I purchase a house in the country and I have septic system, my question is, how do I unclog pipes without putting harsh chemicals down the drain, the pipes are smaller in diameter and the regular snake does not work, please help, Thank you!

hi,
We live in duplex unit and we have a issue of drain water backing out of the ground floor toilet whenever we flush, use shower or use water in any of the sinks. the only place water comes out is the ground floor toilet that has a outlet on the floor. Irrespective where we use water, it comes out of that outlet. And the water is dirty and smelly. We don't know where to use plunger or put vinegar, etc. What should we do?

We just purchased a home that has been empty for over two years. There is a septic and also a gray water line the we can not find (per the neighbors). we had heard bubbling sounds from washing machine to kitchen sink and bathtub and vice verse, but no noise in the toilet. My husband placed a mini vent on the kitchen sink. That seemed to cure the issue for a week. Then today, we are all backed up, tub and kitchen sink is full of the washing machine water. It does not smell like sewage nor does it look like sewage. It smells like laundry soap with little chunks of dirty dish water. We do not want to hire a plumber... we are broke since we just purchased the home. please advise.

The drain in my garden has been flooding out dirty foul smelling water into my garden. I noticed that when i ran kitchen tap the drain in garden started over flowing. What would you suggest? Can i deal with this myself?
Thanks in advance

Please help. We're having problems in our house. There's water coming out from the first floor floor drains. We already called a professional for it but it doesn't change at all especially when we're using the washing machine. Thank you!

The house I'm living in is over 100 years old. It's big and there's lots of divided plumbing lines to certain things they belong to. For instance, we have one bathroom that has it's own lines. Then there's a part of the house we call the laundry room but it also has a shower in it that works, but doesn't drain. In fact the sink drains into that shower and causes such a mess we can't even keep up with. We've talked to the land lord but he's totally clueless and doesn't even try to fix it, so that leaves us to do it our selves. We were cleaning it almost every day with a shop vac, a heavy duty push broom, and bleach. That whole room gets flooded and it's really a waste of time because the dishes are done every night. We eventually just gave up and said that the landlord had to fix it because we didn't cause this problem, we're just living here. But he never fixed it and it's been months, we have been seeing cockroaches, the water backup has turned into a thick film and we just can't stand to know theres a room in a hour that is this bad. My mom is cleaning it right now for the first time in a while, and it's just completely out of control. We tried to use the shop vac one again and it's broken now because it couldnt handle what was in the room I'm assuming. I really don't know what is causing this to happen. I'm not sure, but I do think someone came and snaked the drain for us once, and they said that it wasn't clogged or anything. We've used so many chemicals to "unclog" the drain, but nothings worked. I've tried to tell my mom it's never going to stay clean, and I think she knows this but what else is there to do really. She has an idea of building some kind of wall on the out side of the shower so that it all stays inside. Which might be a good idea, but I'm not sure. There's actually an add on room by the shower that was once used as a canning room and it was completely ruined by the water. We are going to have to pull up the carpet and take everything out of it. Anyways, I'm not sure what else to mention, but I really hope someone reads this and knows of any ideas of what to do to keep this from happening.

I'm having a problem with our old farm house plumbing. Every time we flush either toilet they fill CLEAR up before actually flushing. Once the decide to flush we here gurgling in all the drains *kitchen sink, bathtub, ect* We've tried chemicals but that hasn't done the trick. Any ideas?

Reverse problem, not in a septic system. Our bathtub drains fine, but as it drains, it causes the toilet bowl (not tank) to drain out too. Is this more likely a clog, or something bad with how the lines are set up?

My problem is that when I run my dishwasher or kitchen sink it starts to backup into my laundry room out of my washers drain pipe. When it overflows the water is a nasty brown/black color. Is this a clog or something worse? I have tried the chemicals and snaking it but nothing.

Upon moving in a week ago, I noticed that water drained very slowly during/after showers. Just now I was cleaning the toilet and I flushed and I noticed water gurgling back up from the shower drain with what looked like small amounts of waste.

I ran the sink for a few minutes to see what would happen and the only odd thing that I noticed was that the shower drain was gurgling and it looked like air bubbles were coming up from it as well.

What could be the issue here? Is this something a jug of Drano can solve? Is there a stronger solvent I can use? Or, do I need a professional to handle things?

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing your assessment of the situation.

My toilet is clogged but when we use the plunger it backs up into the tub. Put drain cleaner in toilet but since it has water in it and will not flush guess it didn't work. We have snaked the pipe on the roof all the way to septic and nothing. We have snaked the toilet a good 3 feet and still nothing. What could be causing this and how do I fix.

When we flush our toilets clean water runs in our washer why is that?

We had a plumber inspect our home when we moved in and everything was fine.

Also if showering or using a sink and someone flushes the toilet or turns on the water our pressure decreases intensely do you know why that is happening?

My shower runs the water out slow. Now water is leaking some where in my kitchen by th dishwasher but its never been used. My toilet is running ok.

My sink and bathtub in the upstairs bathroom has always drained slow. Over time it got worse and since the bathroom isn't used much we just let it drain slow. Eventually we stopped using the tub and sink entirely until we could look more into it. Now we are finding water sitting in our bathtub. It is always clean water only an inch or two. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from but when the water to the sink got turned off it stopped happening. Does this mean there is a something worse going on???

I work in a hotel. While one of our guests was taking a shower, he said the water in his sink and toilet started to rise flooding the entire bathroom. What could be the cause of this?

After unclogging my kitchen sink that had water in it, immediately my washer downstairs started rumbling. I walked down to the basement to find the washer had been moved 2-3 feet. Coincidence? Or does this sound like a pipe issue? Help

The water in my floor drain next to the clothes washer rises near the opening of the floor drain when my clothes washer water drains into the standpipe.

I also put water in the floor drain to see if it will drain when water is added to it and it doesn't drain or lower the water in the floor drain immediately. Help. Thanks.

I washed clothes yesterday in the basement of our house. Upon returning to change to the dryer, I saw water on the floor and the utility sink filled to the top. My husband used a plunger and it caused water to continue filling from the drain into the sink. We flushed the toilets and ran water in the house and the sink continued to receive some water through the drain with what looked like remnants of toilet paper. We decided not to run water, go to the gym and shower and let it slowly drain on its own. Today, the sink is half full. He went outside and removed the vent cover because water was seeping through it and found toilet paper, hair and other household waste. After reviewing tons of videos, reading blogs and etc., we suspect there might be a block at the end of the sewer pipe that leads to the septic. What do you think? What steps should we try next.

Had a plumber replace 2 toilets and install 2 new showerheads. Since then, when you use the bathtub, water starts to leak from the walls in both bathrooms and the other bathtub that was not used, has standing water.After about 5 minutes, the water recedes. Today, I used the kitchen sink and it made water leak in those bathrooms. I have a 3rd bathroom that was not touched by tge plumber and everything works fine.

Toilets are clear sinks are clear. I snakes 25ft into the main drain starting at the septic end first. But water still wont drain out. Its coming out to the septic tank in a slow stream.