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OP, I don't mean to scare you ... but in most locations in the U.S., if the sewer connection goes bad before it reaches the street (or wherever the city sewer connection is), the homeowner has to pay for it.
I just went through this last year ... a totally unexpected $6,000 bill for them to fix the piping that was on my land, connecting my pipes to the city sewer. Alas, my 1960 house was 60 years old, and the old lines built/placed in the 1950s were completely inadequate and falling apart. BUT they were on my property.
Honestly, I would have THOUGHT that it would be a city responsibility, but no. It was mine. $6,000 gone in an instant. (Luckily, I HAD the $6,000, although I had expected/PLANNED to use that money for other, much more fun things -- a neighbor of mine had the same issue a few months later and asked, "How on earth do people pay for this?" Yeah, it's just not something you really think about -- until it happens.)
OP, I hope YOU don't get the same bad news!!
I think I need to camera it. The 75 ft power snake extended on to city property, but yes, I am aware I may be facing a big bill. Yuck.
First of all, it drains very, very slowly. We can take a shower in the morning, and maybe one late at night, otherwise we risk the basement drain overflowing.
So, to mitigate I have:
1] used a 75' power snake to ream through the main sewer pipe to the municipal main.
2] power snaked the vent stacks (both which were blocked)
3] tested main sewer pipe by running water into the basement drain, and it quickly overflowed.
4] ran the power snake through the main sewer pipe once more with real strange results. When I had it going forward, the water in the drain actually rose, and when I retracted in reverse, it retracted, albeit, just barely below the top of the drain.
I am lost what else the issue might be. Is it possible that there is a water lock somewhere? Why would it drain at all then? Why did the cleaning of the vent stacks, which were blocked, make no difference?
1. Is your basement drain a gravity drain, or do you have a sump pump to pump it to the main level and then out to the street?
2. I suggest that you start checking and cleaning at the lowest level and then work your way up. It does no good to clear a first floor or second floor drain if the line is stopped up somewhere lower in elevation.
3. Do you have an outside cleanout to your line going to the sewer main? If so, check if the line will drain from there to the sewer main. If you don't have an outside cleanout, install one. That may get you close enough to the problem to fix it yourself. If the water won't flow from the cleanout into the sewer main, there's no point in fussing with things upstream from there because it has nowhere to go since the line is blocked downstream.
4. Once you get the line open from the cleanout to the street, then work your way upstream to clean out those lines. One line at a time. No need to worry about your kitchen drain, bath drain, shower drain, or whatever if you don't have the line leading from the house to the street open.
It's not a big deal to dig down to the line running to the street and installing a cleanout UNLESS it is really deep. Do you even know WHERE the line exits the house and runs to the street? Finding that would be the first step in installing a cleanout.
If you don't want to mess with it yourself, you might call someone like Roto-Rooter. They should know what they're doing.
1. Is your basement drain a gravity drain, or do you have a sump pump to pump it to the main level and then out to the street?
2. I suggest that you start checking and cleaning at the lowest level and then work your way up. It does no good to clear a first floor or second floor drain if the line is stopped up somewhere lower in elevation.
3. Do you have an outside cleanout to your line going to the sewer main? If so, check if the line will drain from there to the sewer main. If you don't have an outside cleanout, install one. That may get you close enough to the problem to fix it yourself. If the water won't flow from the cleanout into the sewer main, there's no point in fussing with things upstream from there because it has nowhere to go since the line is blocked downstream.
4. Once you get the line open from the cleanout to the street, then work your way upstream to clean out those lines. One line at a time. No need to worry about your kitchen drain, bath drain, shower drain, or whatever if you don't have the line leading from the house to the street open.
It's not a big deal to dig down to the line running to the street and installing a cleanout UNLESS it is really deep. Do you even know WHERE the line exits the house and runs to the street? Finding that would be the first step in installing a cleanout.
If you don't want to mess with it yourself, you might call someone like Roto-Rooter. They should know what they're doing.
I used the cleanout port at the bottom of the stack in the basement. Yes, it's a gravity flow system. The powersnake is from the village... it's as professional a model as it gets. The line is at least 9 feet below the surface so to be below the frost line. Outside cleanouts do not even exist in our temperature zone.
I used the cleanout port at the bottom of the stack in the basement. Yes, it's a gravity flow system. The powersnake is from the village... it's as professional a model as it gets. The line is at least 9 feet below the surface so to be below the frost line. Outside cleanouts do not even exist in our temperature zone.
Then I would call Roto-Rooter or similar company. With easy access like you have, that should be a piece of cake for them. There might be some technique that they know in using the equipment that you aren't aware of. They should be able to clear the line in a short time or be able to tell you why it won't clear... such as a badly broken and caved in line.
BTW, did you try running water from a hose directly into the cleanout? Would the line take the water without backing up? If so, then try emptying a bathtub on the main level while you have the cleanout plug removed. Observe how well (or poorly) the water drains from the tub. If water drains well from the cleanout on down, but won't drain well from the tub, then the problem is between the tub and the cleanout.
Just need to do some detective work. One thing at a time starting at the lowest level until you find out where the stoppage is. There might be more than one.
OP, does the municipal sewer in the street have a manhole cover that could be removed anywhere near your connection? I would want to ensure there isn't a giant "fatball" or something in it near your house. Or did the municipality do this already? My water bill has "Call us first for sewer problems" written on it, hopefully to save me money should I experience symptoms similar to yours. Also, are there any trees or large shrubbery located over your line on its way out to the street? They are prime culprits, and if so, a snake may not have any effect on roots, you'll need a cutterhead to get rid of those. Did you pull any roots back with the snake? But yeah, a camera will tell you what you need to know pretty quickly, and it's not all that expensive (two or three hundred bucks?) to have done. What was blocking your roof vents? Bird nests? Leaves?
Detective work, it’s not a crime scene! A video camera should be run through the entire sewer line, it’s just that simple!
If a camera would run through the entire sewer line, it wouldn't be stopped up in the first place.
What if the camera is stopped by a clog which may be one of many? You'll still have to "snake" out the clog. Might as well do the snaking first and be done with it. That way, when water/sewage runs out at a fast pace, you'll know the sewer is open.
Cameras are only good to tell you the condition of the pipe as it passes through the pipe. If the camera is prevented from passing through, it can't show you much of anything. It will only let you know there is a clog ahead which you can determine yourself from much cheaper and simpler devices (like a snake) and you can clear the clog out while you're at it with the snake.
Of course, if the snake pulls out pieces of tree roots (as suggested above), you may need a more sophisticated device (cutter head) than a simple snake... but you would need it anyway even if you used a camera first.
If a camera would run through the entire sewer line, it wouldn't be stopped up in the first place.
What if the camera is stopped by a clog which may be one of many? You'll still have to "snake" out the clog. Might as well do the snaking first and be done with it. That way, when water/sewage runs out at a fast pace, you'll know the sewer is open.
Cameras are only good to tell you the condition of the pipe as it passes through the pipe. If the camera is prevented from passing through, it can't show you much of anything.
Not true ❗️They might jet the line first or send the camera in from the start depending on the existing flow. The camera will show a clog, a sunken line, water infiltration, settlement, open joints, tree roots, pitch and or most any other issue. I’ve seen plenty of camera videos of underground piping both residentially and commercially even sewer lines running beneath a river.
They pass through pipes that are filled with water and if there is a blockage, the video will have the exact location footage wise so a cutting head can be sent in to that exact location.
This is, by far the best procedure to examine and understand the issue rather than snaking/jetting and then having a reoccurrence since the blockage is not due to a simple clog.
Clicked this link to see if it matched the issue my mother is experiencing with her drain. We haven't power snaked it yet, only had it scoped. Frankly, there isn't a obvious blockage to power snake. Single story home built on the lowest lot in the development, next to a creek. Take that for what it's worth. Yard floods (within inches of coming in the home) once every few years. House probably should not even have been built at that level, but I digress.
City water, city sewer.
A few interesting symptoms:
1.) Tub gurgles when it rains heavily.
2.) Laundry room is outside (in sort of a utility closet w/ external entrance) and washer empties into a utility sink instead of draining directly. On some occasions, when draining on rainy days, there is sediment that floats back up into the sink.
3.) Team scoping the drain said that sediment was in fact ground bits of rock, entering from somewhere into the sewer line. There was no obvious leak, collapse, or disconnect in the (galvanized) line from the house to the main.
Excuse my operating off of limited knowledge of this discipline - is it possible that there is a leak in the main (or someone ELSE's line) and heavy solids are settling in this home's line because it's the lowest in the development? If not, what might be going on?
OP, I don't mean to scare you ... but in most locations in the U.S., if the sewer connection goes bad before it reaches the street (or wherever the city sewer connection is), the homeowner has to pay for it.
I just went through this last year ... a totally unexpected $6,000 bill for them to fix the piping that was on my land, connecting my pipes to the city sewer. Alas, my 1960 house was 60 years old, and the old lines built/placed in the 1950s were completely inadequate and falling apart. BUT they were on my property.
Honestly, I would have THOUGHT that it would be a city responsibility, but no. It was mine. $6,000 gone in an instant. (Luckily, I HAD the $6,000, although I had expected/PLANNED to use that money for other, much more fun things -- a neighbor of mine had the same issue a few months later and asked, "How on earth do people pay for this?" Yeah, it's just not something you really think about -- until it happens.)
OP, I hope YOU don't get the same bad news!!
Every homeowner should have $50,000 in the bank doing nothing. Just as an emergency fund to easily handle stuff like this.
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