Plugged up drain.

[dj1701]

Hi everyone.

I have a kitchen drain that is giving me a problem. It is continually getting stopped up.

I have used a plunger, and that works for a bit. I have used a snake and that worked for a while as well. I have tried boiling water to no avail.

I hesitate to use chemicals because it goes into my septic. Maybe someone knows of something that will work without destroying the good bacteria.


Thanks
Dave

 

[seville009]

Everything else drains ok (toilets, other sinks, showers)?

If they do, and your septic is not backing up, then maybe there’s something physically wrong with the kitchen pipes - not enough slope or air lock/plugged vent or something. Put a new j-pipe in under the sink - cheap an easy if that has build up in it.

 

[dj1701]

Everything else drains fine. The j-pipe is clear. Just started to give me problems.

 

[/pine]

Is the plumbing in a crawl space, basement, under a slab??
How long was the snake you used...? what there much grease on the end?
Kitchen sink drains are prone to grease buildups and boiling water does not always liquefy all the grease...

 

[stumblinhorse]

These work very very good for cleaning pipes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MV3D542

 

[WM75Guy]

May be worth calling a plumber and running a camera down the pipe. That would give you a definitive answer.

 

[jaxs]

Hi everyone.

I have a kitchen drain that is giving me a problem. It is continually getting stopped up.

I have used a plunger, and that works for a bit. I have used a snake and that worked for a while as well. I have tried boiling water to no avail.

I hesitate to use chemicals because it goes into my septic. Maybe someone knows of something that will work without destroying the good bacteria.


Thanks
Dave

"IF" a plunger opens it up the problem is in first few feet of drain. Remove p-trap and inspect for grease build up or an object lodged in trap catching stuff when sink drains. Inspect wall tube while trap is off. If pipes are clean as far down as you can inspect,you'll need to use a snake. If you can rent a power snake with a scrapper attachment(attachment is U shaped to scrap walls as it gos through) it should do the job. Some but not all wall tubes have a compression fitting,if yours does removing tube will make snake easier to insert. If tube is soldered on I reccomend going down vent on roof with drain machine.
Ever heard of "a stitch in time saves nine"? If you have a disposal,remove it and put garbage in garbage can. Contrary to popular believe,grinding crap and flushing down drain will clogg lines. NEVER use hot water to flush anything down drain and use cold water to flush lines as they are snaked. Why? Because hot water melts animal and vegetable fat but they stick to cool line cool walls and resolidify thereby reducing diameter of pipe until it is too small to pass stuff through.

 

[zzvyb6]

Pipe frozen ? Hot water might eventually get thru it.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Get a ladder and snake it from the vent pipe on the roof. Something may have climbed down the hole and died.

 

[civilian]

The vent pipe for that sink could also be blocked with frozen snow. Jon