Every year like clockwork since moving in to my house I have had to root out my kitchen sink drain pipe. I'm getting too old to fart with it and am losing patience with the situation. Maybe somebody here can give me some tips?
My house was built in 1982 and I've lived in it since 1995. It is a 2-story house with the kitchen on the main floor and a finished basement below. The basement has acoustical tiles that can be removed, and I can see the drain pipe running across the basement from the kitchen. The kitchen has a double sink. Under the left sink is a garbage disposal. A waste pipe connects the disposal output to the tail pipe that's underneath the right sink. From there, water drains from the sink through a P-trap, into the wall, and down to the basement.
Below is a drawing of the under-sink plumbing.
The left part of the drawing shows how the dishwasher drain was originally connected. In 2019 I disconnected the dishwasher drain from the standpipe and connected it to the sink drain on the right. Then I removed the stand pipe and installed a cap where it says "to Sewer" at the left of the drawing. (That connection is not shown on the drawing.) In other words, everything now drains to the sewer shown on the right side of the drawing, and the standpipe to the left sewer has been removed.
In the center of the drawing is the 1st clean-out. The 2-inch ABS drain pipe goes down to and past the clean-out, through a 90-degree el, then runs about 16-20 feet (with the appropriate slope) underneath the kitchen floor to a 2nd 90-degree el and into the garage. From there it goes straight through 2nd clean-out and finally (with the appropriate slope) into the main 4-inch(?) sewer pipe. (None of this is shown in the drawing.)
Grease builds up in the 2-inch drain pipe and when the build-up is sufficient, the kitchen sink backs up. It does drain out after several minutes, and when the drain pipe is empty it takes a minute or so after I let the water run for the water to back up into the sink again. By the way, all garbage goes into a garbage bag and NOT into the garbage disposal.
To clean it out, I insert a 3/8-inch, 50-foot snake into the 2nd clean-out (in the garage) and push it through the 2nd turn towards the sink. Sometimes some resistance is encountered at that point but eventually I get it through. From there I can push the snake another 20 feet before it encounters resistance that I cannot get past. I don't know if the resistance is at the 1st turn or if it is farther up towards the sink.
The War Dept. got tired of me rooting the pipe out every year so last week when the sink backed up she put some vinegar and some baking soda down the kitchen drain. A few minutes later she ran hot water through it. After doing that a few times, the sink finally drained. However, 5 days later it backed up again. So much for the vinegar-baking soda "fix".
I think that the problem is my 3/8-inch snake will only clear about a 1/2-inch hole through the clog and I cannot get a cutter to go through the els. What can I do so that I don't have to root the drain pipe out every year?????
My house was built in 1982 and I've lived in it since 1995. It is a 2-story house with the kitchen on the main floor and a finished basement below. The basement has acoustical tiles that can be removed, and I can see the drain pipe running across the basement from the kitchen. The kitchen has a double sink. Under the left sink is a garbage disposal. A waste pipe connects the disposal output to the tail pipe that's underneath the right sink. From there, water drains from the sink through a P-trap, into the wall, and down to the basement.
Below is a drawing of the under-sink plumbing.
In the center of the drawing is the 1st clean-out. The 2-inch ABS drain pipe goes down to and past the clean-out, through a 90-degree el, then runs about 16-20 feet (with the appropriate slope) underneath the kitchen floor to a 2nd 90-degree el and into the garage. From there it goes straight through 2nd clean-out and finally (with the appropriate slope) into the main 4-inch(?) sewer pipe. (None of this is shown in the drawing.)
Grease builds up in the 2-inch drain pipe and when the build-up is sufficient, the kitchen sink backs up. It does drain out after several minutes, and when the drain pipe is empty it takes a minute or so after I let the water run for the water to back up into the sink again. By the way, all garbage goes into a garbage bag and NOT into the garbage disposal.
To clean it out, I insert a 3/8-inch, 50-foot snake into the 2nd clean-out (in the garage) and push it through the 2nd turn towards the sink. Sometimes some resistance is encountered at that point but eventually I get it through. From there I can push the snake another 20 feet before it encounters resistance that I cannot get past. I don't know if the resistance is at the 1st turn or if it is farther up towards the sink.
The War Dept. got tired of me rooting the pipe out every year so last week when the sink backed up she put some vinegar and some baking soda down the kitchen drain. A few minutes later she ran hot water through it. After doing that a few times, the sink finally drained. However, 5 days later it backed up again. So much for the vinegar-baking soda "fix".
I think that the problem is my 3/8-inch snake will only clear about a 1/2-inch hole through the clog and I cannot get a cutter to go through the els. What can I do so that I don't have to root the drain pipe out every year?????
