Laundry washer backs up into kitchen sink

[thebeasttt]

This problem has been plaguing me for years, mostly due to lack of knowledge. It's a one story 30+ year old house with a combination of steel, copper and PVC pipes. The laundry washing machine is in the same room as the kitchen. If I turn the sink on, the water will go down indefinitely, if I dump a large bucket of water, half will go down then it's slow for the other half and room starts to smell like rotten eggs. When the washing machine drains, after a few seconds it tries to backup to the washing machine drain. If I "seal" it with a wet rag, it fills up the kitchen sink instead. Sometimes there is a gurgling sound, sometimes there's not.

I tried snaking the roof vent, kitchen sink and washing machine drain. Also put a ton of vinegar/baking soda mixtures in every drain. The washing machine drain pipe just looks like a single 2" PVC that goes straight into the floor. The outside cleanout has a consistent flow, regardless of whether the sink is backed up or not. I attached a picture of under the kitchen sink. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Are you on city sewer or a private septic system ?

I’m going to go ahead and advise having the drain professionally cleaned.

Or if you still want to DIY you can watch some drain cleaning videos and either buy or rent a drain machine.

 

[thebeasttt]

Small town city sewer, sadly cannot afford a pro.

 

[Twowaxhack]

I’d run a 3/8” 50’ long cable most likely from the kitchen sink vent on the roof. 75’ sometimes.

 

[thebeasttt]

Thanks for the response! I only tried this with a 25ft snake. When far in. how can you tell the snake is going the right way when the pipe splits off? Also I'm not sure if the washer has proper access to the roof vent. Is there some way to test this?

 

[Twowaxhack]

Thanks for the response! I only tried this with a 25ft snake. When far in. how can you tell the snake is going the right way when the pipe splits off? Also I'm not sure if the washer has proper access to the roof vent. Is there some way to test this?

You can use the kitchen sink vent.

If the roof vent for the kitchen sink goes straight out the roof independently or directly and the drainage is piped correctly the cable will follow the pipe to the obstruction.

Do you have a garbage disposal ?

 

[thebeasttt]

I'm not sure if the laundry washer is piped correctly, it looks like it was jury rigged in, after the fact. No on the garbage disposal. Yes on the roof vent going directly to the kitchen sink.

 

[Twowaxhack]

I'm not sure if the laundry washer is piped correctly, it looks like it was jury rigged in, after the fact. No on the garbage disposal. Yes on the roof vent going directly to the kitchen sink.

You on a slab foundation or a crawlspace ?

If you have a cleanout dedicated to that drain then I’d use the cleanout, not the roof vent to run the cable.

 

[thebeasttt]

crawlspace, only see a giant clearout for the entire house though. I can try getting a longer snake through the sink though, I've only snaked it 25 feet.

 

[Twowaxhack]

You might could go into the crawlspace and cut in a cleanout if there’s enough room to work for you.

 

[thebeasttt]

Oh I forgot to mention, this town has pretty hard water. At the base of nearly every fixture in the house, there's some sort of calcium buildup. I tried a ton of boiling water+vinegar/baking soda in the drains but this was just guesswork. Do you use the augur to break that stuff up also?

Thanks again for all the help