What's going on? Urgent Please help

[eddiek]

Hi,

So I took a 3 month plumbing course so I only know the very basics. This problem I have is a bit confusing though.
So recently it seems one of my drains in the basement backed up (the one in the laundry room) but not too much water backed up.
Anyway, I checked my other floor drains and the clean-out located at the building entrance and the water level is unusually high (almost at floor level). There are also lots of particles in each of the drain.

Anyway so I figured since all of them are like this, the block would have to be anywhere from the building entrance cleanout to the city main.

So here's the weird part. My uncle who I'm living with decided to put hot water down one of the drains (farthest from the building entrance) and I thought it was going to overflow and it really should have, but it didn't! No matter how much water you put down that drain the water level stayed the same. This would mean the water is definitely going somewhere and there is no blockage which leaves me in even more confusion. (I wanted to try to see if the other drains and cleanout had this same weird phenomenon but my uncle decided to put enzymes down all the drains and told me not to put any water down.)

So what's going on? I'm very confused. Is there a block or isn't there? The water level in all the drains suggest there is, but the fact that there is no overflow suggests there isn't.

So I didn't know where to start to solve this problem so I decided to put down all the things that I knew was absolutely true. I left out assumptions or anything that wasn't 100%.

1. The water level is unusually high in all drains
2. Water backed up in 1 of the drains (the one in the laundry room)
3. Adding water to one of the drains (the one farthest from the building entrance) does not result in overflow. Water level stays the same regardless of how much water you add.
4. Unknown particles can be seen in the water of all three drains.

Help from a professional or experienced person in this sector would greatly be appreciated. This house was built in the 1950s-1960s so the plumbing system might be different from what I learned and from today's standard.

Thank you very much

 

[ExtraMilePlumbing]

Pour water down all the drains and see if it backs up . Floor drains have p traps that are supposed to hold water . The clean out should be bone dry . You might have an off set in the clean out connection resulting in water always showing

 

[frodo]

if the main co is backed up. in front of the house. the blockage is between it and the sewer tap.

if you are loosing water in the house, ck under a tub or toilet.

if it were me. I would stop pouring water in the system and snake it out

 

[eddiek]

Thanks for the replies.
So do I pour water or do I not? My family has been using the taps, showers, and toilets since this problem happened. I didn't think it was a good idea, but since then everything is the same.

Also, what does ck mean? check?

 

[frodo]

yes, check

if the sewer is not backing up....is the clean out {CO} still full of water?

 

[eddiek]

The CO is still full of water. One of the drains water level has risen a bit. It's almost at the top now. The basement toilet and shower seem to be working fine. My family keeps using the utilities which I don't think is a wise idea, but I'm still wondering where all the water is going. It should be overflowing by now (since we're a family of 8. there are 2 families actually atm). Anyway, we used a drain snake at the CO and tried to unblock whatever may have been there but it has not been successful. We ended up using the whole length and nothing cleared up.

So at this point,
I'm wondering...
1. Where is all the water going?
2. How can I unclog the CO

It's new year's eve so all the hardware stores are closed and will be closed tomorrow, so we can't get the more powerful and longer drain snakes. It will also be closed tomorrow.

 

[frodo]

If the clean out is backed up. and the house is draining.....its draining somewhere


you got problems, sounds like you need a camera ran in your main line to figure it out
call a plumber

 

[Mr_David]

Camera is not going to do any good. They can't see through all the muck in the water. You on a septic do you know where the line runs to. do you have any neighbors with same problem? I showed up to a job once. several building effected. Looked across the street and saw a guy cabling a drain. So went to see what he was doing. Said he'd been at it for several hours. this clean out ,that clean out, and that one over there. so walked done the street and found a manhole Full of roots. Called the city.
maybe your problem isn't that bad but maybe there is another clean farther away that is spewing waste water and that is why the clean out is not rising.
are you sure this is a sewer cleanout for the whole house. Maybe just a cleanout for the floor drains and those maybe a separate system.

 

[eddiek]

Yeah it's pretty murky so a camera wouldn't work. We're not on a septic tank though and it doesn't seem we have any neighbours with the same problem. We're planning to find out first thing tomorrow though (it's late over here). Also, we have one CO apparently that is outside. I'm planning on checking that. I think it's possible that the CO with filled water is a separate system with the other filled drains. One thing that I don't understand though is that this CO that has water in it is right beside our water meter. It should be connected to our main system then no? Sorry, I'm not too experienced in this.

 

[frodo]

are you sure the co next to the meter is not just a sleeve for a valve. and the water is just rain water


i use 4" pvc for valve sleeves all the time

 

[eddiek]

I'm not sure how to tell the difference

 

[eddiek]

So apparently there is one co outside at the front of the house. I took a picture. It has a different lid than the one inside though which leads me to believe it isn't a co?
If it is one I have no idea how to open this one since I don't see any screws bolts etc

 

[eddiek]

Okay so my family decided to try to take out water from the drains hoping at least the water level would go down and we took out maybe 100 litres out of the drains and STILL, they are the exact same level they were before. I really don't know what's going on. =/