Washer backing up out of drain pipe...

[slundy]

I posted this in the other identical post but it doesn't seem to be getting any attention.


I just recently started having the same problem with my washer. I've got a 50 year old house, but it looks like the plumbing to the vent pipe was recent as it's all pvc and the vent pipe looks to be cast iron.

I'm wondering if I can just use a snake to see if there is some blockage in the trap as there wasn't a lint trap on the end of the washer discharge until I started noticing the wet floor.

Here's a crude mspaint drawing of the setup:

http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=washerschematicge7.gif


My guess is there is something in the trap that's causing it to back up under the pressure of the outgoing water (we have a front loader). Can I try to snake it out, or should I try something else (after installing a lint trap)?

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

I snaked it as far as I could go before hitting the "T" and not being able to get the snake to go down any farther w/o having to take the trap off.

I've got pics now so I'll post those soon of the setup. I'm probably just going to remove the trap and then snake out the vent pipe and see if something is clogging it up there...

[slundy]

well I snaked it as far as I could go, and just today I poured some drain cleaner and a lot of hot water down the pipe, next step is to seal it so the water doesn't back up all over the floor.


would be helpful if I got a suggestion, but I appreciate the place to at least ask.


Thanks

[Phelps]

Your image is either not loading or is loading super slow and I have high speed internet.

I'll just say this: Yes you can snake through the bend. But you also could to buy one of those rubber fernco-like reducer couplings that both band clamps around your drain pipe and around your discharge hose...if you have the smaller diameter plastic discharge hose. Or in similar fashion you could otherwise try to seal the discharge hose into the standpipe by any method and use the washing machine itself to help blast the water through the pipe.

You can try this temporarily to see if the washer blasts more clean the pipe. Some responders to this idea frown on this citing that this can be hard on the washing machine motor/pump. But at least you could try it and see if it cleans it out *and* the machine fully empties of water at the end of the cycle. *I* have had such adapters work and have left them in place and have not had to come back to fix a washing machine wrecked by this. But I will leave this up to you, as for one thing, I don't know how severe your restriction is. As I said, you could at least try this temporarily to see if you improve the situation.

You could also use one of those 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inch rubber devices that goes on the end of a garden hose (they have a female hose end) and these expand in the pipe when you turn the water on and forces a clog down the drain. These have one drawback though. In fact, you need to be aware of this if you go that fernco-type approach I gave earlier. *IF* you have a vent stack, say, that is *before* the main 4 inch waste and vent pipe...then in theory this could be bad to do because the forced water could come out the roof...maybe even leak out of joints on the way! Then when you shutoff the water to the device, all the water in the vent pipe could come out, back at you! But...in most laundry applications, at leaast in the basement, there usually is *not* a vent pipe that is between the washer standpipe and the 4 inch main drain and vent pipe (but make sure of this!). So then, if not, you are safe in using the fernco-like fitting on the end of the washer discharge hose, or in using the water blasting technique I later spoke about.

[ggratecc]

I am sometimes successful snaking from the rooftop vent.
Other times, I can remove a toilet nearby and snake from there, if it
makes sense.

As you push your snake in and hit a tough spot concentrate on that
area. Until I learned some technicques, I used to unknowningly run
the snake many feet past the blockage, then when I removed the
snake the hole that I made would block/seal up again!

I have never had to cut/make a clean-out in my house.

HTH

[Chris]

Having a home over 45 years old, it may be possible that it drains to the back yard. If it does, you should hire a plumber to install it correctly to your drainage system, trap, vent and all. Good luck!