Persistent clogging problem

Posted by JR on July 14, 2003 at 15:18:33:
Hi, Moved into my house about 6 months ago. The woman who lived there previously had the attic bathroom renovated to sell the house. I'm guessing she didn't use that bathroom much, if at all. When we moved in we noticed the toilet didn't flush (low-end American Standard). We had it snaked but it never really flushed well. Several months after this the toilet in our basement started overflowing. The main drain out of the house was backing up. We had it snaked, but about 1 month later the problem started again. We then had a snake run from the toilet in the basement out to the street (about 95 feet). 2 days later the overflows started again. This time we ran a snake from the first floor toilet and removed a clog that appeared to be in the stack. About 5 weeks passed and the overflows started again. The main drain was backed up again. We had it snaked and a clog was removed. A camera was then run down the main drain to look for any problems like tree roots or other blockages. Nothing blatant was seen although we did notice that there was a continuous trickle of water. Possible causes - 1. hairline fracture in main drain bringing in mud, etc. and clogging over time. Seems plausible but I don't think the clog is always in the same spot - hard to say. 2. Toilet from attic not flushing thoroughly and debris not being pushed hard enough. Doesn't totally make sense because once the pipe goes down graviy takes over. I'm no plumber so I can be way off base here - any input is greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post. JR

Posted by JR on July 14, 2003 at 15:18:33:

Hi,
Moved into my house about 6 months ago. The woman who lived there previously had the attic bathroom renovated to sell the house. I'm guessing she didn't use that bathroom much, if at all. When we moved in we noticed the toilet didn't flush (low-end American Standard). We had it snaked but it never really flushed well. Several months after this the toilet in our basement started overflowing. The main drain out of the house was backing up. We had it snaked, but about 1 month later the problem started again. We then had a snake run from the toilet in the basement out to the street (about 95 feet). 2 days later the overflows started again. This time we ran a snake from the first floor toilet and removed a clog that appeared to be in the stack. About 5 weeks passed and the overflows started again. The main drain was backed up again. We had it snaked and a clog was removed. A camera was then run down the main drain to look for any problems like tree roots or other blockages. Nothing blatant was seen although we did notice that there was a continuous trickle of water.

Possible causes -
1. hairline fracture in main drain bringing in mud, etc. and clogging over time. Seems plausible but I don't think the clog is always in the same spot - hard to say.
2. Toilet from attic not flushing thoroughly and debris not being pushed hard enough. Doesn't totally make sense because once the pipe goes down graviy takes over.

I'm no plumber so I can be way off base here - any input is greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post.

JR

Replies to this post

Re: Persistent clogging problem hj 16:03:13 07/14/03(1)
- Re: Persistent clogging problem fgable 19:47:45 10/09/03(0)