Good Morning All -
New here and beating my head on the wall on clearing a kitchen sink drain, tried to hire a pro 3 times and all 3 no showed . I am handy and have skills, an electrician by trade and am pretty good about understanding systems and building.
My story begins, we live in a very rural area of Wisconsin farm country, house was built in the 50's has original cast iron plumbing in most parts of the house including the kitchen drain that I am fighting.
The drain in question is 2" pipe in all places except for the step-down right at the sink drain that is 1 1/2" for connection the sink plumbing. Another issue is when this house was built the original plumber did not plumb any clean-outs into the system anywhere. I assume this is due to the remote location and lax code enforcement when the home was built. Beyond this the plumbing was built very well, good slope, and assembled in a very nice and professional looking install.
I have profesional quality tools, I have an Electric Eel 1/2' 50 ft powered auger with a flexible spring tip / wire tip, I have used it and the larger one just like it to clear my main drains all the way to the septic tank
As for other drains in the home all are working fine and clear quickly, no water backs up into any other sink / shower / toilet anywhere in the house even in basement.
What I have done so far :
1. Checked to make sure vent line is not plugged, its not.
2. Augured down from the roof vent ran almost 75' of line out, came back clean.
3. Flow / Flood tested all other drains in the house none run slow.
4. Got about 12' of line into the kitchen drain, removed it very slowly while spinning the cable to try to catch / clear any debris in the line.
5. Tried some smaller sized tools, big box quality, to see if I could get a 1/4" or 3/8" cable to go deeper into the drain.
6. Cleared the line of water and tried chemical drain cleaner ( I know but I was desperate... )
None of the above yielded any success.
Here is what I think my issue is:
As the drain leaves under the sink there is a
1. 22° turn to the right
2. then followed by a 90° elbow down
3. then about 10" of pipe
4. another 90° elbow to the left
5. another 5' of pipe
6. yet another 90° down
7. 4' more 2" pipe
8. Another 90° right
9. 9' of 2" pipe
10. another 90° down
11. 3' of 2" into the main under the basement floor
Whew ... What a run huh ?
As far as I can tell no other in or outlets tie into this sink main line, it just snakes its way from the Kitchen to the Main.
I tried for hours to get the drain cables down this but I think that due to the number of turns at some point the cable is just so twisted and turned it wont make any more turns.
I feel that I am at the pint of having to cut in to the drain system and snake it in sections and repair the pipes ? Am I wrong here ? I would rather not have to cut in but I don't see much in the way of alternatives.
Does anyone here have any experience with anything like this ? Thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated .
tr0y
New here and beating my head on the wall on clearing a kitchen sink drain, tried to hire a pro 3 times and all 3 no showed . I am handy and have skills, an electrician by trade and am pretty good about understanding systems and building.
My story begins, we live in a very rural area of Wisconsin farm country, house was built in the 50's has original cast iron plumbing in most parts of the house including the kitchen drain that I am fighting.
The drain in question is 2" pipe in all places except for the step-down right at the sink drain that is 1 1/2" for connection the sink plumbing. Another issue is when this house was built the original plumber did not plumb any clean-outs into the system anywhere. I assume this is due to the remote location and lax code enforcement when the home was built. Beyond this the plumbing was built very well, good slope, and assembled in a very nice and professional looking install.
I have profesional quality tools, I have an Electric Eel 1/2' 50 ft powered auger with a flexible spring tip / wire tip, I have used it and the larger one just like it to clear my main drains all the way to the septic tank
As for other drains in the home all are working fine and clear quickly, no water backs up into any other sink / shower / toilet anywhere in the house even in basement.
What I have done so far :
1. Checked to make sure vent line is not plugged, its not.
2. Augured down from the roof vent ran almost 75' of line out, came back clean.
3. Flow / Flood tested all other drains in the house none run slow.
4. Got about 12' of line into the kitchen drain, removed it very slowly while spinning the cable to try to catch / clear any debris in the line.
5. Tried some smaller sized tools, big box quality, to see if I could get a 1/4" or 3/8" cable to go deeper into the drain.
6. Cleared the line of water and tried chemical drain cleaner ( I know but I was desperate... )
None of the above yielded any success.
Here is what I think my issue is:
As the drain leaves under the sink there is a
1. 22° turn to the right
2. then followed by a 90° elbow down
3. then about 10" of pipe
4. another 90° elbow to the left
5. another 5' of pipe
6. yet another 90° down
7. 4' more 2" pipe
8. Another 90° right
9. 9' of 2" pipe
10. another 90° down
11. 3' of 2" into the main under the basement floor
Whew ... What a run huh ?
As far as I can tell no other in or outlets tie into this sink main line, it just snakes its way from the Kitchen to the Main.
I tried for hours to get the drain cables down this but I think that due to the number of turns at some point the cable is just so twisted and turned it wont make any more turns.
I feel that I am at the pint of having to cut in to the drain system and snake it in sections and repair the pipes ? Am I wrong here ? I would rather not have to cut in but I don't see much in the way of alternatives.
Does anyone here have any experience with anything like this ? Thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated .
tr0y