dishwasher wont drain

[jen22]

My dishwasher keeps draining into my sink, and my sink takes forever to drain the water. I dont know what to do and I would like to try and fix this problem on my own instead of calling a repairman.. Please help!!

[LazyPup]

When you say the dishwasher is running into the sink i presume the dishwasher is connected to the sink drain line and the water is backing up into the sink as it drains.

The good news is that the pump and drain line from the dishwasher are fine, and the hose must be connected in a high loop correctly, otherwise the water would not stand in the sink, but would backflow back to the dishwasher.

In this case the problem is a stopped up drain line from the sink.

Plunging a sink drain with a dishwasher attached can be a bit tricky as the force of the plunger will be lost in the dishwasher line.

If you have a double sink with a garbage disposal here is a trick. Fill the sink on the disposal side about half full of water, then turn the disposal on while rapidly plunging on the opposite sink. The combined force of the disposal pumping action and the plunger will often quickly clear a drain line.

Whenever you plunge a double sink, you must plug the opposite drain, otherwise the pressure of the plunger is vented out the second sink drain and has no effect on the pipe below. The easy method is to use two plungers, one to cover one drain, while plunging in the convention manner on the other. If you do not have two plungers you can cover one drain with a large wad of wet rags to seal the pressure while plunging the other side.

When you have a dishwasher you must take steps to prevent loosing the plunger pressure back down the dishwasher line as well. If the dishwasher drain line is a rubber hose you can have an assistant fold the rubber hose into a U shape, then hold it tight to block that line while you plunge in the above manner.

If your dishwasher drain line is a corrugated plastic line do not pinch it off as above. Instead, place a bucket under the connection for the dishwasher line and dissassemble the line from the drain. Have your assistant cover the dishwasher drain port on the drain line with a wad of wet rags and try plunging as before.

If none of the above works, move the bucket under the P-trap and dissassemble the P-trap. You may find the clog in the trap. If so, remove it, re-assemble the trap and run some water in the sink to try the drain.

If the drain is still sluggish, again remove the P-trap and snake the line with a 3/8 x 20foot plumbers wire snake. (Looks like a 20 foot long screendoor spring.)

In most instances by the time you have done these procedures you will have corrected your problem. If not, post again and we will discuss how to snake the main line.