Area drains clogged
I guess it's no surprise that area drains are not usually plumbed right in the first place, because area
drains are usually installed by a landscaper and not a plumber at all. So it's not a surprise to most plumbers
that they cant be properly cleared with a snake when they are clogged because they aren't plumbed
with directional fittings. You see all drain waste vent (dwv) fittings required and regulated by the uniform plumbing
code have sweeps in them as shown below. Drain fittings for gardening do not have to be scrutinized in this
way so you end up with something less than proper (in the eyes of a plumber that is). What I am so brillantly
illustrating here is that if you send a snake through this piping system it does not exit the system to the
street as we would like. The best bet in this scenario is to snake upstream and hope it makes the correct
turn.
