Kitchen Pipes Clogged With Goo & Won't Drain

[geoffdude]

Hello all

Great place you all have here, this is my 1st visit.

Anyway, I have a kitchen sink, two-sided sink w/garbage disposal backing up on me, and now won't drain.

In the backyard, I have a pipe access to the sink. It's pvc/3" and I typically run a hose with a pressure bladder in it to inflate and blow the pipes free of obstruction.

Whenever I do this though a nasty greyish-brown, food-like goo comes out with the hose when I pull the hose out. Over time I think this goo has built up on the pipes, and created a super-clogg further down into the line.

This goo is dense, sticky, and not too easy to get rid of. I'm not sure a snake would work, if so, what type to use? Chemicals are a bad choice too, as the goo seems to ignore it. The pressure-bladder did not work this time... so, I'm reaching out for any suggestions on how best to attack this now?

Or, should I just call Adee-do?

Thanks in advance, and best regards.

Geoff

[HayZee518]

that sticky gooey stuff is micro bacteria that clings to ANY pipe. its the same slimy crap that is found in water cooler drains and as you say is yucky to remove. it seems to get stuck with hair, food particles etc right at the trap. if you pour straight bleach and let it sit for a while in your trap, it will clean it out but it takes time. then try your drain blaster.

[geoffdude]

"micro bacteria" huh? Interesting... never even heard of that being a plumbing issue.

This stuff is really nasty too, it seems a blacker version of goo is more common (at least on the net via searching) but very little is mentioned about the brown-ish micro bacteria gunk. Is the black stuff similar? Just curious.

Thanks for your reply, I'm heading out now to buy some bottles of bleach.

Best regards,

Geoff

[geoffdude]

Just posting an update.

Dropped 3 to 4 bottles of bleach in the system over a full day, letting it all soak and stew... then ran the pressure bladder again at days end and it didn't really improve things too much. The water does go down a bit better, but it still backs up after a few seconds of running water.

So, do I snake, or not snake? If I snake, anyy thing I should consider with a 3 inch pipe (at least for a bit anyway).

???

Thanks for any and all help.

Regards,

Geoff

[davidg73]

it is bacteria and grease/food. only a properly sized snake stands a chance at getting it out. if you use a smaller head than the pipe diameter, you force a hole in it, but as soon as you pull the snake back the hole closes. you need a head that basically scrapes the walls and pushes it along. my kitchen sink had the same issue and until i got a pro with teh correct equipment, i could only keep it working a couple weeks at a time IF i was lucky.

[geoffdude]

Thanks for the insight.

I may need to go your route with the pro if and when the need arises.

This Saturday I rented a 50 ft snake, but the head was not the width of the pipe diameter, it was smaller (and it broke off too). But I ran the full 50 ft into the pipe, pulled it out a bit, ran some water into the pipe, ran it back in a bit, and repeated the process for about 15 minutes.

It seems to have worked, as the pipe now drains really good. But, if as you say all I did was punch a hole in it (goo)... well, time will let me know I guess.

Here's hoping though.

By the way, what proper equipment did your pro use? Just a snake with the correct size head to scrape the pipes?

Thanks for your reply.

Regards,

Geoff

[HayZee518]

That "goo" normally stays right in the trap area because in between drainings, it just sits there doing it's "microbial" thing. The sink waste line increases in size as it approaches the street or septic tank so I doubt you'd even hit the sides of the main waste. That is unless you have a cleanout where the sink line connects to the main srain.

[geoffdude]

I have a cleanout for the kitchen sink that I went through. It's literally right behind the sink in the backyard, just a few inches above ground level. The cleanout access pipe is 3 inches in diameter (this goes bigger to the main?).

My goo was actually in this area, way beyond the trap under the sink. There seemed to be a build up just beyond the cleanout.

Between the hose pressure bladder and the 50 ft snake I seemed to have resolved the problem for now, though I'm still getting some girggling noises from time to time.

Thanks for your reply.

Regards,

Geoff

[davidg73]

the plumber used a snake with a 2" on it for my kitchen drain, going in thru teh clean out. then once it hit the 4" main he changed heads to a 4". i had both the soft stuff and hard chunks of grease in mine, heck a few weeks later they pumped the septic and the chunks looked like 55 gallon drums they were so big!