GJinVA
New Member
My basement floor drain has me a bit stumped. The house is 45 yo & I've had it for 10. Up until recently the floor drain seemed to be working fine, but maybe demands and age are getting to it. The pipe is cast iron and it is flooding, or more correctly, its not draining fast enough to evacuate the water from the softener and humidifier. I believe my drain is not tied to my waste line but is one of those under the slab - into the drain tile type of affairs. I believe this because I tried snaking it and the snake wouldn't turn the corner (bend in a trap). However, it does have standing water in the bottom as if there were a trap, and I thought drain-tile drains just had 'T' connections. I've tried to get a better look, but even when dropping a small light into it after the sediment has settled, I can just see clear for a while then the light goes dark and movement stirs up sediment. I've run one of those small 4-fingered flexi-grab tools down to see if I could get hold of any large obstruction, but only get small amounts of black goo. I've poured some bleach down it in hopes of killing whatever may be clogging it (assuming the gunk is alive). But I'm at a loss as to what more I as a semi-talented DIYer might try. (and it's Christmas time and I REALLY don't want to believe that I'm going to have to have the floor jack hammered that would ruin my holiday.) I can go without the softener for a while, but I'd really like to get the humidifier back running. Any sagely ideas out there?
