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A curious combination of events this morning.
1. went downstairs and found half the basement flooded.
2. But it was clean water.
3. With some research (and mopping up) realized that it was from the humidifier on the furnace. It drains into the floor drain, but, the floor drain was full of water (hmmm?) so there was no place to go but up. literally.
4. So, a little more research revealed that there was a blockage (not quite 100%) in the drain pipe from the stack on the north side of the house to the one on the south side. which meant the house bathrooms were fine but not the apartment or the laundry.
5. Ended up renting a very cool 50' snake from Home Depot - automatic feed - amazing! and managed to blow out the clog.
6. In the midst of this discovered the anti backflow unit in the aforementioned drain didn't work so dirty water could flow out of the drain into the basement. Replaced it as well.
so, to recap. Yes I had a flood but it was clean water and in cleaning up I managed to clear a clog which could have caused a dirty water or even sewer water into the basement which would have been so very much worse.
Oh and the whole thing - rental, new valve etc etc was less than $100. Not sure I could have found a plumber who would have pulled into my driveway for less than $100.
So yes, a nuisance but could have been so much worse and the added bonus was that I pitched a bunch of 1/2 bags of grout and other cr*p that should have gone years ago but now that it was wet....
1. went downstairs and found half the basement flooded.
2. But it was clean water.
3. With some research (and mopping up) realized that it was from the humidifier on the furnace. It drains into the floor drain, but, the floor drain was full of water (hmmm?) so there was no place to go but up. literally.
4. So, a little more research revealed that there was a blockage (not quite 100%) in the drain pipe from the stack on the north side of the house to the one on the south side. which meant the house bathrooms were fine but not the apartment or the laundry.
5. Ended up renting a very cool 50' snake from Home Depot - automatic feed - amazing! and managed to blow out the clog.
6. In the midst of this discovered the anti backflow unit in the aforementioned drain didn't work so dirty water could flow out of the drain into the basement. Replaced it as well.
so, to recap. Yes I had a flood but it was clean water and in cleaning up I managed to clear a clog which could have caused a dirty water or even sewer water into the basement which would have been so very much worse.
Oh and the whole thing - rental, new valve etc etc was less than $100. Not sure I could have found a plumber who would have pulled into my driveway for less than $100.
So yes, a nuisance but could have been so much worse and the added bonus was that I pitched a bunch of 1/2 bags of grout and other cr*p that should have gone years ago but now that it was wet....