Help with backed up drain.

[Robert Hartmann]

One of our toilets is not draining right. It fills with water and then drains down fast enough for it to swirl, but not really enough to pull a piece of toilet paper. I tried a plunger with no change. Eventually all the water drains out. It's in the basement. When you flush another toilet you can hear it making sounds (bubbling/gurgling). I thought maybe it's clogged further down the line. I was going to buy a snake and see if that helped. This morning we found some water by our furnace room. I assume it came up through the drain. It was dry around the drain, but I could see water above the trap. I also realized instead of turning the in-line humidifier off I had turned it up to 100 a few weeks ago. The heat has been on some over the last week, but I don't think enough to fill the drain. I checked the sump and it's dry. We had one light rain over the last week or so.

Any thoughts? I was going to call a plumber we've used, unfortunately they don't work on weekends.

[Stan Calow]

Did this just start? Possibly the vent pipe (to the roof) is blocked?

[Robert Hartmann]

Did this just start? Possibly the vent pipe (to the roof) is blocked?

My wife informed she started hearing the noise a week or so ago. Would the vent pipe effect others or just the lowest point? Where would it be vented, near the sump or some other random place?

[Maurice Mcmurry]

A slow toilet is often the first sign of needing to power snake your lateral. Many of the old houses I work on need to have it done annually. In the past I would to rent the machine and do our own and occasionally for clients. Lately I call Roto-Rooter, Mr.Rooter, or Master Tech. In Columbia they all work on Saturdays.

[Robert Hartmann]

A slow toilet is often the first sign of needing to power snake your lateral. Many of the old houses I work on need to have it done annually. In the past I would to rent the machine and do our own and occasionally for clients. Lately I call Roto-Rooter, Mr.Rooter, or Master Tech. In Columbia they all work on Saturdays.

Thanks, I wasn't sure about using Roto-Rooter. Looked up their reviews by me and all great. They will be out within 4 hrs. I would normally try this myself, but always leery of water leaking in the house.

[Bill Dufour]

My first guess is clogged roof vent. Shove a garden hose in. I am sure the rooter man will find out whats what. Please report back.
In my case it was orangeburg pipe with a rosebush at the joints. It bent the pipe in and blocked the main drainline underground.
Bill D

[Jim Koepke]

When you flush another toilet you can hear it making sounds (bubbling/gurgling).


Did this just start? Possibly the vent pipe (to the roof) is blocked?


My first guess is clogged roof vent.

Bubbling/gurgling in one toilet or sink drain when another is used is a classic sign of a venting problem. As the water rushes into the drain pipe the air needs somewhere to go. Each drain, toilet, tub or sink should have its own vent or connection to a vent.

Hope your Roto-Rooter person brings a ladder.

jtk

[Robert Hartmann]

After two hours of sponging water (mostly water anyway) at the drain in the utility room I decided to check the septic tank. It was full and not working. Turns out the breaker was tripped. We had a mini-split installed in our sunroom a few weeks ago, so apparently they tripped it or at least I hope. They ran the electric from that box so it makes since they somehow tripped it. I turned it back on, it emptied the tank and all seems to be working now. I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't trip again, but I'm pretty sure it was done then. We had some issues with the septic last fall, so I learned a lot about the Advantex septic system. Fortunately enough to know what and how to look for issues.

[Jim Koepke]

My guess is many folks here are on city sewers and the rest of us do not think of problems associated with septic systems if someone doesn't include that in their initial information.

Hope your were able to cancel the call to Roto-Rooter.

jtk

[Lee Schierer]

After two hours of sponging water (mostly water anyway) at the drain in the utility room I decided to check the septic tank. It was full and not working. Turns out the breaker was tripped. We had a mini-split installed in our sunroom a few weeks ago, so apparently they tripped it or at least I hope. They ran the electric from that box so it makes since they somehow tripped it. I turned it back on, it emptied the tank and all seems to be working now. I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't trip again, but I'm pretty sure it was done then. We had some issues with the septic last fall, so I learned a lot about the Advantex septic system. Fortunately enough to know what and how to look for issues.

My system has an alarm that goes off when the level gets too high in the pumping tank. It occasionally comes after we lose power for several hours as soon as the power is restored.

[Jack Frederick]

Many septic systems have an outlet filter which needs to be cleaned annually. They are installed to ensure the leech field doesn’t get crapped up, so to speak. In ‘13 or ‘14 I installed a new septic tank at the beginning of the remodel. There is a filter in it and I completely forgot about it. Last Nov in prep for house sale I had the tank pumped. The tank level was quite high due to the filter being mostly plugged. Fortunately everything drained out and the field took it without issue. Does your system have an outlet filter?

[Lee Schierer]

After two hours of sponging water (mostly water anyway) at the drain in the utility room I decided to check the septic tank. It was full and not working. Turns out the breaker was tripped. We had a mini-split installed in our sunroom a few weeks ago, so apparently they tripped it or at least I hope. They ran the electric from that box so it makes since they somehow tripped it. I turned it back on, it emptied the tank and all seems to be working now. I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't trip again, but I'm pretty sure it was done then. We had some issues with the septic last fall, so I learned a lot about the Advantex septic system. Fortunately enough to know what and how to look for issues.

If your filled up septic tank was backing up into your floor drains, you have a larger problem than just a tripped circuit breaker. Floor drains should not be connected to sewer systems.

[Myk Rian]

WARNING!! Do NOT use a leaf blower to clear the roof vent.
I did that once, only to turn the toilet into a Bidet. It blew everything (water thank goodness) right out of it.
We didn't realize it until later when my Wife went to use it.

[Bill Howatt]

If your filled up septic tank was backing up into your floor drains, you have a larger problem than just a tripped circuit breaker. Floor drains should not be connected to sewer systems.

Oops, I guess you are using sewer in the general sense which includes septic tanks!
I live in an area without sewer service so this isn't a concern for me but a Google search says that most are connected to sewer systems. I think they should have a one-way/back-flow preventer though since I am aware of floor drains causing flooding in the city because of backup during periods of very heavy rain.
I was at my neighbor's house and theirs goes into a sump pump pit with the basement laundry sink drain but the sump pump does put it all out into the septic tank. I doubt if anything ever goes into the floor drain anyway.

[Lee Schierer]

Oops, I guess you are using sewer in the general sense which includes septic tanks!
I live in an area without sewer service so this isn't a concern for me but a Google search says that most are connected to sewer systems. I think they should have a one-way/back-flow preventer though since I am aware of floor drains causing flooding in the city because of backup during periods of very heavy rain.
I was at my neighbor's house and theirs goes into a sump pump pit with the basement laundry sink drain but the sump pump does put it all out into the septic tank. I doubt if anything ever goes into the floor drain anyway.

Floor drains, footer drains and sump pumps should be connected to storm drains if they exist, otherwise they should pump to a ditch. They never should connect to the septic system nor sanitary sewer system. The same goes for down spouts. And, they all should have back flow preventers so outside water or waste cannot come back into your house.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Floor drains, footer drains and sump pumps should be connected to storm drains if they exist, otherwise they should pump to a ditch. They never should connect to the septic system nor sanitary sewer system. The same goes for down spouts. And, they all should have back flow preventers so outside water or waste cannot come back into your house.

We are still allowed to have basement floor drains connected to the city sewer. On a septic system I can see that it would be good for them not to be, although they do provide a visual reference to the functionality of the sewer drain. A hack that is frowned upon is to knock a hole in the side of a basement KC drain to let ground water under the slab escape into the sewer. Our town has an ongoing smoke test program to help find violators, of which there are plenty.

Lee has reminded me of the reality of a city sewer turning into a high pressure fountain. It can happen in big rain events or blockages if your basement is lower than the nearest sewer man hole cover. DAMHIK. The smoke testing and installation of back flow preventers is an on going neighborhood saga for us.

[Robert Hartmann]

Just a follow-up. A few comments about city sewer, this is a septic tank. The system is called Advantex by Orenco. They were used around bodies of water (we have a lake in front of the house and small river behind) to do extra filtration.

We finally got it fixed. Apparently the pump went bad, the discharge tank filled up and shorted out the electrical. It took a while to figure where the electrical issue was. Poor design on the electrical system. The junction box is down in the discharge tank, so when it filled up it was submerged.

On another note, I asked about it backing up into the floor drain. My septic guy said that connecting drains to the septic tank was a common practice. The house was built in 2000, so maybe that has changed. Maybe just a local thing, but apparently normal.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Here is what can happen when there is no back flow preventer and the city sewer becomes overwhelmed, combined with the power going off with no battery back up for the sump pump. Big storms like to cause both. In hindsight, when inspecting homes I check the basement floor elevation to see if it is lower than the nearest sewer man hole cover. If yes I recommend a back flow preventer and battery backup sump pump. Even with precautions, buildings without redundant gravity drains are at risk of flooding.

501591 501592