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Slow drain is still slow

6K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  NHMaster 
#1 ·
Tried you're standard drano at first. Sink still filled up with water and drained very slow. Today I took the drain apart and found no clog. I then ran a snake through the rest of the drain, pulled out a few small clumps of what looked like hair, but nothing major. I ran the snake down atleast 20 feet through the drain. I put everything back together, turn the water on, and the sink fills up with water again. What gives? :mad:
 
#7 ·
Ok guys, here's what i did today.

Killed the hornets nest and removed most of it.

Ran a hose down the vent pipe with a high pressure nozzle attached to the end and ran the water. Water backed up in the kitchen sink.

Shoved a 10 ft piece of pvc down the vent and only about 5 ft made it through before i couldn't go any farther.

Sink is still slow to drain. Any idea's???
 
#12 ·
Kitchen

A little greasy.

Didnt use a cable, just straight 1/2in pvc pipe, made it down about 5ft from the top of the vent,

Not sure how far it is to the main.
In your original post you mentioned running a snake. If it's exposed in the basement or crawl space, look at it and see how far you need to go before it ties into the main.

When you originally put everything back together and turned the water on, how quickly did it back up? Was it immediately or did it take a while? You can kind of guess how far the blockage is by that. If it was almost immediately then you most likely went past the blockage when you ran the cable. If it's a soft greasy blockage; then the cable may have gone through it, but closes itself back off when you pull the cable out. In which case you would need to put some bends in your cable and run it in and out with a scrubbing like motion. Have you tried plunging it?

When you ran a piece of PVC down the vent you were most likely just hitting the first bend at the bottom of the stack. Also, a ventilation problem wouldn't cause a solid blockage (no drainage at all). It would cause it to gurgle, bubble, and drain slowly.
 
#15 ·
Even if you get to the clog all those spindly snakes will do is punch a hole through it, they will not pull the crap out of the drain. A kinetic water ram might do the trick but if you don't know what you are doing it will make a mess that words can't describe.:thumbsup:
 
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