A couple of days ago I got up in the morning and noticed it looked like my shower had backed up. I ran some water and everything seemed to drain fine. Went through the day and nothing unusual. That evening I started the dishwasher and both the bath and shower backed up (two seperate bathrooms) and both toilets were not flushing. Seemed to have a main waste line clog between the house and street. About ten years ago we had to have the main waste line cleared due to tree roots and this seemed to be the same thing. After a few minutes the water drained out of the tub/shower and the toilets seemed to be OK. Later that night I got up and the was about a inch of water in the tub and shower and the water in one toilet was almost overflowing (the other toilet was fine). After a few minutes the water went down. I went out of town for a couple of days. When I returned I did not use the toilet, but took a quick shower and everything seemed to drain fine. 4-5 hours later there was water backed up into the tub and shower and one toilet was again almost overflowing. After a few minutes the water drain out and everything looked fine. I think I have a clog in the main waste line, but I do not understand how the drains will seem to work but will then back up hours after using the tub or shower. And I don't understand the different water levels. There will be an inch of water in the tub, but the toilet right next to it will almost be overflowing.
Please Explain This To Me
- Thread starter Cavalier
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JohnCT
Still learning..slowly
That does sound like a classic tree root problem.
The tree roots infiltrate the seams and cracks in the sewer pipes and snag stuff like TP slowing the flow to a crawl. Sometimes, a blob of TP and other effluent will break free and the drains will run fine until the next time the roots snag some stuff. Also, since the clog is usually a long way from the drains you're using inside your house, the drain pipes before the clog can hold a lot of water, so if the clog is partial, the water before the clog eventually drains away leaving many gallons of storage before the actual clog, so the drains may seem clear but they're only just storing water and waste before the clog.
You can have a rooter service run the pipes with cutters to clear the drain pipe, or if you can wait it out, you can add a foaming tree root killer. Wait several hours for the backup to drain out, then flush the root killer. It will stick to the roots and kill them. This takes time though as the roots will still be in the way, but when they die, they become brittle and will eventually fall off as water and waste push through them. If this fixes it, I'd do a follow up twice a year even if you have it professionally cleared first.
John
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Jeff H Young
In the Trades
toilets are supposed to have water in them tubs arent so the differant levels are normal. when there is a back up your vents cant really do thier job and often water in toilets will rise and lower past normal levels.
Now why water levels are rising when you arent using any water could indicate more than just one home is involved I really doubt it but it can happen where sewer in street is blocked and neighbors use of plumbing can fill yours up
Now why water levels are rising when you arent using any water could indicate more than just one home is involved I really doubt it but it can happen where sewer in street is blocked and neighbors use of plumbing can fill yours up
WorthFlorida
New chemo regiment started Aug 20th.
When no water is used and later there is a backup, the street sewer system is clogged. As the waste water backs up into your home, then it drains, the build up adds a little pressure and pushes the waste water past the clog. As others stated, tree roots could be the cause.
Assuming you have city sewer, call up the dept to file a complaint. They'll usually respond and be able to tell if it's just your waste line or the main sewer trunk. In the street look at the sewer covers for any water on the asphalt.
Assuming you have city sewer, call up the dept to file a complaint. They'll usually respond and be able to tell if it's just your waste line or the main sewer trunk. In the street look at the sewer covers for any water on the asphalt.
Thanks for all the comments. We had the city come out and everything is OK with the city's portion of the sewer line. I understand tree roots creating a blockage. What I do not understand is a back up several hours after the drains are used and the different water levels (When back up the tub and toilet have different levels). It appears the water is being drawn back into the house from the main waste line, but only has an inch of water in the tub while the toilet over flows. It's those unequal water levels I do not understand. What is stopping the overflowing water in the toilet from going through the pipes into the tubs right next to it?
"What is stopping the overflowing water in the toilet from going through the pipes into the tubs right next to it?"
Good question.
If the tub and toilet are on the same floor, I expect the blockage is within the house and not under the yard.
Get a drain cleaning specialist. A local independent place is probably going to be the good choice.
Good question.
If the tub and toilet are on the same floor, I expect the blockage is within the house and not under the yard.
Get a drain cleaning specialist. A local independent place is probably going to be the good choice.
We had the main sewer line cleaned out today. They removed a rather large root ball. We will see if that solves the issue. I still don't understand why the water would back up into the house when no water has been put in the drain in several hours. The only thing I am wondering if the water softener is discharging in the middle of the night and creating the back up.
Water softener would explain it. You can typically look at the display and tell if the softener regenerated recently.
Also, you might have forgotten those toilet flushes in the middle of the night.
I am glad you found and fixed a problem.
Roots come back, so you might make that a regular maintenance thing.
If you have clay tiles under the yard, you could consider getting the pipes replaced with PVC. But you can get a lot of pipe cleaning for what replacing a clay line with PVC costs.
Jeff H Young
In the Trades
kind of hard to explain but when a toilet overflows that does not mean all the pipes are full above the rim of the toilet . obvious proof of this curious observation when the toilet overflows flushing it the bath tub level is never equall or at least very rarely equall.
JohnCT
Still learning..slowly
Good chance that will fix it - if not, it was a time bomb waiting to go off that needed to be taken care of anyway. Since they found a root ball, there are small cracks along the pipe or open seams that are allowing the roots to get in - roots burrow towards moisture so they love getting inside drains, and the cracks don't need to be very wide at all. I would flush some root killer twice a year before going to bed (and not flush the toidy until morning) to keep them at bay.
That could do it - the softener will dump a lot more water than you would ordinarily use - 20 gallons plus at a shot. If you know the schedule, you can compare it's recycling to the incidence of overflow.
John
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