/diy/ - Do It Yourself

[Anonymous No.584208]

Searched a clogged drain thread, didnt find one. We have a badly clogged sink drain that has overflowed into the dishwasher. Really sucks. I googled around but found results that were mainly about dishwashers being on and overflowing back into the sink, not vice versa.

Anyway, I tried drano, to no avail, and I am thinking I will need to buy a sewer snake. Plumbers charge $4 billion/hr so I want to go as reasonably far as I can without calling one.

I should have tried plunging the drain before drano, but whatever, I got gloves and eyewear so it is going to be my next step.

Anyone got any experience on this?

[Anonymous No.584217]

I have one like this and it works pretty good.
I think it was about $20

[Anonymous No.584223]

plumbing is easy its just pipes

use the plunger, see what happens

after that you start taking apart the pipes like your pic until you find a blockage, just clear it out. dont wash it in the sink though, you took the pipe apart remember?

if its blocked further down the line out of your reach then your pretty much stuck with rods/snakes

[Anonymous No.584226]

First, you need to check the dishwasher drain hose. It needs to have a high rise loop before it gets connected to your sink drain or disposal.
Doing this makes sure that any backing up from a clog will fill the sink before it gets into the dishwasher.


If snaking doesn't work from the P-trap then you may have to do it from the vent stack sticking out of the top of the roof.

[Anonymous No.584230]

>>584226
yikes. the roof. this may turn into an interesting weekend.

[Anonymous No.584234]

>>584217

I'd recommend one of these over getting up on the roof (with the possibly massive distance between the main stack and the kitchen sink you'd have to haul a sewer rodding machine up after you and even then it's a total crap shoot since every fixture is vented in some way and you could run down any one of them and not even know).

Just get a wide rod the company I work for had a machine with a 3/4'' wide cable for stubborn clogs. Never use drain cleaners of any kind, you'll just be liable when a real plumber gets around to it and gets sprayed with acid trying to unclog it.

[Anonymous No.584252]

>>584208
did you try cleaning the food trap in the dishwasher? that was a source of alot of backup shit in mine. Its in the bottom.

[Anonymous No.584251]

>>584208
1,,,,,, when you notice that a drain is going slower, THAT is the time you should do something while it is still draining. Most methods are a lot messier after the pipe is completely clogged.
2,,,,,, when you use drain cleaner (that is, when the drain is still working) first you pour a bunch of drain cleaner down, then wait 10 minutes, then run some hot water down, then pour a whole bottle of dishwashing soap down and wait a couple minutes, and then run more hot water.

3,,,,, pic related: I got a drain bladder after people online saying they worked very quick+easy+not messy. And this is one harbor freight tool that works very well, if you have pipes that allow using it easily. In my case the kitchen sink has an air valve under the sink, not a roof vent. So I can just unscrew the air valve (it is only hand--tight, it isn't supposed to be glued at all) and stick the hose+bladder ~12 inches down, so the water pressure can't come back up the sink drains.

The bladder will get the drain flowing, but may not clear it totally. After the bladder, you should still to do the drain cleaner + soap thing.
I have a 25- and 50-foot snakes, but fuck that. I'm trying the bladder first from now on just because it is way easier & cleaner to do.

[OP OUT No.584846]

OP here.
Plunged it and got it flowing. Not deleting thread yet because of useful drain bladder information that i have never heard of. Will delete later or it will die. Whichever comes first. here have OC wp