Help! My bathroom drain is clogged

[Joe1]

I am dealing with a stubborn clog in my battub. I've had success in the past with a snake, but that has not yielded results this time around. The results of Liquid plumber are marginal at best. If I pour the liquid and hit the drain with a plunger, it slowly drains the tub, but I am confronted with the same issue next time I run the water.
Does anybody have any suggestions?

 

[bepperb]

What about a sink plunger? You probably have to find a way to plug the overflow.

 

[TallPaul]

Partly depends on the bathtub drain configuration. I pull the stopper out periodically and yank gobs of women hair off of it (guy hair short and goes through system). But the lever that actuates the drain goes down behind and once I pulled that out from it's hole (also the overflow hole) and found massive collection of wound up women hair on the spring, pulled it off, and drain worked like new. Too bad hair does not seem to rot, or it could be self correcting.

 

[demarpaint]

How far down the drain are you snaking?

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Get a barbed snake. It will pull out all that hair at once.

 

[Joe1]

I've gone down pretty far, several feet I'd estimate. Someone mentioned to me that there is a good chance that I am running hte snake up the vent instead of hte drain.

 

[gman2304]

Joe, I'm certainly no plumber but I have had success with accessing the clean out in my sewer line in my basement to clear the drain. If you don't have a basement the clean out plug should be in your crawl space. I treat my system drains and toilets every couple months with an enzyme powder I get at Home Depot. So far it has worked for me. It's called 'DrainCare' and made by ZEP. Good Luck,G

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Joe1

I've gone down pretty far, several feet I'd estimate. Someone mentioned to me that there is a good chance that I am running hte snake up the vent instead of hte drain.


That's a strong possibility. I had a problem with a bath sink and found that I had 2 clogs, one at about 10' the other about 15+ feet. Once you determined that you're actually snaking the drain and not the vent try going further.

You can also get liquid plumber. Pour it in let it sit for the recommended amount of time, and flush it down with hot water that is close to boiling. Just be careful not to get burnt.

 

[Doog]

Get a liquid drain cleaner with hair clog disolver. Let it sit a few hours and fill the tub full with hot water and then pull the stopper.

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: Doog
Get a liquid drain cleaner with hair clog disolver. Let it sit a few hours and fill the tub full with hot water and then pull the stopper.


That is usually what I do. Mentioned above, ZEP makes a good one for hair clogs. Claims 5 minutes but I will typically leave it in for about 8 hours. Put it in before you go to bed. Close the drain and half fill the tub with the hottest water you have. That should flush it out

 

[Smokescreen]

Then after you get the clog out put in a hair strainer.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
Then after you get the clog out put in a hair strainer.


I read that as "put in a hair straighter" ... I thought it was a joke. Whoops.

Can't all of that liquid plumr, etc, eat the pipes?

 

[Smokescreen]

I have been using it in various places where I have lived for over a decade...I believe it targets organic material and should be perfectly safe for pipes. If it were not they would have huge lawsuits on their hands especially in the USA.

 

[JTK]

Ugh.. clogged drains.

Joe, what type of drain lines do you have beyond the tub trap? Plastic, galvanized steel, copper, etc?

I know in my last home, all my drain lines were originally galvanized pipe. What a pain. They get all rusty/flaky on the inside and trap any solid trying to flow through. Over the years I cut out all I could get at, and fernco coupled in plastic pipe. That solved it for me, plus makes easy access should you need to get back in there.

 

[sparky123]

Go to Home Depot's website and lookup "Instant Power" 67.6 oz Hair and Grease Drain Opener. $10.98. 4.9/5 23 Reviews. I've used this last time on our tub and it worked perfectly when other products did nothings. READ the INSTRUCTIONS on the bottle. Potent stuff and will not harm pipes if my memory serves me. Buy this.

 

[Blaze]

My clogs in the past ALWAYS happened at the elbow or gas trap. When we had the remodel done the new plumbing had those clean-out plugs at the bottom of the gas trap elbow you simply unscrew and remove the hair etc with your finger or piece of wire. Never have to use chemicals, snakes or plunging with these.

 

[BigCahuna]

Be careful using chemicals that could splash back on you. If you have one, try using a shop vac with the suction pipe placed tightly over the drain. I've unclogged alot of sinks that way.,,

 

[OVERKILL]

 

[HTSS_TR]

My bathroom drain was partially clogged last week, I used plunger and it fixed the clog. Water drained much faster now.

 

[Rick in PA]

Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
Be careful using chemicals that could splash back on you. If you have one, try using a shop vac with the suction pipe placed tightly over the drain. I've unclogged alot of sinks that way.,,


I've taken to using a shop vac, too. (Make sure there's no chemicals in the drain.) Our tub drain is a fairly clear shot, no pop-up for the drain or pop-up linkage in the pipes, but sometimes it starts to drain slow. I remove the filter from the shop vac first. Then I'll wrap a wet washcloth around the suction pipe to ensure a good seal and use another wet washcloth to seal the tub overflow. The tub overflow is on the bottom side of the lever for the tub stopper. Fill the drain, suck it out and repeat a couple of times. Lots of satisfying slurping sounds. It usually gets a fair amount of gunk out.