Expert: speedball1 - 7/19/2004

Question
Hi.
First floor bungalow type house. In the bathroom.
If I fill the sink 1/2 filled with water, then
let it go down...(about half a sink full of)
water comes up in the bathTUB drain! I don't get
that. There comes up black chunks of junk...
smells pretty terrible...but I shower it all down
and all's ok again. If I don't down water in the
sink, the tub never seems to back up. Do you have
any Idea what's happening and how to fix this
annoyance? How about a shot of Drain-O?
Thanks, from Max in Chicago

Answer
Hey Max from Chicago,  Greetings from a Rockford transplant to Florida.  You have a partial blockage.  Let me explain.  The lavatory and tub are tied together.  When you drain the lavatory,(sink) the water picks up speed and pressure on the drop from the sink to the drain line.  When it hits the clog there is too much liquid to get past the blockage so it backs up in the lowest outlet which happens to be the tub drain.  The gunk that comes up with it is pices of the blockaqge, mainly grease and hair.  When you run water in the tub to wash it down the tub drain it doesn't discharge with as much velocity  as the lavatory so it gets by the clog.  I am no fan of harsh chemicals in the drainage system. The only way to be absolutely sure of removing the clog is to go on the roof and snake the drain from the lavatory vent.  However, first try this.  Tonight before you go to bed pour 1/2 gallon of bleach down the lavatory drain.  Let it set and in the morning flush it out with 2 large pans of boiling water.
The bleach will loosen up the hair and make it slippery and the boiling water will melt the grease and flush it out into the main. Hope this helps and thank you for  rating my reply.  Tom   (7/22/04)  Back in the 50's I had a string of 5 TV service shops from south Rockford thu Loves Park and Rockton.  I also worked at the Admiral plant in Harvard as a circuit analyst.  In the 70's I got burnt out on the drafting board and test bench and since I was brought up in the plumbing trade, (my dad owned a 40man plumbing shop in Beloit, Wisc.) made a midlife career change.  Iowned a home off Charles on the East side. Nice hearing from you and how did you make out with your problem?   Cheers,  Tom