Sink Backingup

[samjonesrocks]

Hello, I have come to try and resolve a problem with my kitchen sink drain. It was backing up and when we run the garbage disposal it just bubbles when we turn it off and doesn't actually drain the water.

I tried a plunger and it seemed to be working until I found out that it was just pushing water through the dishwasher hose into the dishwasher.

I tried some drain cleaners and it did not fix anything.

I tried taking the pipes under the sink apart to look for blockage (there was nothing) and to snake the pipe beyond the bend (only have about a 6' auger) and it didn't seem to do anything.

I just don't seem to understand what could be wrong with this. I have run the water with no pipes attached and it seems to run freely through the garbage disposal into the bucket I put down. I have poured water directly into the pipe that runs under the house and didn't have anything build up. I don't see why attaching the 2 with all working/clear pipes would cause a backup of water.

I am new to this whole home repair thing so I would appreciate any help. Thank you all in advance.

[HayZee518]

Look under illustrations by "lazypup." He has some good diagrams that explains the waste lines in a house. If your main vent is blocked by a bird's nest or there is a blockage inside at any bend downstream of the clog, the effluent will not flow. Under the sink is a P trap or an S trap. This trap must allow water to flow - don't use chemical cleaners if you can help it. When you take the trap apart you'll get this crap on yourself and it burns! I'm assuming you have a two tub sink. One side has the disposal the other is just a tub. The disposal and the tub join at a T and then goes to the main drain and trap. If your system isn't glued up then you'll have "slip joint" fittings. There's a metal or plastic nut with a tapered plastic or rubber o ring between the two pipes.

[samjonesrocks]

Thanks I will look into the illustration and possibly putting in a vent.

I have a single bowl sink. The water flows through the disposal, there is an extension pipe, than it goes through a J-trap, right into another bend (which bends upwards), and goes down the waste line into the crawl space. I have owned the house about a year and a half and this is a new problem.

[samjonesrocks]

Update:
I looked for the illustration and I am not sure if this is the one you are talking about, but I guess I have one of these S-traps mentioned in the diagram for turning an S-trap into a P-trap. Would doing this and making it into a P-trap possibly fix the problem?

[jnaas2]

A kitchen sink can be a long distance from the main line and if its clogged or partially clogged it can take a fair amount of water before it backs up. You say that you poured water into the drain and that it didnt back up but run the sink until it backs up and then take the drain apart and see if the water has filled the drain line up. The snake I use has a 100 foot cable on it and it can take 2 or 3 times before I can get them to open, Garbage disposals and soap scum can choke the drain down and make it very hard to get to flow without a powered drain machine

[HayZee518]

JNAAS - Have you ever used microsoft "paint" for drawing diagrams to explain your findings" Give it a try and save your diagrams by choosing JPG for a file extension rather than a BMP or other format. anything can be made using bits and pieces of the stock pictures - i.e. circles, parts of rectangles, rounder rectangles etc.

[jnaas2]

No I havent but I will give it a try, Thanks for the info

[adnadeau]

What part of the country are you located in? Any chance the pipe is freezing up somewhere in the crawl space?

[samjonesrocks]

I live in the Philly suburbs. I guess it is possible that the pipes are freezing since it has been below freezing a lot lately, but I am not sure.