washer outlet overflowing

[Frankies Girl]

Just had to bail out a full washer load of water as the water was spouting out like a fountain from the outflow drain. Squeezed out the excess water in the bathtub and now drying the clothes.

But hey, at least the floor has been washed.

Ran some hot water down the outflow to see if it could clear it, but water still fountains out. If you shut it down quickly, it drains, but gurgles as it does, just not fast enough to keep up with the washing machine. We're in city limits with a house built in the 1980s, and looks like regular PVC pipes. Also, our temps have been in the 50-60s but we're expecting a drop in the high 20s come Monday.

We're figuring that either it's got a partial clog in the line, or the main vent on the roof is clogged. The sink nearby drains slowly, but it does drain. We normally use cold water only for all washing and a neighbor just gave us samples of some gel packs that I started using about 5 loads ago, so I'm wondering if there's something about the build up of this new soap and the fact that it was strictly cold water might have caused some gunge, as this has never happened before, and the new soap was the only thing that has changed.

We have a VERY steep pitched roof, and neither one of us feels comfortable getting up there ourselves to blast the air vent, as we know that the roof decking is thinner than normal according to the roofers and neither one of us are exactly dainty. And then there's the fact that both of us are klutzy.

So any suggestions for clearing the line from the inside of the house, or idea how much this could cost if we call in a plumber?

And just how much should I worry about the part of the wall that got soaked? It is inside the house, so the heater running may have an influence on how fast the drywall part will dry out, but I'm wondering if I should be super concerned since it technically was soapy water and it's not like it's been constantly soaked - just a 5 minute blast while we ran in there to shut the washer down.

[Greg]

First thing is I wouldn't worry too much about the wall getting temporarily wet, but put a fan on it to help dry it out.

From the sounds of it, the vent is probably fine and you have a clog downstream of the laundry and sink, possibly where they join.  If you remove the trap from under the sink, you can snake the drain using a hand-crank plumbing snake and probably unclog it.  The new soap and cold water are likely coincidental to the problem occurring when it did.

[Abe]

I agree on both points. The water splash on the wall is not significant. Try to unclog the line with a plumber snake, you can buy these at hardware stores. Be sure to run the snake both upstream and downstream.

[Frankies Girl]

thanks to both of you - you were right. It was a clog caused by powdered detergent and general sludge/fuzz/hair. The new soap was liquid, so definitely just a coincidence. I used to use powder detergent up until about last year, and I still occasionally use borax powder, but that's done now too.

We did end up calling out a plumber to do the work as we weren't sure it wouldn't be a roof type of deal, and while it cost $150, we're happy that it wasn't more serious, and now we know if it ever happens again that we could take care of it ourselves.

The plumber told us that the way our house (and most houses built in the area during the 80s/90s) ran the pipes and sizing on the connections, that using powder detergent in the laundry or the dishwasher is bad, and running most stuff through the garbage disposal will eventually clog up the lines and told us we were lucky it took us 10 years as he had some customers they had to snake out clogs like this every year. He also said to never run eggshells down the disposal after he saw the mess they cause (he recently started using video feeds down lines, and said it created a messy blockage). He was telling us lots of tips to keep from having this happen again.

[Greg]

Nice to hear it was a relatively easy fix.  I use powdered dishwasher detergent, but liquid laundry detergent.  Hopefully we never have to deal with this. 

Tangential:
We do our bedding wash on hot-hot, turning the temp up to 140ºF for those loads only (on demand heater control makes it easy) so maybe that will help.