4 feet below the upstairs sink there's a dirt blockage.

[reybo]

This is a 1952 ranch house with full walk-out basement. There are two upper floor baths side by side, and one downstairs bath.

My wife mentioned that the sink in one upstairs bathroom drained slowly after a short time of use. It was actually worse. It changed to slow after 20 seconds, and then to a bare seepage. The toilet next to it and the tub across the room have no drainage issues, nor does the other bath.

I pulled the trap and ran a 1/2" wire snake in. After 48" it hit the blockage. The wire head ate into the block but made no discernible progress through it. When the snake came back out, the head was filled with mud. Real mud, like garden dirt.

I went back for a 2nd load and came back with less mud. The third trip captured even less. With the trap replaced, the flow is no better then when I began.

That blockage is 48" below the sink, which puts it about the level of the ceiling of the basement. None of the plumbing in the basement - a full bathroom and a kitchenette with running water - has a problem.

How did this happen? What's the cure?

 

[hj]

You realize that an above ground pipe cannot break and fill with dirt, don't you. Your diagnosis is somewhat illogical, unless there is some condition you are leaving out. IF you are through the "dirt" the drain should work. Maybe the snake is going up the pipe, but even then there should not be "dirt" unless it fell down the pipe and filled it at an elbow.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

You realize that an above ground pipe cannot break and fill with dirt, don't you. Your diagnosis is somewhat illogical, unless there is some condition you are leaving out. IF you are through the "dirt" the drain should work. Maybe the snake is going up the pipe, but even then there should not be "dirt" unless it fell down the pipe and filled it at an elbow.

 

[reybo]

You realize that an above ground pipe cannot break and fill with dirt, don't you. Your diagnosis is somewhat illogical, unless there is some condition you are leaving out. IF you are through the "dirt" the drain should work. Maybe the snake is going up the pipe, but even then there should not be "dirt" unless it fell down the pipe and filled it at an elbow.

If this observed description (not diagnosis) wasn't an illogical mystery, it wouldn't have come to the forum.

Were the snake going up the pipe rather than down, it's unlikely the drain would be blocked or the stuff retrieved be wet mud.

Since I'm reluctant to use a pressure blaster tool for fear of packing the dirt more than it's already packed, I'll just continue to grind away at the blockage with a 3/8" snake. Retired people have time for this.

But I did buy on ebay just now a Cobra pump that applies pressure under the user's full control, like an oversize hand pump for a football.

Using a plunger on this brought up some bits of dirt but didn't clear the block.

 

[Reach4]

Is the flow totally blocked? If not, I would use a Brasscraft drain bladder if you could fit it into your cleanout. Maybe that is what you are calling a pressure blaster. I would hope it would not just pack the block more. I am not a pro.

 

[reybo]

Bladders have that need for a garden hose, making them unwieldy and often messy. But you put me on to Brasscraft drill powered augers, and I'm getting one on ebay.

It's 50-feet, which is long enough to get in trouble. Found that out when the plumber I called in a few months back got his stuck in the sink drain. By luck it was eventually free.

Thanks for the help.

 

[reybo]

Problem solved.
Hair plug under a slug of dirt. Senior sweetheart recently began washing her hair in the sink. Then her daughter washed Virginia red clay off granddaughter's sneakers. No match for a Brasscraft 25-ft (not 50) drill-powered auger.