Why Am I Having Problems Running A Snake Through A Double Sink? - Plumbing
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- www.homebuildin... For more information about plumbing and other home repairs, click on this link. If you're running a snake through the right side or left side of a double sink, for example a double sink in a bathroom and it comes out the other side or the opposite sink, this video could provide you with an explanation why. For more useful tips and ideas about your home, construction and repairs, visit our websites and check out a few more videos.
Great advise. After viewing this video I was able to go through my vent pipe from the roof and a caught the obstruction on the first try. No more slow draining problems.
Thank you!
You got a good point and I didn't do it, but one of the people working with me actually drove a nail through a metal pipe protector, right into a copper air conditioning pipe and it made a firm believer out of me that the best place for any pipe is in the center of the wall.
It is great that you tell us how the reason of the problem...how do you snake it with a drop head auger or other ways? Dropping down from the vent is not always accessible.
If not accessible, than you might need to cut pipes and install a clean out.
Thanks for the diagram for a two sink setup. Helped me diagnose where my clog was.
You're welcome and I hope it wasn't too difficult to fix.
Hand feed your cable in until u feel the pipe change, hit a little reverse action, run it out maybe 5 feet, switch it back to forwards and run it out, might take a couple trys but it will definitely go
And where it goes, nobody knows:)
I've done this several times or with a drop head..however I've run into several galvanized or cast sanitary crosses that were plugged right below the cross. Then I cut in a cleanout above the cross.
Thank you for your video and my question is how do you install in the same wall three sinks using a joint line of 2 inches in the middle
this helps a lot. i have two sinks in seperate bathrooms, but they are back to back. i snaked one drain and now thir both backed up. i will try this tomorrow
Let me know what happens.
Thank you so much for clear explaination.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much!! Saved me so much time and frustration!!
You're welcome!
I like the way they did the wall on your last photo. With copper pipe passing drain pipe, there isn't room to do this with a 2X4 wall so they used 2X6 wall studs for this interior wall. It still looks close, but they tried hard to keep the copper deep enough that hopefully drywall screws won't find something more.
Good video! I bent the snake down 😉 and now I’m headed downwards hopefully!
Fingers crossed!
Very helpful video. Thanks.
I'm working on a clog where both the bathroom and shared wall sink are clogged (and share a drain/vent).
When I run the power snake through the bathroom drain, it comes up through the kitchen sink!
I'm going to open the wall and install a new wye for the kitchen sink just below a new wye for the bath sink.
What do you think?
It sounds like a good idea to me and it should help if you need to clear the drains with a plumbing snake in the future.
Thank you very much. I've been looking for an answer to why. A plumber came and confused the hell out me with what he was saying. He said i needed to cut the wall behind the bathroom to access and all this stuff. Would cost me 2,000 and thats before if he finds and other problems
You're so welcome.
i am installing a bathroom sink on same wall as where on other side i want to put a washing machine hookup so i was going to do a double y or double sanitary tee (like in your picture) in 2 inch inside wall which one would be preferable?
then put a cleanout directly above it as a 2-inch threaded tee with cap in the vent line so i could snake down 2 inch line over about 6 feet to where it joins 3 inch toilet line would this be a good idea or a different fitting above y be better
I would go to our website and start watching more plumbing videos and a two inch drain is usually required for a wash machine.
@@gregvancom i ran a 2 inch drain to do both washing machine and bathroom sink with a double y on 2 inch line vertical going up to a 1 1/4 inch vent
I have this same issue with a 60 year Old home.
One bathroom sink drains right into the one on the opposing wall(two opposing bathrooms.)
One of our foster kids put their used toilet paper in the sink and apparently liked to watch it disintegrate and go down the drain.
Yay for me.
I took the P trap
Off and the extension that goes into the back of the sink and I can see so much corrosion that it’s a miracle I can’t see leaks in the basement where the plumbing stacks go through the floor.
Looks like I will be cutting the back of my vanity open to access the plumbing.
To me it appears they just stuffed a steel flange into the hole of the T fitting and then applied silicone for another fitting where it meets.
In other words it’s ugly from what I can see into the pipe with my flashlight.
I’ll report back if anyone is interested in what I find and how I repair it.
I’m thinking if I get into it deep enough to have to repair the entire T section Im gojng to stack a separate Wye for each individual sink .
If I didn’t have cast iron pipe in my basement for these drains I would run separate drains altogether and just build custom vanities in each bathroom to remodel them.
I really don’t feel up
For any big projects because my wife has cancer and she needs almost constant care from me.
This really effing sucks right now.
If you stack the santees, you would be better off. It's the Y or W or combo, whatever in the heck you call it, that must be a pain in the butt, because I've heard plenty of plumbers complain about them, yet haven't ran into this situation personally.
Would maybe bending an inch at the end of the snake not help it to curve down a Y point in the system?
Yes but keep in mind by the time you get the cable to the cross the bend in the cable will not be in the same position. It might be a 50/50 shot..with enough tries you might get it :)
Exactly 💯
Hello, these drain pipes are not connected to a " Wye" fitting, they are connected to a "Double Sanitary Tee" fitting.
You are absolutely right and thanks for the correction.
gregvancom your welcome
What if there is no straight pipe coming from above? I live in an apt where the bathroom sink pipe is adjoined with my neighbors. It's essentially a "T" and isn't curved like the illustrations in the video.
It's difficult for me to answer your question, because I don't know what your apartment looks like and if you've tried running a snake through the drain pipes, with little success, then you might need to call a plumber. Another thing, if it's not your property, contact the property owner and have them make the necessary repairs.
@@gregvancom it's sort of mine. My dad owns the place. I'm just broke as a joke trying to save some bucks. I guess you can rent snakes but I'm worried I'll rent the thing and not be able to get the snake to make that 90 degree turn downwards and then have to call a plumber anyways. So the bathrooms are on each side of the wall that divides the units. If you didn't have the piping connected from the wall to the sink in either unit you could look straight through into your neighbors bathroom. In the center of that is the main pipe. What I meant by a "T" shape. So i guess my question would be is there any tricks to getting a snake to make a 90 degree turn?
@@johnhughes964 I dealing with the same problem. The snake kept coming out the other sink straight through. It wouldn't make 90 degrees turn. So hard. I tried black bladder jet with the clog wouldn't budge. My brother jam something on the other side to help it make that turn but it is not happening
Very useful video. Thanks a lot!
thanks for this...
You still have to be careful going from the vent stack on the roof, I know it's a one in a million shot but I have seen it happen first hand, someone running a 5/8ths cable down a 4 inch vent stack and I don't know how he got so lucky(unlucky really) but the cable blew out a toilet... If I didn't see it with my own eyes I would never have believed it... It was hilarious, property owner said the 2 toilets on 3rd floor were not pipes back to back, said they 100% had a sweep straight down the stack, dude went across and smoked the toilet... Tried and tried again, couldn't make the drop, said fuck it and went thru roof stack, cable SOMEHOW came back into bathroom and blew out the 2nd toilet, one of the funniest things I've ever seen.... The fact that it came back inside is one thing, and then there's the fact that 1 toilet was already broken and pulled off the floor and the cable didn't come out the open flange, instead smoked toilet #2...
Good advice.
I have double sinks in my bathroom. One of the sinks has the AC drip connected, that sink is clogged. I've taken off the trap and ran a snake about 3-6 ft, but no luck with unclogging. Other sink is drain fine. What to do?
It might be time to call a plumber. Do both of the sinks drain into the same pipe and then go into the wall?
Same problem pretty sure they did my house as a T Not a Y or W. I'm trying lye and draino. Probably gunna have to open the wall behind it and redo the plumbing.
A drop head could possibly work on double ty. Nowadays using a double ty for drain prohibited.double y is allowed
Wouldn't a wye cut off the vent?
@@glennauvil5331 not really. If the double vanity is less than 6' apart which are usually 3 feet apart. You should be one of those restrict inspectors if you say double wye will cut off the vent!
Hi. I have just one bathroom sink. The drain is clogged at a point beyond the wall. I can only insert an auger so far and it gets stuck and won't go any further. Would you have any suggestions? Thank you very much in advance.
Are you turning or rotating the auger or plumbing snake clockwise or counterclockwise? Sometimes by turning it you can get it to go past an obstacle that might be preventing for moving.
That's what I've heard, but most of the plumbers I've talked to call it a Y, you're the first one I've ever heard refer to it as a double santee is this another name for the same part.
gregvancom that's a 4 way a y looks like a y a t looks like a tee
A sanitary tee looks like a capital T. It doesn’t Y in so the snake doesn’t get guided right down into the vent and go right across
would a drop head auger work?
I copied this from a website, let me know but helps. "Drop Head is the professional's choice for quickly opening clogged toilets. It is suitable for both standard and water conserving toilets and provides fast and safe clearing of toilet obstructions."
Well sir that advise is clearly for amateur-hour guys cause I can take a pliers and put a small bend in the cable, run it against the top of the line running into the wall and get it to drop down that Y and clean that drain and never have to be above the sinks ever.
I have a double sink. When I snake one sink out, it runs great and the other sink clogs! ????
I'm guessing that you might need to clean the pipes and that might require you to take some of the plumbing apart, but I'm only guessing.
im having a problem with my drain snake on my laundry sink
You might need to remove the laundry sink drain trap and if the trap isn't clogged where you can clean the parts and replace them to solve the problem, you can run the snake through the drainpipes easier when the trap is disconnected.
Double Santees are the worst garbage
Only if they're creating a problem:)
Drop head cutter. 😉😉
Nice, the ultimate problem solver as long as they get stuck.
@@gregvancom or break off 🤣