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You guys might know what the problem is here. When the toilet is flushed, or sink is running, dirty water comes up slowly into the bathtub. When toilet/sink are then shut off, the water drains out very slowly. Do you guys think this is a vent problem, or clogged drain that needs to be snaked? Thanks!
BY the way: The house has been vacant for about 1.5 years (owners moved to a retirement community)
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Originally Posted by mookie3333
You guys might know what the problem is here. When the toilet is flushed, or sink is running, dirty water comes up slowly into the bathtub. When toilet/sink are then shut off, the water drains out very slowly. Do you guys think this is a vent problem, or clogged drain that needs to be snaked? Thanks!
BY the way: The house has been vacant for about 1.5 years (owners moved to a retirement community)
I'm no plumber, but I'm not sure that a vent obstruction could result in the described back-up. That sounds like you have a diaper stuck in the main drain.
Yikes!!!
Its hard to say what your problem is from here. Do you hear gurgling sounds? That usually points to clogged vent stacks. The easiest thing to do first before snaking out pipes is take a look up on your roof. You probably have a vent stack about 2" for everything in the home except the toilet which will be another seperate one being 4". Just make sure no bird made a nest on it or maybe bees diidn't cover the opening with a honeycomb. If they all look clear then you do need to have all your drains snaked out.
If there is ever a problem of any kind in drainage, it will always be noticed in the bathtub since it is the lowest drain in the house.
What about the waste outlet? Do you have septic or city sewer? A septic bordering on full can cause your problem too. If you have city sewer the only problem that can happen is if the home is more then 40 years old they did waste lines in clay pipe back then. Clay pipes are not designed to last that long and they just crack and collapse on itself underground in your front lawn and you will never see any visable indication. A pipe camara that most plummers have will verify this.
The house was vacant for more then a year. The standing water in the P traps could have turned into a solid partially. Something you can do before calling that plumber to snake out the lines are take off all the traps and clean them yourself. Obviously you wont be able to do the bath tub one unless you have a basement or crawl space with access.
Thanks for the responses, and its good to hear that most of you think its a clogged drain!!! Either way, I don't think it will be too HUGE of a problem.. Here's why.
The problem described only happens on the 2nd floor bathroom. The first floor bathroom, which is the exact same setup (tub, toilet sink) drains 100% properly. Soemone was telling me that the house was possibly built with no traps, but I would assume that if it was built in this way, both the first and second floor bathroom would operate the same way, but I also saw the trap on the roof which is clear so that is not the problem. The house is ~100 year old brownstone and connected to city sewer. The whole drain system is cast iron with the exception of lead sweeps.
What you are saying about whatever was in the P trap turning into a solid makes sense, but then wouldn't the water just have a problem draining from the tub, instead of water actually coming into the tub from the sink/toilet? There is no gurgling sound when water is draining from the toilet/sink, just a slight gurgling when it is draining from the bathtub. As I said, if it was just gurgling from its own water then I would say it's the vent, but water is coming into the tub from toilet/sink, so I am quite sure the vent has nothing to do with it.
On another note, does anyone have a link to the "insides" of a bathroom plumbing system? Its kind of hard to imagine in my head, a visual might be better. Thanks!
From what you have posted it seems to me you have a partial clog in the main drain between the 2nd and 1st floors. You could hire a plumber to clean it out, or if you want to do something DIY you could try the bacteria-based cleaners, put into the 2nd floor sink or tub drain, *if* the problem is something like a diaper or similar plug, it may help.
A pro plumber would be able to run a snake into the 2nd floor commode and clear this out in a few minutes, most likely.
I would avoid any kind of harsh plunging or using air pressure. You don't want to over-stress the old drain pipes, lest you get a chance to find out up close and in detail how they go (went) together!
I think there is only 1 cleanout. I wanted to avoid using a plumbers snake because a friend told me that since the sweeps are lead, if the snake catches the sweep the wrong way, it can puncture the pipe and then I'd be in for a whole lot of trouble. I may try the chemical cleaner. Could you recommend a specific brand of a bacteria based cleaner? Thanks all for all the great helpful advice!
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