100+ year old house - mystery drain...now not work

Hello Folks,

I live in an old house in the country, in the back of the house there is a room that was at one time the kitchen, it is now (an has been for a while) a storage room. In that room is a drain pipe. 15 years ago when I moved in, I hooked up my washing machine to that pipe and life has been good.

Recently however, when the washing machine empties, the water does not drain down the pipe quick enough, and thus I have water overflowing from the drain pipe.

I have tried the usual drain un-cloggers to no avail. Today, I decided to follow the pipe outside and do some digging. The pipe is down pretty deep and slopes at a bit of an angle.

I checked my septic tank and the water does not end up there.

So where does this mystery pipe go?
What type of drainage systems did they use many years ago in a kitchen?
Anyone have any ideas as to how I can get it draining properly again without having to get a 2nd mortgage?


Thank you for your input!

Edited by TrevorWel - 15-Apr-2012 at 6:09pm