Shower drain backs up, "burps" when sink basin drains, toilet fine

[Jackson.Browne]

In my apartment, the bathroom has always been a source of consternation. The shower drain has backed up for years now often to the point where the water level in the tub reaches above the ankle and takes at least a half hour to drain out.

I've spent copious amounts of money on drain unclogger, but to no avail. Here is the layout. Drain, sink and toilet all share a main wall and main line. toilet works just fine.

When the sink drains, the shower drain "burps" and the water level i the pipe rises before moving down again.

I removed the drain stopper from the overflow valve, but still, could not get the snake to pass GO. It was just a spring mechanism. no stopper at the end. Is the stopper piston stuck at the bottom?
the snake also wont pass through the drain either no matter how much finagling. What can I do? As it is an apartment building there are no adjoining walls uppon which to inspect it. I'm a bit worried, but fed up.

What are my options? Is the stopper stuck in on the bottom? Will it be expensive to hire a professional?

[pushkins]

No matter how they advertise on TV about drain cleaners I'm yet to see or hear of any that clear blockages, sure they will clean out gunk stuck to the inside of the pipe but a blockage is a different story all together.
The toilet works fine as it is feeds directly into the main stack (large diameter pipe) the sink drain is a 1 1/2" (maybe 1 1/4" if older) and usually feeds into the shower line (downstream of the shower's P trap) which is a 2" line and then this line feeds into the stack.
The shower drains slow and burps when the sink is used indicates that the blockage is downstream of the shower/sink drain connection, from the shower unit (bath tub) drain or overflow it is almost impossible to snake as basically you have two 90 degree bends before you get to the p trap. Your best bet is to remove the P trap from the sink and run the snake down the sink drain line from inside the vanity.
Hope this helps.

[HayZee518]

tub drain

the tub drain is a sharp ninety degree bend that goes to a special T which has the stopper slug. if you remove the overflow plate the linkage to the slug should pull the brass slug out with it. if just the linkage comes out, you may be able to snake a coat hanger with a hook in the end into the overflow pipe and snag the stopper, now pull it out and re-fasten it to the linkage wire. the exit from this T will either take another ninety degree elbow or go straight down to an elbow and on to your waste line in the side of the toilet waste line. this is called a main T with side inlet.

[LazyPup]

Quote,"As it is an apartment building there are no adjoining walls uppon which to inspect it"

As it is an apartment building we must first discuss the legalities before proceeding to the solution. If it is in fact an apartment and you are renting or leasing the space you legally cannot make any repairs or cause any repairs to be made by a third party without the expressed written consent of the property owner. The bottom line, if you are a tenant call the landlord and insist they correct the problem...If they give you a bunch of lip service tell them if it is not corrected in a reasonable time you will be forced to call the board of health and I can assure you that will get their attention.

On the other hand, if this is an apartment building that has gone condo where each respective tenant has purchased their individual apartment, then you are the property owner for that space and you may make necessary repairs within that space, but you may not make any repairs, or cause any repairs to be made to the communal portions of the structure such as the main drain lines outside of your living space.

Now lets assume for the moment that you have purchased the apartment and you can legally make the repairs.

Generally the drain riser in the wall behind the lavatory is also the vent for the whole bathroom group, lavatory, tub and watercloset. Inside the wall behind the lavatory there is a vertical drain line and there is a tee at the point where the line stubs out to your lavatory. The line from the tee out to your lavatory is called the "fixture arm", the line below that tee is defined as a combined "waste & vent" which means it serves as both the drain for the lav and when the lav is not being used it serves as the vent for the other fixtures. From the top of that tee there is a vent line that rises & ultimately goes to the roof, although it may be combined with other vents before penetrating through the roof.

Judging from your description I think you have a twofold problem, but relatively easy to resolve. First off, as you already found out, the linkage from your stopper control handle on the overflow cover has disconnected and fallen down. Normally that would cause the stopper to fall into the closed position where the tub would not drain, but I suspect yours may be stuck partially closed, which accounts for the sluggish flow when using the shower, however you also stated that the tub drain burps when you run water at the lavatory, which is indicating there is a semi-permiable blockage somewhere in the shower line downstream from where the lav line joins it. As the water draining from the lav fills the line the air in the line is pushed ahead, and normally it would go on the to 3" line from the Watercloset. In this case the partial blockage in the tub drain line is causing that air to build up and it is relieving pressure by burping back through the tub drain.

You need to begin by getting the stopper out of the tub drain. As Hazee already mentioned above, get a piece of stiff wire (an old wire coat hanger is perfect) about two feet long and bend a short hook on the end of the wire. Push the wire down the overflow pipe until it is about 3" to 5" below the bottom of the tub and begin jiggling it up and down until you feel it catch, then carefully pull upwards and the stopper and wire linkage will come up. The actual stopper looks like a piece of brass or PVC tubing.

Once you have the stopper out you can insert a light weight wire snake in the line and push it through till you clear the obstruction.

You can get inexpensive wire snakes at any hardware or home supply center. They are made in 1/4" 15' or 20' & 3/8"X25'. I much prefer the 3/8" x 25' but either way, you can expect to pay about $10 or less and they last forever.