Plumbing problem

[Dude]

symptoms:

1. occasonally slow drain in standup shower & sink 2. can hear toilet flush in sink 3. sink & toilet on flr 1,stanup shower on flr 2 share stack 4. low hot water pressure on certain faucets but not sink or shower.( may not be atrributed to slow drain trbl, very old house, built in 1920's, but possibly remodelled twice). 5. very low pressure on toilet, takes forever to fill up.

what's the problem & solution? Is it a clogged stack or something else? sink does have a brand new p trap. the sink & toilet on 1st flr is very seldom used, but the shower is very often used,

[William W. Plummer]

Interesting puzzle. I believe we can separate the drain problems from the supply problems. I can't really help with the latter.

As for the drain side, you need to tell us whether this is a septic system or a city sewer. If it's a septic system, get it pumped out. If that doesn't help, get a roto-router job done. That might fix it, but if the problems return, the drain pipe may have collapsed and all the router did was chew threw the dirt around the pipe. (This was exactly what happened to me and caused several years of problems before I figured it out.)

The other thing to check out is the vent. Is there one? Is it clogged? You might have to get up on the roof with a snake to clear the vent. Maybe there is a more elegant way, but that will work.

If all that fails, look in the Yellow Pages under "drains". One time I gave up and called one of these. 2 hours and $75 later the problem was solved.

[Joseph Meehan]

It sounds like the stack needs to be checked for blockage above, and more likely consider doing some re-design.

Yea, it is not attributable to the drain system. It likely means you have a good build up inside the pipes. Be ready for some serious replacement. It really depends on the type of pipe and local water conditions, but you may need a fair amount of pipe replaced soon or expect leaks.

Partly closed or blocked shut off valve or defective fill valve. Also see above answer to #4

It sounds like you have several different problems. While we could guess and give you some ideas of what to check, it is going to be a long list and it may not include what is really wrong. These type of problems can usually be figured out quickly by a plumber on site. I suggest you hire one.