Blocked outdoor drain

Louiselody

Hi all. Moved in recently. I put soda crystals and hot water down the kitchen sink regularly. But the outdoor kitchen gully drain has started overflowing. Tried baking powder/vinegar/kettles, then two rounds of drain cleaner. No joy. Got a standard drain rod kit today, and the rod (even sans attachments) wouldn’t go down. It was like there wasn’t a hole at the end of the pipe, just kept scraping against the edges. I’ve seen diagrams where it looks sort of like you have to go down and up. But I couldn’t feel any gap anywhere. Even put my arm in. Could there be a trap? Do I need a snake or auger instead? Anyway I plunged for an hour and got absolutely loads of gunk (leaves, chalky stuff, tape?!) out and it drains a lot better but still not ideal. Anyone know about different types of pipe where there might be a reason I can’t get the rod in? Thanks in advance. 

stuart45

There should be a trap.

Vortigern

That's a gully trap. You will have difficulty getting rods through that. Is there a rodding eye, an inspection cover or a manhole further down the line. My kitchen drain had an inspection cover at each turn in the pipe. After 20 years of washing up by hand the pipe was plugged with fat.

Louiselody

Thanks. There’s a man hole about two feet away but looking inside it didn’t seem blocked. Would I be able to get into it?

greyteam1959

Use the drain rods up the pipe in the manhole towards the gully.

Louiselody

Amazing. Will try tomorrow thanks!

FreeBear

Get a long handled soup ladle and scoop all the crud out of the P trap. A wet'n'dry vac could be used to suck up the last of any gunk. Once clear, tip a bucket of clean water in to refill the trap.

Be careful using those rods, and don't use the 4" plastic disk that often comes with the cheap kits. The disk could pop off the end of the rods get stuck inside the pipe, and then you have a bigger problem to deal with.

marcia_

 Did you pour the soda crystal down then hot water or did you mix it up according to the instructions? 

Bookworm105

the drain rod will not go in for the same reason you could not put one down your toilet, there is a tight U bend at the bottom of your picture 

when you have finished rodding from the other end make sure you fit a cover of some sort over what you show in the picture to prevent stuff falling in there in future.

SteveJW

I use a hosepipe

Remove all attachments

Push down drain as far as it will go

Stand clear and fully turn on tap

Vigorously move hosepipe in and out

Hosepipe is more flexible and will go where a rodding kit will not go, especially if it is a small diameter hose

Works for me

Steve

Vortigern

You can get a drain cleaning attachment for Karcher (and similar) jet washers. Essentially a long stiff hose with backward firing jets at the end. I found a cheap one at Aldi some time ago.