Kitchen Sink still draining slowly after disassembly, cleaning, and snaking.

[Ian Winters]

My double kitchen sink is draining incredibly slowly. First one sink backs up, then the water slowly equalizes into the other. I've disassembled all the fittings from the bottom of the sinks to the cast iron waste-line and cleaned them (including removing and blowing out the vacuum line and fitting with my garden hose).

I had used drano or the equivalent to start when it was still draining some what. Then this really slow draining started. Bought a snake at Home Depot and snaked it. No effect. Called two plumbers, both said the drano probably caused all the sludge to condense in a single place. Today I rented a electric Mini-Rooter from Home Depot and put over half of the cable down the line (with the boring gimlet/bulb looking thing on the end of it) and its still backing up. We don't have a big house, single story, one bath, ~750sq/ft, close to the street. None of the other fixtures are having trouble draining. And most of the waste lines were replace with ABS 10 years ago (including new sewer hookup) when my wife bought the house.

So I'm out of ideas. Do I snake it again with the Mini-Rooter? Rent a jetter? Both plumbers quoted me around $350 to cable the drain, so if that's what we have to do, I guess we'll do it.

Thanks for any advice, I appreciate it.

 

[Plumber69]

Some drains have to be snaked multiple times. A set up with a clean out helps. As you can run water a bit at same time snaking.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

Food & waste rarely sticks to PVC pipe. Is there a disposal? The drain pipe at the transition from iron to PVC is there a flexible coupling? If there is you can loosen it up and slid it out of the way and see if it drains to this point. The blockage could be there.

I asked about a disposal because if a large amount of pasta is sent down the drain, it will plug up the drain somewhere and then harden but the mini rotor should have taken care of it.

When you ran the mini rotor did you feel or hear any resistance? You might have went right by it. Meaning it went throught the center of the plug. If you have a basement or crawl space you should be able to tell where the other sinks and washer connect at the main drain pipe. Measure the distance from here to the kitchen sink to get a idea how long of a distance is from the sink to where you assume the pipe is clear. When you snake you'll have some idea that you have feed enough snake.

 

[WorthFlorida]

Your vent might be blocked. If this sink is vented to the roof and it only connected to this vent, run a hose or snake down the vent pipe.

 

[hj]

If two plumbers could not fix it, they were NOT "plumbers", and you need to call a third one who DOES know how to clear a drain line. "Blocked vents" so NOT stop a sink from draining unless there is also a blockage in the drain line itself.