So, about 1 month ago my bathtub suddenly started draining very slowly. The only "event" that seemed unique was a few days earlier my partner soaked her new moss pole, so a little bit of dead moss probably went down the drain.
My house was built in the mid-eighties, all original plumbing as far as I know. Septic system, pumped 3 years ago, and no issues with it, we had it checked during the last month. In the same bathroom as the bathtub there are no issues with the sink or toilet. It's a basement bathroom, so sits right on the cement foundation.
First thing I tried was snaking it. I have a 25' metal snake, the kind that you can attach a drill to to help spin it along. I ran it 10 or 15 feet. I snaked it though the overflow pipe, but also managed to get it past the X in the drain, and push it 3 feet or so. Through the P trap for sure. No change in flow.
Then after observing how it drained, I noticed it will drain fine for the first ~5 seconds, until the drain gets overwhelmed with water, bubbles a bit, and then slows way down to a crawl. So, I though maybe there was a problem with the vent. I went on my roof and peered down them, they looked fine, but I ran a garden hose down them and flushed them out anyway. Nothing seemed to clear out, and all the hose water drained as fast as it was flowing in. No change to the slow drain.
Randomly, we were soaking the shower curtain in some diluted bleach water, and after dumping it down the drain, the next morning it started draining ok again. Sadly this only lasted a couple days, and then went back to being super slow again. I tried more bleach water, and even hydrogen peroxide, but no change.
I snaked it again, this time all 25ft. Amazingly the screw tip comes back clean every time. It doesn't seem to be finding any blockage. No change to the drain.
I also tried snaking it from the Cleanout, which is just 3 feet down the line from the bathtub. I could observe the sink and toilet water flowing past just fine.
Then I tried plugging the overflow pipe and just using a plunger. I can push water through just fine, but if I pull the plunger away I can tell the water is flowing back into the tub with some momentum. That may be from the water that tries to go up the overflow pipe though?
There happens to be a hole cut in the sheetrock in the wall just behind the tub plumbing (from when we fixed the wiggly faucet handle pipe). So it's a bit higher that I would like, but I could get a camera view of the drain pipes. I observed them while running water in the tub, and didn't see anything.
The only other minor plumbing issue in my house is the dishwasher vent leaks water onto the counter sometimes. I though it may be related, but it's on a different vent, and the kitchen sink has so issues draining. Seems to just be a flow issue with the dishwasher drain hose.
So, as far as I can tell, the problem seems to be isolated to the tub, as no other fixture is affected. Yet, there doesn't appear to be any physical blockage. I feel like I'm losing my mind. It's as though something is wrong with the P trap "siphon" effect?
Anyone have any ideas? I'd really appreciate any help or advice you might have.
Thanks.
My house was built in the mid-eighties, all original plumbing as far as I know. Septic system, pumped 3 years ago, and no issues with it, we had it checked during the last month. In the same bathroom as the bathtub there are no issues with the sink or toilet. It's a basement bathroom, so sits right on the cement foundation.
First thing I tried was snaking it. I have a 25' metal snake, the kind that you can attach a drill to to help spin it along. I ran it 10 or 15 feet. I snaked it though the overflow pipe, but also managed to get it past the X in the drain, and push it 3 feet or so. Through the P trap for sure. No change in flow.
Then after observing how it drained, I noticed it will drain fine for the first ~5 seconds, until the drain gets overwhelmed with water, bubbles a bit, and then slows way down to a crawl. So, I though maybe there was a problem with the vent. I went on my roof and peered down them, they looked fine, but I ran a garden hose down them and flushed them out anyway. Nothing seemed to clear out, and all the hose water drained as fast as it was flowing in. No change to the slow drain.
Randomly, we were soaking the shower curtain in some diluted bleach water, and after dumping it down the drain, the next morning it started draining ok again. Sadly this only lasted a couple days, and then went back to being super slow again. I tried more bleach water, and even hydrogen peroxide, but no change.
I snaked it again, this time all 25ft. Amazingly the screw tip comes back clean every time. It doesn't seem to be finding any blockage. No change to the drain.
I also tried snaking it from the Cleanout, which is just 3 feet down the line from the bathtub. I could observe the sink and toilet water flowing past just fine.
Then I tried plugging the overflow pipe and just using a plunger. I can push water through just fine, but if I pull the plunger away I can tell the water is flowing back into the tub with some momentum. That may be from the water that tries to go up the overflow pipe though?
There happens to be a hole cut in the sheetrock in the wall just behind the tub plumbing (from when we fixed the wiggly faucet handle pipe). So it's a bit higher that I would like, but I could get a camera view of the drain pipes. I observed them while running water in the tub, and didn't see anything.
The only other minor plumbing issue in my house is the dishwasher vent leaks water onto the counter sometimes. I though it may be related, but it's on a different vent, and the kitchen sink has so issues draining. Seems to just be a flow issue with the dishwasher drain hose.
So, as far as I can tell, the problem seems to be isolated to the tub, as no other fixture is affected. Yet, there doesn't appear to be any physical blockage. I feel like I'm losing my mind. It's as though something is wrong with the P trap "siphon" effect?
Anyone have any ideas? I'd really appreciate any help or advice you might have.
Thanks.
