Part 1-Kitchen drain Keeps getting clogged

Welcome back to Happi Plumbing Channel. We’d like to share another interesting plumbing mystery with you.

This customer’s kitchen drain had been clogging three or four times every year. She was extremely frustrated and had already spent a lot of money trying to fix the problem, but it kept coming back.

Finally, she called HAPPI PLUMBING and asked us to find the real cause and fix the problem once and for all.

So, what was causing this kitchen drain to clog three or four times every year? And how can we fix it permanently?

Let’s take a look.

Step 1: Clear the kitchen drain

First, I used a small drain machine to clear the kitchen drain and get the line flowing again.

Step 2: Inspect the drain with a sewer camera

After clearing the line, I ran a sewer camera through the kitchen drain to see what was really going on inside the pipe.

And we found the problem.

For about 20 feet, the kitchen drain was filled with crushed eggshells.

We also discovered that the drain line did not have enough slope, so waste and debris were not flowing properly through the pipe.

Finally, we found the real reasons why this kitchen drain had been clogging three or four times every year: a large buildup of crushed eggshells combined with improper pipe slope.

Step 3: Locate the problem area

Next, I used a locator to pinpoint the exact location of the problem section of pipe.

We also located the problem area from the basement so we knew exactly where the pipe needed to be accessed.

Step 4: Give the customer two options

We gave the customer two possible solutions.

Option 1: Use a mini jetter to flush all the crushed eggshells and debris out of the drain line.

However, this would not completely solve the underlying problem because the pipe also had a belly, where water and debris could continue to collect.

Option 2: Open the basement ceiling, replace the entire problem section of drain pipe, and correct the slope.

This option addresses the root cause of the problem and provides a long-term solution instead of repeatedly clearing the same clogged drain.

The customer ultimately chose Option 2.

In my next video, I’ll show you exactly how we opened the ceiling, replaced the problem drain line, corrected the slope, and fixed this long-standing issue once and for all.

Stay tuned!