How are basement floor & perimeter drains snaked out?

[Guy48065]

Spring thaw has caused water to seep up from a covered floor drain for the first time in the 25 years I've lived in my house. I poured a couple quarts of water into an open drain about 8 feet from the sump pit but nothing ran out the pipe into the pit.

I've read comments a few times about folks having their drain tiles snaked but how is this done? I don't seem to have a cleanout anywhere inside or out. Just that one 4" corrugated pipe in my pit.

 

[ImOld]

8 Feet? In the time it took you to post this message, I would have cleared that pipe of anything. The cheapest home snake can do 8'. And... you have access to both ends of the 8'. Or did you actually want to know how to snake your entire system even though it looks like only 8' has a problem.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Guy48065]

Entire.
And I'm not specifically asking to DIY. I don't think I want to run a cutter into corrugated plastic.

 

[Reach4]

Could that floor drain be connected to the city sewer?

 

[Guy48065]

No city sewers.

 

[Reach4]

Could that floor drain is connected to the septic tank?

 

[WorthFlorida]

It sounds like the water is coming up from the ground around the drain between the concrete and the actual drain. If it was coming from the pipe you couldn’t add water to it.

You can take a garden hose with a jet nozzle and with water running through the hose it can act like a snake. If the blockage is hard you can end up with a lot of water on the floor so go easy with the water pressure. A corrugated pipe can hold a lot of water in the corrugation valleys before draining out the end.

I’m assuming this is a basement floor drain. Do you infact know that the floor drains into the sump pit? Is your septic drain line above the floor level going through the wall? Is there a septic sump pit with a pump to bring waste water, such as for a washing machine, up to the main waste line leading to the septic tank?

 

[Guy48065]

Let's try another approach.
I have no problems but just want to know if & how drain tiles are snaked out if there's no known cleanout?
IS there always an access--but I've never seen it?

 

[Reach4]

IS there always an access

No. I wish there were.

 

[Guy48065]

Why?

 

[Reach4]

Why?

Why are they not routinely installed? Because it might be 40 or 60 years or more until needed. They may never be needed. I have some downspouts that were connected to mine. I was shocked at tha. It may be that I could run a Clog Hog down there, or send that upstream from the pit or end. I have been mulling that over.

Had there been cleanouts with known long sweeps, that would have been nice.

 

[WorthFlorida]

It’s expensive but jetting is the process AKA clog hog. It’s what used by plumbing companies that clean storm drains, sewer pipe, grease traps and any other buried pipe. The nozzle used sprays the water back in a cone shape pattern that pulls the high pressure hose into the pipe. The high pressure pushes the sediments back and takes several back and forth sweeps to clean out the debris. I first saw this jetting as a kid in the sixties when the town maintenance dept cleaned the storm drainin front of our home.

 

[Guy48065]

And a plumber can do that from a single pipe in my sump pit?

Ya see I don't understand why I only have one pipe in my pit. I wouldn't think the drain tiles are connected to the floor drains--that seems to be asking for flooding trouble and would make it nearly impossible to navigate with a snake, wouldn't it?

I'm not a plumber and I've never seen the drainage system hidden in the concrete. No idea how simple or complex it is, or how trouble-free it's supposed to be.