sewer line

[exploder3211]

Do you mean this?

I think this is what you ment.. A lint catcher

http://www.shophometrends.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_028105

 

[rp2813]

I swear by the lint screens mentioned by pturo and pictured in the link from exploder. My laundry sink drains into a lateral line that makes a 90 degree turn under the house. It's a regular thing in my stamped-out late 50's development for people to have this line professionally snaked out from the roof vent, and this type of screen buys me time between snake jobs. You can find them in most supermarkets or hardware stores.

My mom's house is over 80 years old. The pipes were not designed to handle waste from a garbage disposal. Many times I had to crawl under the house and snake out the sewer line. It got to the point where I just left the snake down there instead of putting it away. That job stunk--literally. As a result, I'm always careful of what I put down the drain in my own home.

 

[sudsmaster]

I have heard that a sewer line works better if it's got just a small amount of incline to it. Just enough to get the water to push the solids along. Too much taper, and the water flows over the solids and leaves them in place. Interesting...

Two no-no's for garbage disposals/drains are supposed to be coffee grounds and egg shells. The egg shells, I can understand. They are basically cement. But then, so are bones. So there you go. Personally I've found a gallon of sauerkraut plugs up my kitchen's drain line pretty quick, even if run through the disposer.

LOL.

One possible preventative is to use some of the new enzyme based drain cleaners. Supposedly this eats through the accumulated much in the drain better than older caustic stuff.

There is, however, no substitutes for a good long snaking (Toggle hands off this one). The people that built this house had the foresight to put in three outside access points to the the cleanouts: one for the kitchen, one for the master bath, and another one for the guest bath. They are all straight shots. I've only had to use the kitchen one so far; the master bath got cleaned out via the shower stall drain (lots of clumps of hair - not mine - came back with that one).

One more thing you probably don't want to flush... used condoms...

Oh, and the washer drain lint condoms work well, except that as they fill up with lint, they start to spray water all over the place.

 

[duetboy]

About those pesky drain lines

I believe the standard is 1/4" of fall per 1 foot of linear run if memory serves me correctly. And I'm sure my construction superintendant father is probably turning over in his grave that I don't remember that rule for sure. All I do remember was my sister and I digging the trench for the line from the addition on our house to the septic tank out back. It was about 80' of digging. We did about half of it. My brother and Dad did the rest!

jeff

 

[revvinkevin]

My grandparents' home never had a garage disposal, despite one of my uncles offering to buy and install one, my grandmother refused. My parents had a disposal, but over the years and after having a plumber out to clear our main line a number of times, then one day removed the disposal and never looked back. Sewer problems since removal, very, very few. Inconvenience of not having a garbage disposal, none.

Yes I have a disposal in my home, but I never put anything in it which the disposal has to really "work" to "dispose of" (bones, etc). About the only items that do go in it (rarly) are plate scrapings after meals and fruit & vegetable trimmings. I NEVER put coffee grounds, egg shells or any type of fat or grease, solid or liquid. Other then tree root intrusion into the main line, we have not had other sewer problems.

 

[golittlesport]

Like other shave suggested here, I'd recommend picking up some womens' cheap panty hose and cutting them into two stockings and attaching one to the end of your washer's drain hose with a rubber band. Hopefully your machine drains into a utility sink to accommodate this. My mom used to do this and you would not beleive the gunk that would fill up that stocking. It is funny-looking too when the washer drains and the stocking fills - it looks like a lady's leg laying in the sink! You also may want to vacuum or shake out dog bedding before laundering. Good luck!