Homeowner Forum / Repair / November 2003

Hi all,

    I've been living in the same home for 25 years now, and have had the
same problem for those 25 years. Every year, my main house sewer trap cloggs up.
For the past 5 years, i've been cleaning it twice a year, and that solves the
problem, but there's got to be a reason why this happens. Many years ago, when I
was still living at home with my parents, we never had this problem.

    My current home is on a septic and a well system. I have the tank pumped
every year, just to be safe. I've never had a septic problem in the 25 years
that I've been here. What happens is that the "house side" of the trap loads up
with a jelly like substance from the cap down until it closes off the main pipe
coming from the house--that's if I let it go for a full year. Every 6 months,
all I have to do, is unscrew the cap and ream it out with a screwdriver and
flush the toilet, and I'm OK for another 6 months. If I don't do this, it cloggs
up.

    We used to use powdered laundry & dishwasher soap, but we switched to
liquid--no difference. One other thing--my trap is different than most of the
traps I've seen--both caps are NOT horizontal and parallel to each other--one
cap (street side) is level, and the other cap (house side) is at about a 30
degree angle. This probably explains why the jelly builds up on the house side
of the trap, but it DOES NOT explain why the jelly itself builds up. ANY IDEAS
OUT THERE ???

                                                                  Thanks,

                                                                    RON
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                 Ron Goldstein.....KA2IIA
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