On 31 Jan, 01:43, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
wrote:
On 30 Jan,
"Lawrie" wrote:

Hi,

I have a washing machine and a sink in the garage; the washing machine
drains into what I think is called a spigot on the drain pipe from the sink
then the pipe goes through the garage wall into the downstairs toilet. The
toilet outflow has a special sort of adapter behind the u-bend with a
sealed hole in the top into which the pipe from the garage goes.

This has worked OK since we moved in but suddenly now when the washing
machine is emptying, air bubbles seem to be gurgling up in the toilet and,
more importantly, the water level in the toilet seems to end up very low.
In fact it seems to be lower than the bottom of the pipe beyond the u-bend
going into the adapter.

I thought the u-bend was supposed to keep the water level in the toilet at
the correct level; I am puzzled as to how it can end up lower than this.

Both the washing machine and the toilet seem to be emptying OK, but with
this gurgling and very low water level. Has anybody any ideas.

You've got a (probably partial) blockage downstream. It needs clearing before
it gets worse.

Agreed. Something like that. Flow is no longer smooth..
Start of tipping a pint of caustic soda crystals down the bog.

Flush once, then three kettles of boiling water and leave.

Use gloves and spectacles and mop up splashes with lots of cold water.

That usually clears soapy/fatty/ scummy stuff. Which is the glue that
binds the tissue and cloth items together..


I've a drainage system that did block **totally** recently, to the
extent that I had to dig because it is an old porcelain drain and
there's no surface access, so this thread interested me. Fortunately
the dig was shallow and I got access through the lid of a bend, but I
don't want it to happen again - and yes the washing machine and toilet
are on that branch.

Two questions:- I didn't know about caustic soda crystals; are they
available at the sheds etc ? And secondly can I use this as a cure
when the whole lot tips into a septic tank ?

Rob