Kitchen sink clogged. Drain King?

[SlitheryDee]

So the kitchen sink is stopped up hard. There's literally no water movement if I fill it up. The clog is definitely past the under counter plumbing. I know because I replaced all that a couple of days ago just to be sure. It was all an old slapdash assortment of cobbled together pipes that never worked that well from the start, and I figured it was just time to replace it anyway. No other drain in the house is clogged, so I know it must be somewhere in the pipe that leads from the kitchen sink before it joins the rest to go to the main sewer line.

I've tried a number of different approaches to clearing the clog. I started with an industrial strength chemical that my local hardware store sells. It's of the extremely acidic and dangerous variety and has been effective in the past for me. Not this time though. Next I tried a a hand auger, which worked me to death without seeming to make any difference. I can get it about 10 feet into the drain before it hits a bend or something that I just can't get past. Perhaps that's the clog itself, but I worked on it for a good 20 minutes without seeming to make any progress. Next I tried a better auger that attached to a hand drill. It seemed to be working well until I accidentally let a kink form in the line which seemed to ruin its ability to turn effectively. The drain was still just as stopped as ever afterwards.

After that I bought a drain king, which is an attachment for a water hose that has a bladder on the end that fills up to plug the line and then jets water down the pipe to clear the drain. I had high hopes for that solution, but all it did was fill up the vent stack and send water cascading down my roof without seeming to make any difference in the clog. For a bit of extra fun the water sitting in the vent stack came jetting out of the pipe under my sink as soon as I turned the spigot off to the water hose and allowed the drain king to deflate, resulting in an unscheduled mopping of the kitchen afterwards.

I haven't given up on the drain king quite yet though. Today I bought an extendable ladder and a galvanized pipe cap. I'm going to try capping the sink drain at the pipe and shoving the drain king down the vent stack. I'm either going to clear the clog or flood every other toilet, sink, and drain in my house. We'll see I guess.

Anyway... Anyone got any ideas about clearing a clog this stubborn? Is my idea for using the drain king in the vent stack genius or a disaster waiting to happen?

 

[Elixer]

If you have a local Home Depot, you can rent a drain cleaner (small, medium, or large) and make quick work of it. It is around $30. The bigger units have a little blade type tip that chews through roots, and hair, and anything else that may be down there.

 

[SlitheryDee]

If you have a local Home Depot, you can rent a drain cleaner (small, medium, or large) and make quick work of it. It is around $30. The bigger units have a little blade type tip that chews through roots, and hair, and anything else that may be down there.

I don't have a home depot nearby, but there's probably somewhere around that rents such equipment anyway. I suppose if the drain king fails I'll have to look into that. These are just heavier duty versions of the augers I've already been trying though right? What if I can't get them to work any better than the ones I've already tried?

My problem is that I don't know what I'm doing with them. They stop going in about 10 feet in, but I don't know if it's just a bend in the pipe or if I'm actually getting at the clog at that point.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Your system should have clean outs. Snake em.

 

[Elixer]

I don't have a home depot nearby, but there's probably somewhere around that rents such equipment anyway. I suppose if the drain king fails I'll have to look into that. These are just heavier duty versions of the augers I've already been trying though right? What if I can't get them to work any better than the ones I've already tried?

My problem is that I don't know what I'm doing with them. They stop going in about 10 feet in, but I don't know if it's just a bend in the pipe or if I'm actually getting at the clog at that point.

The augers that you have been using are the ones with spring type tip right?
Kinda like this thing?

Depending on how much you want to spend, they also have ones with cameras on them, so you can see what is going on, but that is some serious cash there.
The powered ones chew through the stuff.

You said you are at 10 feet? That seems like your next task is find something like this...

since 10 feet into the pipe usually means the blockage isn't there...

 

[SlitheryDee]

Ok so the drain king in the roof vent did work, in case anyone else happens to have a similar problem. In my internet research I learned that the drain king is often a temporary solution though, so if I get repeated clogs I shall refer back to this thread for further advice. Thanks all!

 

[Glayle]

Not sure what a drain king is however, my kitchen sink is clogged. so we snaked it and it seemed to fix the issue. now months later and nothing put down the sink to clog it is clogged again. both time we used 100 foot snake that prob went all the way to the city sewer. It weird as the kitchen is in the middle of the house and the clog does not affect the laundry or both bathrooms (showers and toilets). I am at a loss on what the issue could be. any ideas.

 

[Spacehead]

Not sure what a drain king is however, my kitchen sink is clogged. so we snaked it and it seemed to fix the issue. now months later and nothing put down the sink to clog it is clogged again. both time we used 100 foot snake that prob went all the way to the city sewer. It weird as the kitchen is in the middle of the house and the clog does not affect the laundry or both bathrooms (showers and toilets). I am at a loss on what the issue could be. any ideas.

If it clogs again, put marks on the snake with tape or something, every 5-10 feet & only feed it down the drain in increments till you can see how far down the line the clog is. That might give you a better idea on what the problem is if you know where it's clogging.

There might be a section of drain that goes uphill a bit or something to cause a clog.
Maybe try some mild drain cleaner once a month whether it needs it or not might keep it from clogging.

 

[feralkid]

Not sure what a drain king is.

It's usually called a drain bladder; "Drain King" is just a brand name for the one he has.