clogged drain Archives - BobsPlumbingVideos.com

So you have a clogged drain, what do you do now? Do you attempt to clear it yourself or do you call in a professional? That could be expensive, so you watch a couple of YouTube videos and decide to give it a go! At the very least you could try the good old baking soda and vinegar trick or take a chance with some of the over counter drain cleaning products. Oh and don’t forget the old reliable plunger!

You keep working on it and after and hour or two you still have a clogged drain. Now what? I bet the clog is in the “P” trap under the sink so I’ll bail out the water, take the trap apart and clear the clog. You remove the trap only to find nothing, you reassemble the drain pipes turn the water on and guess what! Your drain is still clogged. It decision time, should I call the plumber or should try to snake out the drain myself?

This is where people get into trouble, they figure I’ll go out to the home center get an inexpensive drain snake and cable the line myself. You look under the sink at the drain pipe exiting the wall and start cabling away but soon come to realize you’re having trouble getting the snake to go down. What seemed like a simple task has now turned into hours, not the mention the mess and stink from pulling the cable in and out.

Your wife or significant other is begging you to call in a professional and stop the insanity, but you press on only to find out no matter what you do, you can’t clear this clogged drain. You’re not alone, fact is behind the wall there could be any number of piping arrangements that is preventing your snake from going down. In a perfect world there should be a basic “TY” connection facing forward and you should be able to direct your cable straight down the drain. But not being able to see behind the wall, you’re totally stumped!

In the following video I lay out the pitfalls of drain cleaning and point out some reasons you may want to call in a professional to take on a task like this. Speaking for myself, I very rarely dismantle the drain pipes to clear a stoppage. I do it from the top with a professional handheld drain cleaning machine which allows me to run the water and flush the line out once I clear the stoppage. I suggest you watch the video first before you get in over your head!

HAPPY PlUMBING!
Bob

SOFT CLOGS

Although clogged drains come in many flavors, I’m going to be talking specifically about the typical clogged kitchen, lavatory or tub drain.

Should you do it yourself or should you call in a pro?

Well it depends! If it’s a soft stoppage located in the fixture “P” trap a good old fashion plunger generally will get the job done. I like to have the water cover the top of my plunger to insure I don’t allow any air to get sucked into the drain. Rather than push down I like to start in the down position and the pull up briskly to get the maximum suction.

Kitchen sinks are pretty straight forward but on lavatory sinks and bathtubs you have to remember to cover the overflow with a cloth or sponge or the water will just shoot back toward you when you start plunging away.

Again this method will often work when it’s a relatively soft clog in or near the fixture “P” trap. Contrary to what you may see on TV, I can tell you that over my 35 years in the business I can count on one hand how many clogs I’ve found in fixture traps.

For some reason they always end up being 10 feet or farther downstream of the fixture in which case a plunger is not going to help.

DRAIN CLEANERS

OK so the next train of thought might be to go and try some of that popular drain cleaning stuff they advertise on TV.

This sounds all fine and well but again unless the clog is in or close to the fixture trap your trying to clear, you’re just throwing your money down the drain.

For the record I’m not a big fan of throwing harsh chemicals into the plumbing systems, it’s dangerous for you and your plumber. If the clog is 10 feet or farther down the line, the drain cleaner will never reach it. Besides if you look at the instructions on a majority of those drain cleaners, they’ll often say put one or two caps full down the drain and then run the water.

This is just going to dilute the cleaner further in addition to the water that’s already laying in the pipe. If the cause of the clog is grease or soap scum, I prefer using a biological bacteria type cleaner that activates once it’s mixed with water.

The bacteria will eat all the organic matter on the pipe walls leaving it clean as a whistle. These products work best when the water is still flowing and the fixture is not completely clogged. They work incredibly well on grease and soap scum type stoppages.

Now if your stoppage is being caused by hair or perhaps built up scale from the inside of cast iron pipes, it may be time for some mechanical method of clearing the clog aka a SNAKE!

MECHANICAL CLEANING METHODS

Before I speak about snaking a drain, I want to mention that their are tools that utilize air pressure that you can use to clear clogs quite far down the line. But these are expensive tools generally best left to an experienced tradesman.

As a rule by the time I get the call to clear a drain, the homeowner has already worked on it themselves and has surrendered.

First thing I ask is if any drain cleaner has been tried in which the typical response is “NO”. It doesn’t take long for me to find out that in fact a huge amount of drain cleaner was used. How can you tell you may ask?

As I work my snake in and out of the drain it becomes incredibly clean and shiny, not to mention that slimy and burning feel to it as I retrieve back from the drain. If you’re going to use a chemical drain cleaner please be courteous.

For your safety and his, tell your plumber before he attempts to clear the clog. When I use my snake I like to introduce it through the fixture drain directly through the trap and into the drain line. What this does is allows me to run the water once I clear the clog thus flushing out the line thoroughly.

Some plumbers prefer to dismantle the drain pipes under a sink and then proceed to snake the line, but this make no sense to me because their is no way to flush out the line or even tell if they cleared the line. I believe my method takes a little more skill, but results are always superior.

SHOULD YOU SNAKE IT OR CALL A PRO?

This is the way I see it. You can certainly can go out and buy an electric or hand snake which are readily available at most of the big box stores.

They’re not professional grade tools by any means but you could get lucky and get the job done. You can also invest upwards of four hundred dollars in a professional Roto-Rooter drain cleaning machine and have a much better chance of success.

Personally if it’s a soft stoppage close to the fixture in question, I say get a good quality plunger and go for it. On the other hand if you’ve got a tough hair or scale type clog, it’ll be well worth while to call in a professional.

They’re fully equipped to handle all types of stoppages and are certainly prepared if things go south. Do you really want to spend your weekend cleaning a clogged drain?

By the way after I snake a drain line I always recommend introducing some bacterial drain maintenance to thoroughly clean the inside of the pipe. When bacteria based cleaners are used on a monthly basis, the need for future mechanical methods can be kept to minimum.

Hope you enjoyed this article and as always you can reach me at info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.

HAPPY PLUMBING!