On Tue, 08 Aug 2006 14:15:49 GMT, Speedy Jim wrote:

an_Musicant wrote:
: On Mon, 07 Aug 2006 23:01:37 GMT, Speedy Jim wrote:
:
: wrote:
: :
: : are you CERTAIN the snake is clearing the drum trap? Old homes often
: : have drum traps tried snaking one once snake just rolls up inside of
: : it.......
: :
: : I suggest you access the line from below and snake from there.
: :
: :
: : Yeah, that's good advice. 1913 would certainly have had drum trap
: riginally.
:
: ?
:
: What's a drum trap and where would it be?
:
: The tub is located 12" from the wall that houses the vent pipe. The tub
: drain joins the overflow pipe and goes straight down into the bathroom
: floor 12" from the nearest part of the wall. The guy who was helping me
: says he assume the pipe then angles toward the vent pipe in the wall,
: and hopefully joins it at a gradual angle.
:
: I see (and can imagine) no trap or cleanout. Where would that be and
: what would it look like?
:
: Thanks!
:
:
:http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/le...nd-sewers.aspx
:
:Scroll down to Fig. 7
:
:They were common as dirt until the 50's.
:Usually accessible from the bath floor, never inside the wall.
:Perhaps, having a separate waste/vent stack, they didn't
:think *any* trap was needed!
:
:Jim

Yeah, thanks Jim. I actually found that same illustration shortly after
posting by Googling on "drum trap." Apparently, they are usually under
the tub. This tub is an old fashioned claw-footer, so there's room under
the tub, but as I said the drain joins the overflow pipe and the
resulting pipe goes straight down into the bathroom floor one foot from
the wall. It then evidently joins (hopefully at a gradual angle) the
vent pipe which is in the wall 15 inches or so from where the drain
disappears in the floor. Why the snakes don't penetrate to a point about
2 feet above the bathroom floor mystifies me completely. I'm afraid this
is gonna be tough. The plumbing here seems to be pretty dodgy. I've
lived here 23 years (6 years the owner) and managed to get by the whole
time with no real plumbing issues I couldn't deal with. But this one
looks tough, and I might go for a full pipe replacement for the whole
house. Maybe I'll just put off fixing this drain until then because as
long as the downstairs bathroom drain works I don't need the drain on
the upstairs tub to work. I did shower up there for 10 days and it
didn't kill me, either. I'm hoping I can maybe do the plumbing and new
electrical at the same time as a new foundation and new siding rehab.
This house is quite a challenge. Lots of character here, but just a
whole lot of work.

Dan