Floor drains: why they back up, what to do about a missing cleanout plug

Floor drains: why they back up, what to do about a missing cleanout plug

[@JaYyDeE]

Great video! I watching this video stressed out with a flooded basement as I write this. I am a new homeowner, so no floor drain experience. This was extremely helpful. Thanks so much for making this video!

[@buffnesss87]

Thanks man. Very informative and articulate. Made me understand how all that works and how to troubleshoot my problem!

[@theresamay9203]

This was the most helpful video of all time! We were having issues with the trap being clogged. We pulled out the clean out plug as a temporary fix but at least now we know what’s going on. Thank you!

[@BIGGDAVE064]

Thanks Reuben, You saved my marriage 😅❤💪🏿💯

[@gloriapauls4493]

Thank you so much for this informative, easy to understand and follow video. I was able to clean out myself!

[@daletaylor3477]

This video helped me so much. Returning from two weeks away, our basement drain started overflowing after a shower and laundry load. We quickly grabbed the wet-dry vacs and sucked up it up until the cycle was complete. I knew NOTHING of what and how the floor drain worked. I discovered, after following your instructions, that our Clean-out plug was MISSING (as you suggested it might be!), and I feared the worse. But, I did get the clogged clear, and the P-trap does WORK! All thanks to the knowledge you shared! Now I need to get a replacement plug! Thank you so much for this video. It was straight forward and everything I needed to know.

[@FlatEarthMath]

This video was great, and I learned a lot! Alas, the homes I've owned have all been built before that "floor drain with integrated cleanout" was even invented. I think I may replace my floor drain at some point. Cheers! 🙂

[@LucyLusmommy]

Ty for this video!! I now know my clean out plug is missing and that's where the water drains because the trap is clogged. The smell is/can be disgusting!

[@Matt-my1gq]

Thank you so much! That info about the water level/clean out was the best!

[@STLTHMC]

Rural living on septic&well. Water softener regen made a mess little water yesterday and my initial thought was floor drain issue. Watched your video, reinspected my situation: all clear on floor drain, everything is as it should be. Low and behold somehow the softener regen drain hose got moved away from the drain hole! Pfffft. Put back in place and secured it. Problem solved and multiple lessons learned. Namely how floor drains work and whole house plumbing implications @ the lowest point in your home. Thank you Reuben!

[@nobodyimportant8833]

The plug is missing on the cleanout on the floor drain at our house, the water stopped flowing right. Well to build pressure and plunge the line to maybe avoid paying a plumber I took a bag and some cloth and stuffed the hole. at that moment the washer started a drain cycle and *Pop* and the water now flows better than ever and it took a dollar tree bag and some scrap cloth lol. DEFINITELY getting one of those expanding plugs as its an old cast iron floor drain that is well past its life cycle due to rust. Thank you for this video.

[@brandykaiser3512]

THE BEST EXPLANATION, EVER!!❤❤

[@gnystrom13]

Great viddeo

[@vanguardlh9548]

Sorry for the long post. Not sure if you really want to get into helping each respondent with their particular issue, but here it goes ... Nice video. Well described and informative. I removed the cleanout plug. This is a 60-year old house, and has cast iron piping, including the floor drain. The auger had no problem running for maybe 20 feet into the pipe. No obstructions, no debris removed. When I pour water into the drain bowl with the cleanout plug removed, the water exits very quickly. It's the trap that is plugged. I tried a plastic jaggy rod that's used to remove hair from traps, but it cannot penetrate whatever is clogging the trap. The current own (my aunt) has had this house for 27 years, but she doesn't know how to inspect a house, or how plumbing works. Once the water heater burst and flooded the basement. She cannot remember if the water drained normally or extremely slowly. For many years since I replaced the water softener, the exhaust water (2 hoses) ran into the floor drain. I had the hoses go into right-angle adapters: hose into one end of the adapter, other end of the adapter pressed into a plastic drain plate. This held the end of the outlets above the normal water level in the drain to prevent siphoning back to the water softener. That setup worked fine for well over a decade. Late fall 2 years ago she had a new furnace installed. The old one's drip line (gas creates water on burning) ran under a rug and into the floor drain. The new furnace has its drip line (runs up to ceiling using a condensate pump) also run into the floor drain, but the new furnace also has a humidifier where the excess water goes into the condensate pump. Last winter with the new furnace, its drip line into the condensate pump, its humidifier into the condensate pump, condensate pump into floor drain, and water softener into floor drain, there was no flooding on the floor. This last winter, the floor started getting wet. The water from the condensate pump drains okay, but very slowly out of the floor drain's bowl. It was when the condensate pump and the water softener were both operating that the water wouldn't drain fast enough this last winter, so it came up on the floor. When I went to check, as mentioned, running an auger through the cleanout plug encountered no debris or restriction. When water poured into the drain bowl got up to the level of the cleanout hole, the water drained out fast. When I plugged the hole, the water would drain too slow, and would've come up on the floor if I continued adding water (pouring it in from a pail). I tried using a plastic jagged drain rod, but it couldn't get into the trap. There's no concrete or other construction debris that would've gotten into the trap. The drain is cast iron, not plastic, and there is a lot of corrosion. Possible the debris has been stuck in the trap for decades, but just recently the rust or other debris finally plugged up the trap enough to severely slow drainage. While I can get a sharper tip for the auger, I'm concerned about how rusted the drain trap might be. Boring through solidified sediment, or whatever is hard set in the trap, could result in boring through the cast iron pipe. I managed to get out the plastic cleanout plug, but the threads are highly corroded, so I cannot get it back in. I'll have to use an expansion plug to close the hole. If I cannot bored out the solidified debris in the trap, I'll have to run the water softener and furnace condensate pump into the laundry tub. My aunt cannot afford having the floor broken up to repair the floor drain. Is there a safe means of boring through solidified sediment in the trap of a floor drain, so the trap does not get damaged? There is very slow drainage, but the drain rate won't handle the output of the water softener and the furnace condensate pump. Don't want to use lye (drain cleaner) on cast iron piping. (I can just hear you now. Oh, geez, another one wanting free advice.)

[@mercurym-7904]

I have a 1940s home and the drain plug in the floor is only about 2 1/2 inches. This drain doesn’t have a clean out when I run my wash machine. Sometimes water will come out of this drain and saturate a good portion of my basement floor.

[@abenton3284]

Yeah my family’s house is from the 1950’s and we have had numerous back ups and currently the drain that comes from the kitchen makes water come up in the basement sink and then drains super slow and smells horrible. The basement water drain doesn’t overflow

[@sharonh5399]

Most likely you have a main line clog. Same thing in my house. It was clogged. Had a plumber come out and jet it.

[@robthompson343]

I also have a 1940’s home but mine does have a brass clean out plug and my washing machine does the same thing when it drains

[@johnormsby9178]

Great video

[@eddiea3782]

I had to put a backwater valve in my basement floor drain. The previous owners didn't maintain the main line and it backed up several times after I purchased the home. After paying a plumber twice to clear out the drain I decided it was much cheaper to maintain this myself so I went out and purchased an electric drain cleaner with 50 feet of line on it. And then I purchased an additional 50 feet for a total of 100 feet worth of cleanout cable. I will clean out my mains every year myself and will have that backwater valve in the floor drain just in case. My floor drain is cast iron and does not have any sort of clean out on it. I have to go to the main line next to my laundry sink and do the cleaning. It's the only place there is to clean out the main on this house. I hate floor drains.

[@evolutionsfake]

What about super old facilities that have cast iron drains that are overflowing? When I look down the drain hole, all I see is one big hole going down and it overflows when the washing machine dumps its tub water in another room.

[@odeogbole2297]

Thanks for sharing sir.

[@fernandohernandez-altonar2155]

Thank so much very helpful

[@sunkorg]

My home was built in the 1920s and the basement floor drain has no clean out. It's just the trap itself. I also don't have a clean out outside. The only ventilation is from the two stacks in the west and east sides of the home. I notice when I take a shower that the water level in the floor drain rises about an inch and then settles back down shortly after the shower is complete or when the I'm washing clothes and the washer drains.

[@ralphmaberry5175]

Hi, very helpful video, I have an old house and my basement drains do not have cleanouts, any suggestions? Thanks!

[@kelm1123]

My basement toilet backs up at every now and then. Waiting on the plumber to check the trap or drain.

[@phylliskinder4168]

Ruben, my house was built in the 60's so it's cast iron over the years I've had a plummer use an spinning electric brush kind of thing and I'm out a lot of money . . anything that I can do to fix the bubbling up and overflow when I use my washer ? ? They are in my basement a few feet from each other. . so far if I open the lid several times when the washer is draining it keeps the overflow at a minimun.

[@tjshively01]

What about a cast iron one? How can I remove the badly rusted cover?

[@Mysteriously_Me]

I have cast iron pipes. Every time i run water through my kitchen sink the garage floor drain floods. Ive snaked both the sink drains and have tried to snake the floor drain but it wont go in but maybe 6 inches. The overflow on the floor drain is pretty much cemented on there and i cant get it off to snake it. Any tips or tricks to get that thing off?

[@aniketmangla6151]

Nice video, thank, what if water level is even above of cleanout plug but never over flow, maintain that level most of time , but it's above the top of cleanout plug? in my case, U trap and cleanout plug are inside a pit, and pit is 70% filled , but not overflowing.

[@victormartiny7599]

Thanks again !!

[@kayecorr396]

You are the only guy I could actually understand when describing everything you did.. here's my issue.. our floor drain started draining really really slow.. and only comes up out of the drain when the washing machine drains.. have no idea how the water from the washing machine gets to the drain..( like..is it a straight pipe to the drain under the concrete, or does it go under the concrete and shoot up and then back down again.). Because we can take showers, wash dishes, etc.. and none of that water backs up, so I don't think the clog is in the sewer line going outside.. I'm guessing that the problem is the trap underneath is flipping clogged.. I'm glad I won't have to pay for that if they have to pull up concrete.. but wish I could figure out how to make it drain quicker like it used to.

[@bjmsamrlm]

The volume and velocity of water discharged by your washing machine likely are higher than your dishwasher or shower and can't get past the clog fast enough to avoid backing up through your system's lowest drain.

[@sharonh5399]

Mine started that way but then as time went on it happened when bathing and showering. The main line was plugged.

[@brandonmiller1954]

Great video Reuben! Thanks for doing it. I'm curious as to when did cleanouts in floor drains become standard? I assume there was a time when this wasn't a thing.

[@drummingbad9358]

Might want to ad to top off the trap as needed (mineral oil on top) if sewer gas smell a thing

[@MorganMakesThings]

My floor drain looks nothing like this. From what I can tell, it's just a 4" pipe going straight down. I think I need to have the floor opened up and have the whole thing re-done, but I can't afford it. It backs up (thankfully) clean water that seems to originate from the shower drain and the washing machine (not from outside the house) every time we have a lot of rain/snowmelt. Given that it never seems to have water going DOWN it, I'd rather get rid of it entirely than have it re-done, so I have the option later to finish my basement. In the mean time, I got ordered on of those backflow prevention drains, and I'm going to try installing it. I don't know what else to do.

[@cindyk4145]

So i have a floor drain that was plugged, and when i run my washing machine the water comes up from the big plug at the bottom, so i had to take off the little cleanout plug so the water wld drain out. Whats wrong here? This floor drain has been plugged since i bought the house 30yrs ago. Is the trap clogged and the plug is bad?? Why does it only happen when my washing machine drains???

[@golfish8589]

My floor drain has a float. How do we clean this type? The water is not draining.

[@richardmays6755]

How do you fix a flood drain? I’m having a problem with my flood drain backing up with roots in it. Some plumbers are telling me is broke in there and I need to buzz up my floor. How do I fix a flood drain

[@andyteri777]

What if it's still full when you remove the plug?

[@EliteAmmunition]

What do you do if the clog is in the trap on the side of the cleanout, main line is fine, but due to the angle of the cleanout I can't get down to the back of the trap.

[@stevem1081]

Unless it's concrete in the line, several options should work. With the cleanout cap on, a plunger may work, a snake should push it or one of the bladders that hook to a garden hose, or even one of the pump-up air blasters. If I don't get it with a plunger, I get out the jetter. If you have a pressure washer, you can order a jetter hose for around 50.00 and clear lots of lines.

[@nancysauter6739]

What if it doesn’t have a plug?

[@azam7405]

My floor drain backs up when our washing machine wash cycle starts to drain. When I snake it there is no clogs. What can this issue be?

[@sunkorg]

@azam7405 I have this same issue. I'm speculating that mine might be a lack of ventilation from the stacks. I suspect something similar with yours. Without proper air ventilation, the running water causes pressure changes, creating a vacuum and forcing the water upward. Nowadays our stacks vent up through the roof. From what I understand, older homes vented through a "Syracuse mushroom vent" that was basically a cast iron pipe sticking out of the ground from your sewer line and capped with a little metal "hat" to keep rain and debris out. Its purpose was to equalize the pressure. Many years later, these ground stacks got destroyed or buried over by people who didn't realize their purpose.

[@stevem1081]

If it used to let all the water drain, but now it backs up, it could be 1 or several issues. Could be roots in the line, could be grease dirt build up in the line, could be the drain field(if you have a septic tank) like sunkorg said, could be ventilation issues, I have seen vent pipes full of pine straw, leaves and whatever. Regular augers can go down a line and just poke a hole in a clog, so water will drain, but slowly, without having a camera to see down the line, or running a jetter or a bigger head on the auger, you are stuck with a slow drain.