Kitchen/bathroom plumbing issue

[Jennifer]

Ok, been at it for a couple hours now. Toilet is off. We have a 50, yes 50 foot snake that we fed through the sewer drain in the floor. We have maybe 3 feet or so left out with the handle to try to wiggle and twist if we hit something but so far the only thing we hit was a bend or two that we pushed past to get the snake in.

So that means ladies and gentlemen, (drum roll please) we are about 47 fricking feet into our sewer line with no apparent blockage. What the h***?!?!?!

I have no idea how I would know that I've cleared any blockage. I have grey water with some nasty bits floating in that is near the top of the drain I'm snaking. Since the tub backed up I thought that pouring a cup if water down it would tell me if the water was coming back up in the drain or if things were going down but the nasty water was just remaining in the neck of the drain. When I pour in the tub it seems to go down but then the toilet drain fills. I emptied the drain a little and tried again and now I see water in bottom of tub drain.

So I backed the snake out slowly all the way. Gave it a wiggle and twist every few feet. The snake came out with just a tiny bit of toilet paper debris and the very end with the screw had a wad of TP that we plucked out. Nothing obvious that would cause a stoppage.

Sitting down and scratching my head right now. I'm gonna leave the drain another minute to see if anything seems to go down and if not then we will feed all 50 fricking feet back through and try again. I truly hate to put this toilet back before I know for certain the blockage has cleared.

Question is- how do I know it's clear? Will the drain gurgle or burp and empty somewhat? Will the water go down at all in the toilet drain if it has cleared or do I need to try a flush to see if it goes down? If it has not cleared and I fed all 50 feet in- what does that mean? My other drains at the front of house by the road are still running clear. If there was a block all the way down to the neighbors house wouldn't my other drains be blocked and theirs too? I am on my knees praying there is guck on the sides of the drain that just need the snake to go through another time or two cause I truly have no idea what else to do.

Anyone have any other ideas or advice at all??? Thanks again for all of the help and support!

[Jennifer]

Guys I'm sorry for long rambling posts, just trying to give as much info as possible. So the short version is - I fed my new 50 foot snake into toilet drain with no miraculous result thus far. Any idea what that means? Do I just keep going back in? Why would my other bathroom still be working fine if the clog is so far out into the sewer line? How the heck would 50 feet of line not be enough to hit the clog? I'm just in a single wide, regular length, city sewer with my end right near the road and my neighbors close enough to reach out our windows and shake hands, lol.

This has got to work to clear out the drain. It makes no sense to me that there is a clog further than 50 feet that would not affect my other bathroom. Even if the clogged bathroom is the lowest drain, it seems to me the other drains would show some kind of sign of the blockage too. God help me!

[bondo]

nevermind...

[Jennifer]

Hi bondo and thanks for the response. I'm certainly not opposed to snaking the tub but unfortunately there is nothing I can find on how to do that. I have a plastic tub that's one piece and a drain thing with a bar or cross in it that prevents me from sticking anything other than a zip it thing down in it. Haven't located any screw or anything to undo the tub drain and pop it up and out and none of the guys at the hardware store know anything about trailers.

I happened to casually talk to a neighbor about if their drains ran slow or they ever had to snake anything etc... I knew better than to get very specific because there is the tendency to run to the park manager with gossip and who hasn't mowed a second time this week yet (exaggerated but you probably get my point!)

[1987Commodore]

You should see water in the tub drain, because there is a p trap under there at about floor level. When you get the clog removed, the yuck you see in the toilet drain should go down. If you got a wad of tp on the end of the snake, you should be getting close to the clog. You need to locate the point where the sewer drops out of the belly to know how far you have to go. Just for the fun? of it, try running the snake through the working toilet (no need to remove it, just go through it,) in the chance that the sewer drop is close to that end. You might hit the clog from there. The drains from both ends combine in to one at a point close to where it drops out. We know that the line from the working bathroom to the drop point is clear, because that bath is working fine.
Also, we know the tub drain in the stopped up bath is ok, because water can go up it into the tub.

[1987Commodore]

Keep trying with the snake. As a last resort, you could get underneath and cut the drain where it comes out and work backwards, but believe me, you don't want to if you can help it. You will be wearing everything in that pipe when it comes loose. Then you will have to repair the drain. At least they make heavy rubber couplers that can be used for that.

[countrydan]

A trick i like is to try a shop vac and suck the water/clog up or bounce it enough to go thru. This does work half the time for me. Maybe worth a shot. you will have to block all the other drains on the line tho as the air will suck from them too.

[ponch37300]

Your toilet drain is the "main" drain and if you can see water in there then you have a clog between your toilet drain that you are putting the snake in and where it goes into the sewer. Your tub is fine, the only reason it's backing up is because of the clog further down stream. The tub drain is the lowest place for the water to come out.

Can you open up your skirting at all to see how your drains run? We have a toilet on each end of the trailer. They both have 4" PVC that run to the middle and tie together and go down into the sewer. Some trailers run one toilet down to the other toilet so if your toilets are on each end then you may have 50-60-70' of sewer pipe. If you can take a look under your trailer you should be able to see where the sewer pipe goes into the ground and get a better idea of length. You shouldn't need to crawl under, maybe just stick your head in there.

Can you talk to your maintenance man and ask him to take a look after work for a few bucks? That way it's not on the park's time and he can't really get in trouble. Otherwise I would try the snake a few more times and see if you can get it to work. Another option would be one of these, http://www.amazon.com/G-T-Water-Product ... drain+clog. They sell them at all the box stores. It might be tricky pushing it 50-60' down the drain but if you can do that it should work. I've used one for a clog and it worked great but my clog was only about 10 feet down. This might be worth a shot for the 10-15 bucks they are.

[Jennifer]

Ugh, I am exhausted, I'm so filthy that 10 showers probably won't make me feel clean!

1987Commodore, I got only a small gob maybe an inch big on the end of my snake 50 feet down. That might be getting close to the clog then you think? I was able to run the sink in the stopped up bathroom and probably got to a gallon before I saw it begin to back up into the tub. I was too afraid to run the tub since it had backed into the toilet drain when it was off. I finally wound up setting it back- the toilet I mean- I put the cheap wax ring on and screwed it back jnto place. I did not turn the water back on to it yet so its still dry. My old wax ring was bad, there was a bunch of oozed sticky yellow residue that had leaked behind the toilet. I'm slightly worried it might not be level. I watched a couple videos and saw the whoosh of crap going down in the drain while it was being snaked so I know I obviously didn't move or clear anything. I'm gonna take your advice and try to snake through the clear toilet on the other end before I start taking stuff totally apart and cutting into things.

Countrydan, that's a great idea. I don't know how many drains are on the line to try to stop up though? I gave it a shot by covering sink and tub in the bathroom but I couldn't make a tight enough seal over the toilet drain. I wound up sucking up crappy water and splashing myself.

Ponch37300 and 1987Commodore, I looked under the trailer. There appears to be a cleanout on what I believe is the sewer pipe. It is probably a 6" or larger light colored plastic pipe. I'm taking some pix with my phone and will try to attach to a post so you can have an idea what I'm looking at. I'm not certain where it connects to the rest of the waste pipes or where it hits the sewer. Our single wide is probably 70+ ft long so I may have misjudged how far out the clog could be because 50' obviously didn't cut it. Oh, I've been looking for my maintenance guy hoping to maybe catch him and see if he could give me a hand off the clock but I haven't been able to see him yet this week. I have been looking at the drain king things but i havent found a local store that sells the one that pulsates, only the ones that do a steady stream. my water pressure from the hose sucks too. I understand I can hook the hose to the washer supply line though. Who knows, I'm gonna keep plugging away guys! Thanks for the suggestions!

[1987Commodore]

I'm not overly confident that coming from the other toilet will work. I think it will just follow the clear pipe down to the city sewer, but it is worth a try.
If you got only a small glob on the snake, then maybe not close enough to the clog. Do you think the place where the sewer line drops out is more than 50 feet from the bad toilet? The clean out on the drop may be angled to send the snake down to the city line rather than up where you need it, but give it a try.

[countrydan]

Why is rodding from the toilet not correcting the issue... Hmmmmm.

The tub is seemingly accepting the water from all else and filling up. So I would concentrate on that drain location. Rod or vac from this drain anyway possible is my next step...

Good luck

[ponch37300]

To be able to help more we really need to map out your drain pipes. I would say that your one toilet runs all the way down to your other toilet, most likely more then 50'. Then ties in and then goes to the sewer. This would explain why one toilet works and the other plugs up and why your 50' snake didn't work. If you can get some more details about how your plumbing is routed then we can go from there.

If you can get ahold of your handyman, maybe even make something up for him to come look at that he normally would while he is at work and then just tell him about your situation and see if he can come by after work with a longer snake? If he is a good handyman he should be able to figure this out pretty easy.

Otherwise menards sells a 100' snake that you can try, http://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/dr ... c-6122.htm

[ponch37300]

Why is rodding from the toilet not correcting the issue... Hmmmmm.

The tub is seemingly accepting the water from all else and filling up. So I would concentrate on that drain location. Rod or vac from this drain anyway possible is my next step...

Good luck

Crap flows downhill. The tub and sink drain into the toilet drain, the toilet drain is the main drain. So if the toilet drain isn't draining that is where the problem is. Once the clog is cleared the water will flow down the toilet drain and the tub will empty also. The clog is somewhere more then 50' down from the toilet you are snaking from. The reason the tub is accepting the water from everywhere else is because when the water backs up from the clog the tub is the lowest point for the water to come out. The tub drain really has nothing to do with the problem. The problem is somewhere between the two toilets, evidently over 50' from the toilet being snaked.

[Jennifer]

Countrydan, I know, I have felt the same way like if I could just get in the tub it would clear it up! The water did go down in the tub drain though when I had toilet off- it emptied in the tub and rose in the toilet drain.

1987Commodore and Ponch37300, I couldn't get down the working toilet with my 50' snake. I did try the closet auger and the 3' made it through clean obviously. I have a clear pic of what's obviously sewer line with a cleanout underneath. I think this is from a side so it's angled towards my nose at the road with the working toilet. It isn't 50 ft down by my estimation and I can't see where the other bathroom ties in. I think the cleanout cap is directly under a center beam so probably not easy to get to. I'm gonna try to get more pix and orient them so you can have an idea how its laid out below. Yes ponch37300, my plan was to grab him and show him a bunch of bees nests along the edge of the roof as a ruse then ask him about the toilet!

[Jennifer]

Anybody help with posting my pix? I tried to attach to previous post and it said it was too big. Not sure why, it's just an iPhone pic. I see lots of others posted with numerous pix

If all else fails I'll link to shutterfly or something.