Sink plumbing problem - water coming up in other sink and more

[Gary Martinson]

Hello,

We moved into our current place a little over a year ago. I installed a new, deeper sink and reattached the plumbing. One issue we've been having is the water will bubble up in the "clean" sink if we have a lot of water in the "washing" sink w/ disposal when we run the disposal. A new problem occurred the other day - water came shooting out of the dishwasher drain when I ran the disposal with a large amount of water in the sink... I have no idea what's going on, but would like to fix the problem myself if anyone has any ideas. I attached a couple pictures of how the plumbing runs below the sinks.

Please let me know if you need any other clarification or other pictures. I'm lost here and any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Reach4]

I am not a plumber. I suspect a partially clogged drain below the floor.

You are supposed to have a vent for the dishwater standpipe, but I don't think that is affecting your symptoms.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Gary Martinson]

I'm obviously not a plumber either, but I do believe that the white cap in the second picture above the drain pipe that both the dishwasher and sinks drain into is the vent.

Thanks

 

[Reach4]

I'm obviously not a plumber either, but I do believe that the white cap in the second picture above the drain pipe that both the dishwasher and sinks drain into is the vent.

Because the disposal and sink drain into the line before the standpipe, that is a wet vent. So not technically permitted for this. I am not saying that giving the standpipe its own vent would fix your symptoms.

With your setup, you don't seem to have a good cleanout. With your glued traps, you can't remove slip joint drain lines and rod from there. Using a cleanout is what I think might fix your symptoms. Do you have access to the drain below in the basement, or crawlspace?

 

[Gary Martinson]

I have an unfinished basement currently, so yes, complete access right now. What should I look for and what should I get?

Thank you!

 

[Reach4]

I have an unfinished basement currently, so yes, complete access right now. What should I look for and what should I get?

I will tell you what worked for me. Below the kitchen sink, I cut about a 9 inch section from the drain line, at a convenient height. That was affected by my drain going behind the laundry sink. If that sink had not been there, maybe I would have cut, and restored, a larger segment. Rod down thorough that, and then use 2 banded couplers to restore the cut-out segment. Actually, my couplers were not banded, but banded is the right way.

Also, I used a Brasscraft medium drain bladder to shove down there. I shoved it down as far as it would go readily, and turned on the water full blast into a hose. I may have tried a snake first. I don't remember. My drain went into the basement floor before going horizontal, so the drain bladder was down to that level.

 

[Gary Martinson]

Awesome - thank you! I'll head out and get a drain bladder tonight, hopefully.

 

[Reach4]

Before you go, measure to see what size of banded couplers you will need. Also maybe buy a saw that can saw clean enough close enough to the wall.

 

[Gary Martinson]

I'm going to try taking the P-trap off first and sticking it down from there. I'm hoping that should work, but if not, I'll do the cut and get the couplers.

 

[Jadnashua]

I couldn't see the connection from the sinks to the actual drain line...is there some slope to that line, or is it trying to go uphill?

If you're going to remove the p-traps...see if you can reconfigure things to get rid of that abomination of a flexible connection! That will trap food particles, and since it is above the trap, smell as it decays. You really want a smooth, solid pipe there.

 

[Gary Martinson]

That was the first thing I looked at, and you can see the level in the first picture, though I had to compress the picture a ton in order to upload it and you can't see that there is a correct slope.

As for the flexible connection, I'm stuck with it for the time being. I've got a plumbing book coming and may end up running everything under the sink new once I have that to correct that specific issue.