sewer drainage problems from bathroom?

Question

Small town sewage people told us that any problems with drainage were not their problem if the lines were clear up to our connection. We have installed new line up to our connection with city. Toilet still backs up, occasionally but,always backs up when it rains.Snaked line up to main and found no blockage.Ran water hose down 2" vent pipe on roof & its clear. Any suggestions? Please dont waste your time to tell me to call a plumber. Believe me, if we had the $ to pay a plumber, my husband would not know that s**t really does run down hill.

Answer 1

Its been like 1960 and everyone in our town was required to remove their roof gutter drains from the sewage system that handles toilets and sinks.

The reason being that they have to treat all of that roof water and it floods out the sewer lines.

I dont know what your town has done, but as far as I know NO town permits gutter drain lines tie to sewage lines.

You might consider draining these off to your yard with underground flex pipe about 20 feet from the house as these gutter drain pipes can flood out your sewage line.

You do not, of course, want to install too large a pipe as that will reduce the velocity in the pipe and the sewage will lie in the bottom. A good example of that would be to install a 6 inch pipe in a residential house instead of a common 4 inch pipe. That large pipe will block up because the velocity in it is too low. This is well known in sewage pipe design by engineers.

I would say your problem is too many roof gutter drains tied to the sanitary sewer. That includes YOURS and the neighbors too. This is not done anymore in construction and is not allowed in many small communities and cities throughout the US.

You will have to convince the town to hire an Engineer and I am 100% sure he/she will find my analyis correct on this matter.

Answer 2

I have a friend whose basement floods when it rains and this sounds like a similar problem. It could have more to do with the storm water drainage system than the sewer lines themselves. I suggest talking to the city again, but about the storm drainage system. If there is a problem between the two systems, they may not have diagnosed it yet. If that doesn't work, contact your home insurance co, see if there is legal assistance pro-bono in your area and maybe let your mortgage co know, as they or insurance have more money at their disposal, giving them more leverage. Good Luck.

Answer 3

If you have a new line installed with proper pitch (1/8 to 1/4" per foot) and it is still backing up, I would say the city line is not clear or it is undersized. The fact that it backs up during rain tells me the city system is a combination sanitary/storm drainage system. It IS their problem.

Answer 4

check the "stink pipe" all plumbing has to have a line that equalizes pressure to allow water pass through. That air is pushed a exit line as water flows down the pipe.
Usually on the roof you'll find 3" line straight up. that's the one.
You may also want to double check your line fall. typically you need at least a 12-4 pitch, that's 4 inches of fall for every 12 inches of run, remember that is a MIN.
good luck!

Answer 5

If you put a new line to that toilet like lets say a 6"pvc pipe, you should get decent flow out.
Even with a 4" pvc you can get flow out good.

I am willing to bet that your problem is a City problem and they don't want to spend the money repairing it from their side.

Answer 6

I get this too...but it's in our basement. It's caused from a backed up drain. Our drains get backed up because we don't have a garbage disposal and I keep "accidentally" let food go down the drain. (I really just do it so my husband will get sick of clearing out the drain and get me a garbage disposal.) Anyway, I don't know what the cause of yours is, so it's best to call a plumber and have them check it out.

Answer 7

because it backs up when it rains makes me think there is a broken pipe or one that was not properly "glued" together that is allowing rain water to penitrate the system.