Plumbing question

[stevesmith7]

So we moved into a new (to us) home and I have a plumbing issue. In the master bath there are double sinks. They both appear to run slow. I took the trap apart on one. Everything was perfectly clear. Ran a snake down the drain and got nothing. Here's what has me confused. Water will stand in the bowl and not drain at all sometimes. If you swirl it a bit with your finger it will drain quickly with a "glub glub" sound. The other day I had standing water and turned on the faucet and after a bit more was added the entire bowl drained in a second. Is this some sort of vent problem?

[hawkgt]

clogged or no vent line? had a flapper style vent go bad a few years ago on a sink. same issues, replaced and fine.

[Dhelihiker]

You obviously have hudge snakes in your drain

[Foggy_Goggles]

Yes, vent issue. If it's a Studor vent, they can go bad (check by removing it). If it is a traditional vent, they can become blocked by anything like snow, animals, bird nests etc. (check by snakeing it from the roof). Sometimes vent design in new construction sucks and you have too many tie ins and bends on the stack (add Studor vent).

[AlpiNord]

What are the plumbing code requirements for a Studor vent? Can it be a termination point or does it have to be connected to a vent to roof?

[stevesmith7]

Never seen the Studor before. Ground floor bath with upstairs bath directly above and conventional vent on roof above that. I'll snake it out when the snow goes off the roof.
Thanks.

[danadog]

What are the plumbing code requirements for a Studor vent? Can it be a termination point or does it have to be connected to a vent to roof?

In Fort Collins a Studor vent can be a termination point and does not have to go to the roof.

[fomofo]

Still a plumbing question, but different focus. Have a drain line that comes down from the second floor kitchen sink and joins into the main line somewhere down near the house entry. Every month we preemptively put a couple big pots of boiling water through the lower section access hole, but even so occasionally it will drain slow and I snake it with a 25' hand auger like this...



That usually does the trick, but after two tries no dice this time. I get about 20' or so in and have a hard stop. No trees or vegetation close by, so pretty sure not a root problem, more likely just a clump of greasy gunk that's set up I haven't been able to poke through. I'm hoping third time's the charm, but if not am planning to rent one of these from Home Depot and give that a go...



I did come across this, and am wondering if anyone's ever used one to clear a pesky clog? Thinking it might be worth a try prior to renting, or, that failing, having to call a plumber.



TIA for any feedback.

[XXX-er]

This summer at about 10 months, my Bosch DW was replaced on warranty, the tech finally scoped out that the DW was not the issue, the dedicated drain line which went " somewhere down there " behind a wall in the basement suite it was plugged but only a little, so instead of figureing out wtf was wrong buddy with the plumbers crack told me to go buy a DW-T and some yeller glue real quick,

after about 5 or 6 visits for the DW he fixed " the problem " but the DW had already been repalced so I got a new DW for nothing eh ... thanx Bosch !

[k2skier112]

I just had this issue.

It was in the pop up, assembly (the water stopper)

Remove the pop-up assembly before doing anything else

[Djongo Unchained]

I've remedied a few stubborn clogs with that bladder/clogbuster. Def give it a try before calling the plumber...

[fomofo]

Update, later same day...

Thx for weighing in. I just really didn't want to fucking truck back and forth to HD for the rental, or pay for it, and also after reviewing some video and other feedback decided the bladder thing was a little dicey, so I dug out another hand auger I'd lost the thumbscrew on, went to the hardware and snagged a hex bolt that worked, and just hit that clog over and over until I finally poked through!



I guess the colder weather and being a little lax on the hot water lately let the grease build up. After all the hand auger work and several big pots of boiling water it's finally flowing again, and I can get back to the F'N couch on Sunday afternoon, as God intended!

Thx, and good luck to all the DIY plumbers who're struggling with some BS and made their way here.

P.S. Nice score on the DW! ;-)

[XXX-er]

Even a cheap auger/ plunger will usually work, I'm pretty sure the tenants kid dropped something in cuz there was all kinds of girl products around the toilet, she admitted she MAY have plugged it up, I told her that was badly plugged up for a few days so this can not happen again

[nickwm21]

I hate to tell you… if you’re snaking that often you have a bigger issue… maybe a small pipe separation that is causing the reoccurring clog?


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[Foggy_Goggles]

...and exactly what and how much grease are you putting down the sink?

hot grease> bacon candle

cold grease> wipe out and toss

[XXX-er]

I cook a lot of bacon at once which I freeze for the breakfast Sammies,

I also freeze the drippings so I end up with a cereal bowl of frozen grease

which is way easier to deal with/ thro out and no grease down the sin

[fomofo]

I hate to tell you… if you’re snaking that often you have a bigger issue… maybe a small pipe separation that is causing the reoccurring clog?

Could be, but the drain line is buried under a concrete entryway, and that ain't getting jack hammered at this point. Maybe down the line get someone to snake a camera through there and have a look, but for now will just hit it hard with hot water for a couple days and try to get it really, thoroughly cleaned out., and see how things go for a while. I think it's just been a cumulative buildup and some colder temps lately.

We don't do pork or red meat, but do cook a lot of chicken in the air fryer, and I could be better about collecting the grease and freezing it (we do that, but I'm a little slack in that regard). Also guilty of pouring CostCo rotisserie chicken juices down the sink drain, and cook with a lot of olive oil that goes down as well. So, several things to do to try and clean up the act and cut the grease load.

[stealurface831]

reds hot, blues cold, and shit always runs downhill.

[ötzi]

I just had this issue.

It was in the pop up, assembly (the water stopper)

Remove the pop-up assembly before doing anything else

What did you do, replace it? We have a similar situation going on. Can't figure out how the stopper could be causing this but it does seem like it's involved somehow. Plumber said it was cavitation and then pretty much shrugged.

[k2skier112]

I had a used spare and just replaced it. Most of the hair was on the stopper. But the water drained through 2 holes in the stopper/drain body, and are hard to throughly clean. A stopper assembly was less than $25

[XXX-er]

Could be, but the drain line is buried under a concrete entryway, and that ain't getting jack hammered at this point.
.

https://pipegenie.ca/

I had a family member selling these things ^^ so you don't need to jack hammer a driveway or dig up any expensive landscaping,

dig a hole at each end, get a line down the oid pie, pull the old pipe out and pull new pipe thru

[fomofo]

https://pipegenie.ca/

I had a family member selling these things ^^ so you don't need to jack hammer a driveway or dig up any expensive landscaping,

dig a hole at each end, get a line down the oid pie, pull the old pipe out and pull new pipe thru

The home page says "See our video section for our trenchless pipe replacement jobs", but couldn't find a video section. I did find this...

Pipe Genie units draw a flexible breaking head through existing pipe, utilizing up to 240 tons of hydraulic pulling power! The existing pipe is broken apart. New pipe follows the cone automatically replacing the line.

https://pipegenie.ca/hydraulic-pulling-unit-using-cable

https://pipegenie.ca/tough-jobs-walm...alifornia-2003

Interesting approach, but overkill for a 25' home pipe replace that's has easy access once existing concrete is broken up.

[XXX-er]

yeah but a great idea as you can see if its really going to cost you to remove stuff to fix the line like the walmart

this guy in vangroovy invented the pipegenie, so when I first seen the literature many years ago it was not compact not easy to transport cuz here was a big frame that fit in the hole which the plumber probably had dug with a mini-hoe

I guess they realized at some point frame was unnecessary , so that unit is much smaller/ easyier to transport and the hole could be dug by the apprentice with a shovel

I think the idea has since been copied buy other companies

Family member is no longer flogging this product but I think he was selling it all over the USA

[nickwm21]

Typically those “trenchless” techniques (pipe bursting, pipe lining) require you to get the machine/equipment eye level with the pipe to do the work. So yeah, you save on ripping up the entire line, but you still have to dig a hole at one or both ends of the run.


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[XXX-er]

Say the Plumber is working on a really nice house big front yard, a lot of multi level concrete driveway/ gardens/ yada OR a mall P-lot

pipe bursting is gona be cheaper than hiring a backhoe to rip it all up and put it all back

I was surprised by that literature cuz the first I seen Pipegenie literature > 20 yrs ago the unit was a frame the size of a large freezer, it needed 2 guys, transport by trailer and a very large hole

in any case this is a plumbing thread and its a plumbing tool