Well my washing machine seems to over flow it's drain pipe. It's not horribly overflowing, but enough to piss me off. The drain has an ID of 2" and is cast iron. I've dumped a bottle of draino/liquid plumber (don't remember which) and shop=vac'd the trap celan about a month ago and it seemed to have stopped the problem at least temporarily. I now have a small amount of water and a pile of bubbles in my garage nest to my washer.

WTF can I do to fix this problem?


The house was build in 1959 so all of the pipes are old. I'm really hoping to NOT have to replace the cast iron 4" lines out to the street, that would suck much ass.

Could I possibly cut the majority of the cast iron pipe out and replace with PVC? It's not too much of a drop in the line from the trap to the 4" pipe. Should I run a new line with more of a lean in it to the 4" line?

TIA

Borrow a "pig tail" and ream the pipe.
Chemicals can't beat a mechanical device.

Replace the 2" down to the 4" its probally has scale deposits.Might try CLR? or whatever you use to clean minerial deposits.You could be using to much soap causing a airbubble lock for lack of better desciption.Try running a load no clothes or soap and see if you get water on the floor.

Quoted: Borrow a "pig tail" and ream the pipe. Chemicals can't beat a mechanical device.

+1 or just rent one, much cheaper than a plumber

Quoted: Replace the 2" down to the 4" its probally has scale deposits.Might try CLR? or whatever you use to clean minerial deposits.You could be using to much soap causing a airbubble lock for lack of better desciption.Try running a load no clothes or soap and see if you get water on the floor.

I'm sure 45 years of use has caused some problems. I have run the machine w/o soap 3 or 4 times,  and it comes mighty close ot overflowing anyhow. I think the soap on top simply pushes it over the edge. I'll go look into a pigtail and replacement parts if that doesn't work, thanks.

You probably have rust, mineral build up and clothes lint  in the pipe. Get a motor driven drain snake
with a 2' spring steel blade shaped in a   < U  > with cutting edges. Run it through the pipe
very slowly and as many times as it takes for it to go down the pipe smoothly to the 4" pipe.

If the pipe is real bad use a 1 1/2" cutter to start with. If the cutters snag too badly and
you get to the point where the snake binds and twists then you will need to run new pipe
down to your 4" main.

Used to be a Roto Rooter type guy in the 80s, good luck


ETA Be sure to run water down the pipe ever so often during the process to flush down what gets
cut loose.  <----------the proper way to use "loose"

GM

Quoted: Quoted: Borrow a "pig tail" and ream the pipe. Chemicals can't beat a mechanical device. +1 or just rent one, much cheaper than a plumber

+2
Just did this this past week.
I've never, ever had the chemicals actually do anything other than cause a stinky mess.  
Renting the big, motor driven snake & having a willingness to do the grunge work myself was much cheaper than paying the $$$$$$ to a pro.    

<Homer> Gun nuts...Is there anything they don't know? </Homer>

Quoted: You probably have rust, mineral build up and clothes lint  in the pipe. Get a motor driven drain snake with a 2' spring steel blade shaped in a   < U  > with cutting edges. Run it through the pipe very slowly and as many times as it takes for it to go down the pipe smoothly to the 4" pipe. If the pipe is real bad use a 1 1/2" cutter to start with. If the cutters snag too badly and you get to the point where the snake binds and twists then you will need to run new pipe down to your 4" main. Used to be a Roto Rooter type guy in the 80s, good luck ETA Be sure to run water down the pipe ever so often during the process to flush down what gets cut loose.  <----------the proper way to use "loose" GM

+1  You've got funkus abunduss.