Severe clog

[Bob77]

Hi,

Any kind of feedback is appreciated. The toilet, tub and sink on the first floor are clogged and NOTHING helped. The dishwasher on the ground floor and the washing machine in the basement are draining fine. That made the plumbers think the clog is in the vent, somewhere at the ground floor level. Their latest idea is to knock down part of my dining room wall and try unclogging the vent from there. Wouldn't the basement be a better choice? Is it too hard to reach? Please help.

 

[arctic bill]

You always work up stream from the clog. Never down steam.

 

[Geofd]

How about pulling the toilet and snaking from the toilet flange ,if when you expose the flange and it's holding water when your snakingif the water drains out you probably cleared the drain but keep snaking I usually empty the drum to make sure I got it ,if you clear it ,use athe toilet supply or a longer one, turn the cold water on, flushing and snaking at the same time

 

[Danny3xd]

Can you draw the layout? Are there separate vents?

 

[Twowaxhack]

When I use a jetter I like to jet from downstream of the clog. This lets my water flow down the open drain while I’m working the clog.

If I did that from upstream of the clog I would have to deal with the backflow.

We also use two way cleanouts to clean either way.,


The take away,
clean in which ever direction gets the job done.

 

[Jeff Handy]

First floor and ground floor are the same thing.

Maybe you need to describe this better?

I agree with Danny, make a drawing or diagram showing how everything is connected.

 

[Geofd]

Hi,

Any kind of feedback is appreciated. The toilet, tub and sink on the first floor are clogged and NOTHING helped. The dishwasher on the ground floor and the washing machine in the basement are draining fine. That made the plumbers think the clog is in the vent, somewhere at the ground floor level. Their latest idea is to knock down part of my dining room wall and try unclogging the vent from there. Wouldn't the basement be a better choice? Is it too hard to reach? Please help.

If they pull the toilet and try to snake it would be the quickest,non evasive way ,the branch from the bath to the main drain is probably clogged,

 

[Twowaxhack]

Or if the stack goes straight through the roof and it’s not too steep, clean it from the roof vent.

I’ve done it many times. Keeps the mess outside.

 

[Danny3xd]

Ya got me thinking, 2Wax. (Not a fan of vents from the roof. LoL, the thought of hands wrapped in a cable while falling to earth!)

Attic clean-outs? Snap>"Y"> cable, done? Just asking. Seems like it would be an option especially on really pitched roofs? (Thinking now pulling a toilet would be easier/cheaper.....)

I have read people jet from the roof. That seems crazy 2 me. Wouldn't ya run the risk of a really big, expensive mess?

 

[Bob77]

Thanks to everybody who took the time to reply. After reading your comments as well as talking to people offline, we decided to call another company. Their plumber made a small hole in the toilet wall and unclogged the vent. Sorry about the confusion, I should have drawn the layout. The problem was the snake couldn't reach it from that angle.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Ya got me thinking, 2Wax. (Not a fan of vents from the roof. LoL, the thought of hands wrapped in a cable while falling to earth!)

Attic clean-outs? Snap>"Y"> cable, done? Just asking. Seems like it would be an option especially on really pitched roofs? (Thinking now pulling a toilet would be easier/cheaper.....)

I have read people jet from the roof. That seems crazy 2 me. Wouldn't ya run the risk of a really big, expensive mess?

I’ve ran a drum machine with an electric foot switch extended onto the roof and my cable strung through the top rung of an extension ladder to keep it from tearing the roof up.
Have one guy at the machine pulling cable out as I shove it down the stack.

Pulling it out, you have same guy down below shoving it back into the machine.

All while I’m making sure the cable doesn’t wrap everyone up.

I’ve done it by myself too, except when pulling the cable out I had to turn the machine off and just pull all the cable out and let it fall to the ground.

Once on the ground feed it all back into the drum.

 

[Danny3xd]

Thanks to everybody who took the time to reply. After reading your comments as well as talking to people offline, we decided to call another company. Their plumber made a small hole in the toilet wall and unclogged the vent. Sorry about the confusion, I should have drawn the layout. The problem was the snake couldn't reach it from that angle.

Great drawing, Bob!

Glad ya got it worked out. And thank you for reporting. A lot of folks never let you know what happened. Drives me nuts.