My Mother-in-law gave thanks today

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Jinmalibu

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She flushed a small rag down the upstairs toilet with my guests coming over soon. The toilet will flush but the tub directly below is backing up if I run the shower upstairs the water backs up into the downstairs tub?

Short of calling a plumber any DIY suggestions? can I drano the rag?
 

hj

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If the rag was flushed through the toilet, it is NOT the reason the downstairs tub is draining slowly. In fact, the rag is probably at the sewage treatment plant by now.
 

Reach4

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If the rag was flushed through the toilet, it is NOT the reason the downstairs tub is draining slowly. In fact, the rag is probably at the sewage treatment plant by now.
Or maybe in the over-full septic tank. Your's is more likely, of course.
 

JRC3

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If there were roots in the main drain or any rough spots, the rag could get caught and the toilet paper would clog it all the way.



Reminds me of a story. In my mid 20s/1995, my first house had a bath in the basement and a buddy from work lived with me and stayed down there. This bath was added in the 80s to this 1908 house. Anyways, things backed up through the floor drain in the basement...Raw, fresh sewage. We cleaned up a bit and I proceeded to snake the floor drain. As I did I was stirring up chunks and my buddy was getting angrier. He was giving me a pretty bad attitude about it all, like because it was my house, it was my fault. As things seemed to clear and as I pulled the snake from the drain, wads of paper towels were pulling out with the snake. I looked at him, he looked at me..."Sorry, man. I ran out of toilet paper..." He cleaned it up and I think he also bought the beers that night.
 

Jinmalibu

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Not on a septic tank. The back up into the downstairs tub was basically instantaneous before the toilet was used again other than flushing it a number of times after the rag was flushed through. I had to take a trip the next day so haven't been able to address it. If I was to use a snake, would I start at the tub that is backing up? Any water from the upstairs (sink, toilet or tub) fills the bathtub although it will slowly drain. There was some water and sludge in the tub last night and it has since drained.

One other piece of information, the sink and the toilet in the downstairs bathroom can be used without any water backing up into the tub.

This isn't the first time that there has been a clog that caused the same issue of water backing up into this tub, but it has not happened in many years. Probably a good idea to have someone thoroughly clean out the pipes
 

Reach4

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Any water from the upstairs (sink, toilet or tub) fills the bathtub although it will slowly drain.
The clog will be downstream of the place that the tub drainage joins the other drainage. So rather than trying to fit a snake down the tub drain, find a cleanout and get a professional to use a big machine and get the area from the junction to the street. I hope there is an available big cleanout.

Is the downstairs tub your lowest drain? If so, your symptoms would be compatible with roots in your line to the city sewer.

DIY with a big machine is dangerous.
 

Jinmalibu

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I called a plumber in. He tried to snake it from the downstairs tub. No luck. Now he has the machine and is going in from the toilet where the clog started. I will suggest he work from a clean out.

The tub is the lowest drain in the house. There is actually a clean out on the other side of the wall outside. There is one in the garage as well that is between the downstairs bathroom and the street.
 

Jinmalibu

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Plumber finally pulled the rag out by going through the upstairs toilet. Took about 45 minutes. Tub was still clogged, he kept snaking. I finally decided to see if there was just so much sludge in the tub drain that it wasn't draining. Sure enough. Thanks as usual for all the helpful advice. Glad I didn't go for the DIY method. Would have failed miserably.
 
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