runderwo
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Amazing. Without a trace of a problem since I last posted here, the whole problem came back, almost to a tee!
It all started when my fiancee finished off a garbage disposal about a month ago. Apparently, before the old disposal kicked the bucket entirely, it had been spewing partly-ground crap down the kitchen drain during its death knells, because shortly after putting in the new disposal, the drain was totally clogged. I used a medium size snake on the drain, some gunk came out on the head, not really much, but the drain immediately cleared.
A few weeks later, the drain gremlin from 2007 came back. The shower was slow exactly like before, toilets got slow, and water from the kitchen was coming up in the bathtub. Made an effort with lye and then acid, but nothing doing this time around. Called a plumber to snake out the main. He had to do it from the roof vent because I don't have a clean out. This immediately cleared up the slow toilets and water coming up in another room, but the shower was still clogged.
Since it takes 3 minutes or more of running water before you're taking a foot bath, we reasoned that the problem was not in the trap but further down the line, especially with all the other problems at the same time. So he snaked both vents that were near the shower. No dice. Then he came in with the power auger and snaked the shower drain. Had to reverse it a few times to get it through. Pulled it out. Ran the water. Still clogged.
So, he shrugged and snaked it again. This time the water seemed to drain.
My fiancee took a shower this morning and no foot bath. He did mention that the trap and probably the drain pipe from the shower are in fact cast iron, contrary to the other advice I got, and therefore not to use acid anymore. He warned me there could be a hole in the pipe from previous use of acid that is letting silt in to block the shower drain. $130 total charge (on a Sunday).
I'm thinking I should make a regular (i.e. monthly) thing out of putting those enzymatic cleaners down the kitchen sink and shower drain. Any ideas what I can do to keep the beast living in my drains at bay?
It all started when my fiancee finished off a garbage disposal about a month ago. Apparently, before the old disposal kicked the bucket entirely, it had been spewing partly-ground crap down the kitchen drain during its death knells, because shortly after putting in the new disposal, the drain was totally clogged. I used a medium size snake on the drain, some gunk came out on the head, not really much, but the drain immediately cleared.
A few weeks later, the drain gremlin from 2007 came back. The shower was slow exactly like before, toilets got slow, and water from the kitchen was coming up in the bathtub. Made an effort with lye and then acid, but nothing doing this time around. Called a plumber to snake out the main. He had to do it from the roof vent because I don't have a clean out. This immediately cleared up the slow toilets and water coming up in another room, but the shower was still clogged.
Since it takes 3 minutes or more of running water before you're taking a foot bath, we reasoned that the problem was not in the trap but further down the line, especially with all the other problems at the same time. So he snaked both vents that were near the shower. No dice. Then he came in with the power auger and snaked the shower drain. Had to reverse it a few times to get it through. Pulled it out. Ran the water. Still clogged.
So, he shrugged and snaked it again. This time the water seemed to drain.My fiancee took a shower this morning and no foot bath. He did mention that the trap and probably the drain pipe from the shower are in fact cast iron, contrary to the other advice I got, and therefore not to use acid anymore. He warned me there could be a hole in the pipe from previous use of acid that is letting silt in to block the shower drain. $130 total charge (on a Sunday).
I'm thinking I should make a regular (i.e. monthly) thing out of putting those enzymatic cleaners down the kitchen sink and shower drain. Any ideas what I can do to keep the beast living in my drains at bay?
