Blocked Laundry Drain

[Lil Pun]

Hey, I have a home in which the laundry drain is blocked, not completely but bad enough where a lot of the drain water overflows and falls into the floor and floods the laundry room. I tried like crazy with an auger for 4 hours yesterday with no positive results. I have tried contacting my landlord to no avail. This has actually happened several times before, the house is kind of old and I am sure the drain work is out of date. The way I see it I have two options.

1. Buy some powerful type of drain cleaner.

2. Hire a plumber to get it done.


1. I have done this before and I purchased this:



It worked it is just I have heard a lot of bad things about chemical drain cleaners so I am unsure if I want to do that again.

2. Would do this but I am afraid of how much a plumber might cost, especially considering this is not even my home.

Any advice you guys care to share or offer? I am already looking for another place to live and am currently saving up to buy a home too. I hope to be out of this house with in 1-3 months so hopefully I can get that done. Any advice or info you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Jeremiah]

You rent this place? Call the owner/landlord. Since it's an old house, it may be cast iron pipes that need to be replaced because they are rusted almost closed. Way too much work on a house that is making money for someone else.

[bigbadjon_e]

Hardware stores have a tool that you can find in the plumbing department which looks like a grenade.
http://doitbest.com/Snakes+and+Auger...sku-426319.dib
This can be used to prevent such a problem.
http://doitbest.com/Washing+machine+...sku-438958.dib

[Lil Pun]

Originally Posted by bigbadjon_e Hardware stores have a tool that you can find in the plumbing department which looks like a grenade. http://doitbest.com/Snakes+and+Auger...sku-426319.dib This can be used to prevent such a problem. http://doitbest.com/Washing+machine+...sku-438958.dib

1. I forgot to mention that I tried one of those grenade-looking devices. Hook it up to the water hose and the pressure is supposed to build up and push the blockage along, right? Problem is that it is no completely blocked. Water still drains but just not as quickly as it should so when the gallons and gallons of water are pumped from the washing machine the drain has no time to catch up.

I found some of those lint traps while looking for solutions to this problem. The thing I don't get is why is this happening all of a sudden. I have lived in the same house for 4 years and it has just started the past year or so doing this.

[Lil Pun]

Originally Posted by Jeremiah You rent this place? Call the owner/landlord. Since it's an old house, it may be cast iron pipes that need to be replaced because they are rusted almost closed. Way too much work on a house that is making money for someone else.

Like I said, I have tried the landlord. I am trying even harder to get out of this house.

[IROC it]

Do you have an in-sink food grinding garbage disposal thing?


I'd guess you've over used it (by trying to run some meat or heavy green vegetables down it), and it's created a clog down line from the washer pipe, and that's where the issue is.

Go outside near the kitchen, there should be an access opening that can be unscrewed... open it and flush it out as much as you can with a garden hose on full blast...

That should push the clog on down to the city sewer line...

If that cannot be done, or is not your case, then forget I mentioned it.

It worked for me. Most of the drains for wash rooms are "up line" from the same waste water drain that the kitchen sink is connected to, at least in my experience.

And if a plumber does it, it will cost much more than your time.

[codell]

Originally Posted by IROC it Do you have an in-sink food grinding garbage disposal thing?

Its a laundry drain, not a kitchen sink drain.

I know a guy who can hook up a garbage disposal to a laundry drain though.

[bigbadjon_e]

Originally Posted by IROC it Go outside near the kitchen, there should be an access opening that can be unscrewed... open it and flush it out as much as you can with a garden hose on full blast... That should push the clog on down to the city sewer line...

This is good advice. The access opening is a white cap with a square top.
http://doitbest.com/PVC+Caps+and+Plu...sku-418366.dib

[IROC it]

Originally Posted by codell Its a laundry drain, not a kitchen sink drain.

Did you read the whole response?