter temps are not extreme in case that's relevant. I never had (serious?) plumbing issues here - on the rare occasion the bathroom drain might have moved a little slow, but it wasn't very noticeable. and a few times i flushed the toilet and it seemed to have a little trouble getting everything down, but that didn't seem out of the ordinary. it didn't have trouble draining or anything.
Today - I was running the bath water for the first time in a week (i have no hot water currently), and after about 5 minutes, the toilet began to gurgle a lot. Then, the bath water stopped draining. I turned it off. I tried flushing the toilet and it didn't drain. I left them and checked back in about 10 minutes and everything had drained. However, I flushed the toilet it again, and it still had trouble draining. I tried flushing an hour later and it was fine. For the rest of the day - it was fine.
About 30 minutes ago, I went to run the sink in the bathroom. No problems with it. But after having it on for about 5 minutes straight - i noticed it too started draining slow. That sink has absolutely never drained slowly before. Though, I've probably never ran it that continuously before. I was using the sink as a substitute for the bath as i was afraid to use the bath pipes..
This is a problem for me because due to my health situation, i can not have anyone in my house right now to fix this. Furthermore, I have no way to leave my house to go to a store. I have at home the following: a beehive plunger, 1 plastic drain snake, and a bottle of drano max gel. This is really all I have. i read about baking soda + vinegar but i only have vinegar. I read recently that if you notice all the drains stopping up at once - that indicates it's an issue in the main sewer line. is that true? does that mean the city could come and fix it without coming in to my house? do you have any general advice - how to go about this? what should i plunge first? i only have one drain snake so i think i only have one chance with that. If none of this i can purchase things online, but it's not simple to get things delivered here so i'm hoping i might be able to make use of what i have.
In case it's relevant - my hot water went out about a month ago. I think the pilot light on the water heater went out. it is outdoors and hadn't been able to check it. since then i was only running the bath water about once a week. i'm not sure if the limited use of the pipes could cause this problem to get worse or something. or maybe it's all a coincidence.
anyway, sorry that was long but i'm looking for general advice here - what to do, what order to do it in. what to get online if needed. to be honest - i can go without using the bath pipes or even that sink if it comes down to it. all i need is the toilet. but it seems like maybe they're all connected?
Today - I was running the bath water for the first time in a week (i have no hot water currently), and after about 5 minutes, the toilet began to gurgle a lot. Then, the bath water stopped draining. I turned it off. I tried flushing the toilet and it didn't drain. I left them and checked back in about 10 minutes and everything had drained. However, I flushed the toilet it again, and it still had trouble draining. I tried flushing an hour later and it was fine. For the rest of the day - it was fine.
About 30 minutes ago, I went to run the sink in the bathroom. No problems with it. But after having it on for about 5 minutes straight - i noticed it too started draining slow. That sink has absolutely never drained slowly before. Though, I've probably never ran it that continuously before. I was using the sink as a substitute for the bath as i was afraid to use the bath pipes..
This is a problem for me because due to my health situation, i can not have anyone in my house right now to fix this. Furthermore, I have no way to leave my house to go to a store. I have at home the following: a beehive plunger, 1 plastic drain snake, and a bottle of drano max gel. This is really all I have. i read about baking soda + vinegar but i only have vinegar. I read recently that if you notice all the drains stopping up at once - that indicates it's an issue in the main sewer line. is that true? does that mean the city could come and fix it without coming in to my house? do you have any general advice - how to go about this? what should i plunge first? i only have one drain snake so i think i only have one chance with that. If none of this i can purchase things online, but it's not simple to get things delivered here so i'm hoping i might be able to make use of what i have.
In case it's relevant - my hot water went out about a month ago. I think the pilot light on the water heater went out. it is outdoors and hadn't been able to check it. since then i was only running the bath water about once a week. i'm not sure if the limited use of the pipes could cause this problem to get worse or something. or maybe it's all a coincidence.
anyway, sorry that was long but i'm looking for general advice here - what to do, what order to do it in. what to get online if needed. to be honest - i can go without using the bath pipes or even that sink if it comes down to it. all i need is the toilet. but it seems like maybe they're all connected?
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