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Need Help with Problem with Laundry sink and toilet

7K views 22 replies 8 participants last post by  alwayslearning 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello,

I just moved into my new home and I am having a problem with my laundry sink. When I turn on the tap, the water does not drain into the main drainage from the base of the sink into the black pipe in the basement. The water rather goes into a transparent tube attached to the darinage and wets my basement floor Sree picture below. What could be the problem. How do I fix this. As a result of that i am unable to use the sink, and unable to use the washer which drains into the sink.









The other problem is that when I flush my toilet, the water keeps running. I have therefore turned off the supply to the tank, to save water.
Any ideas in terms of what is wrong and how I can fix it would be very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
 

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#6 ·
Hi,
I have been trying to post more pictures but for some reason the pictures are not showing this time around. Do not know what the problem is, but anyway I will try to describe it. There is a drain at bottom of the sink - black pipes leading to main drain in the basemetn. The white transparent tuble i am talking about is attached to the back of the sink facucet/tap and when you turn on the tap instead of the water going through the black drain pipe it goes through this transparent tube.
 
#9 ·
Hello,

Speaking with a home inspector, she tells me it is a trap seal primer. It is connected to the mid section at the base of the faucet and leads all the way to the two small black pipes sticking out of the basement in the picture. What happens is that when I turn on the tap at the laundry sink which is on the main floor of the house, some of the water goes directly into this tube and finds its way down in the two black pipes. I do not know but it appears it is unable to go down the two black black pipes and so some of that water comes back up through the two black pipes sticking out of the basement floor. Does this help. I am still trying to load pictures. Oh my frustrated!
 
#10 ·
Well, at least the toilet should be easy. Lift the tank lid. Determine if the flapper is sealing. If not, make sure the lift chain has slack. If it does, buy a Fluidmaster kit and follow the instructions. If the ballcock valve is leaking and overfilling the tank, buy a Fluidmaster kit and follow the instructions.

Do other fixtures drain into that "main drain black pipe"?
 
#12 · (Edited)
I believe what you have is a faucet with a trap primer line connected to it. As you use the faucet, water is supplied to a p trap- usually a floor drain. This extra water keeps a seldom used floor drain primed so it will not dry out and allow sewer gases into your living space. Most codes now require trap primers and there are several designs. Your faucet is doing it's part but for some reason the water is leaking under the slab.
The small black pipe I assume is "poly" pipe. It is probably a sleeve for the clear line. The clear line should be directly attached to the p trap. So, Either your clear line has a leak in it under the slab or it is no longer/never was attached to the trap. Another possibility is that the clear hose is just shoved into the black tubing-bad idea.
 
#16 ·
The inspector gave same explanation about the role of the clear tube.
Yes, the faucet is doing its part because as soon as you turn it on I see some water going through the clear line.

Yes, the black small pipe is "poly" pipe, it is not metal. Now I tried to pull the clear tube out of the poly pipe and it looks like a long one going down into the ground. It is not attached to anything, you can just pull it out. I have not pulled everything, infact when I realised how long it was, I stopped and pushed it back down. I do not know where that drainage leads to but it is towards the side of the garage and I see that the garage wall on the inside of the garage just above the garage floor is always wet since we moved in. This is the side of the garage that is close to this drainage. Could this leakeage under the slab be contributing to this? House is 3 years not sure whether warranty covers this problem. Will have to check. Is it a major problem? Can I fix it myself? By the way where is the trap supposed to be?

Other fixtures drain into the big black pipe.
 
#13 ·
To me this appears to be fairly new construction and that the trap primer(s) weren't connected properly before the concrete floor was poured.
If you have neighbors who have a home that's the same as yours, ask if you can see how theirs was finished.

If it is a new home and is still under warranty, the builder will have to come in and install it properly!
 
#17 ·
Although you don't mention a floor drain(is there one?), this picture shows what I believe you have. Except the clear pipe is not connected on yours. The poly pipe is just a sleeve to protect the clear tubing from concrete. I don't understand your description of the garage but any water under the slap is not good. If this was my house, I'd replace the faucet with one that doesn't have the primer and abandon the tubing, or not use the faucet--but thats me. To fix it properly, the connection under the floor needs to be fixed which means breaking out concrete.
 

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#20 ·
What you have is a single tube coming from the faucet that connects to a T fitting. The two tubes running into the sleeves are likely to supply two floor drains.
You need to remove the covers for the drains and check to see if there is water in their traps.
If they are both dry, it would appear that the connections to the drain were over-looked during installation.
If one has water and the other not, then the one without water is not connected.
If one trap has water, you will have to keep the faucet connection in place, to maintain the supply to that trap.
For the dry trap, I would remove the T fitting for the tubing and use a coupling to connect the supply tubing to the trap with water.
For a dry trap, you have 3 options. One would be to manually fill the trap once a month. The 2nd would be to buy a plug and close the drain off. The 3rd would be to break up the floor around the drain and reconnect the tube.
Its likey that the tube became disconnected by a cement finisher stepping/tripping on the tubing and having it pulled off the connector.
 
#22 ·
Floor drain covers are usually made from metal, but can be plastic. They are about 4" in diameter and and usually have many large perforations in them to allow water to run through. The covers are similar to what the drain would look like in a walk in shower.

Home Depot sells them! http://www.homedepot.com/Plumbing-B...&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&searchNav=true

Generally, they have two or three screws holding them in place, although some have the whole assembly screwed in.
If you look about the basement floor you would expect to find two of these centrally located.
If you do not find any, its likely that they have been over-looked during construction. The building codes in my area require these to be installed. Its very likely that your do too!
If you don't have any, that would be the reason that the tubes were not connected.
 
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