Double Kitchen Sink Backing Up on Disposal Side

[B0rykua]

Hello. I would like to tap into the community's expertise. My issue is this:

It seems my wife poured a considerable quantity of rice down the disposal. Afterwards just the disposal side started to back up. If you run the disposal, it empties but backs up on the other side. I removed all the PVC pipes, checked for clogs and nothing. Ran a snake further down the wall pipe and didn't feel anything. If I run the water through the disposal side while the PVC trap is removed, the water seems to flow perfectly fine. Same thing happens on the other side. As soon as I assemble the PVC pipes, it starts to back up again. I poured boiling water and also did the Baking Soda and Vinegar solution...still backs up. I have a Waste King L8000 disposal and it seems to be working fine. Is there a clog? If so, would it actually be inside the disposal!? I have a dishwasher also. Just trying to understand since it doesn't make any sense to me that water flows normally through the disposal when the PVC pipes are disconnected underneath, but doesn't when they are connected. Please help. Thanks.

 

[Jeff Handy]

How far did you snake the pipes behind the wall?

It sounds like you have a partial clog in the pipes there.

You might have a clog many feet away.

Get a good hand snake and do it again, a quality hand spinner type of snake can usually reach 25 feet.

Watch some Youtube vids on using a drain snake, it takes practice to get good technique.
You might even have reached the clog, but just drilled a hole through it and then it sealed itself right back up.

Tell your wife the disposal is not a magical garbage can.

Large amounts of waste should be dumped in the garbage.

Rice is sticky and can reform into a clog like a ball of glue.

 

[Geofd]

Rice is hard to clear unless you use the proper head a spring head will work going thru but will close up when you pull it back a spade head or something with a claw works best, if the only thing you have us the spring head, use a wet vac while snaking don't use any water until
You vac out a good amount of rice you may have to cut the pipe before it enters the wall it will make it easier to vac/snake do you access in the basement that's another good point to snake from

 

[Geofd]

Rice is hard to clear unless you use the proper head a spring head will work going thru but will close up when you pull it back a spade head or something with a claw works best, if the only thing you have us the spring head, use a wet vac while snaking don't use any water until
You vac out a good amount of rice you may have to cut the pipe before it enters the wall it will make it easier to vac/snake do you access in the basement that's another good point to snake from

Don't panic,if it's pvc it's easy to work with if there is access below you could cut a section of pipe out,take it down and clear it if you don't feel comfortable gluing there are stainless steel banded couplings that will work also, copper,the same stainless steel couplings, worst case cast iron, can be cut with a sawzall
and connected with couplings also

 

[B0rykua]

Thank you all for your great advise. I bought a plunger and some Zep chemical, but nothing worked. I then had to pull my trusted drain cleaning water bladder with an attachment for the sink and 5 minutes later, the clog was gone...now it's draining properly. Whew!