Speed up a slow drain??

Any suggestions?? I've tried the drain cleaners but they only work for a few days before it gets slow again..

Install a larger diameter trap, or take the trap out and clean all the hair out of it manually.

If you have any flow, pour several gallons of near boiling down the drain. If you have a small air compressor or tank you can try blowing out the clog. Put the nozzle into the drain and surround it with a rag to catch any blow back. The sink can be partially filled with water, too.

Otherwise, disassembly or mechanical cleaning will be necessary. Perhaps a professional plumber has some better advice, but you might get lucky if the clog isn't too tight. If this is a regular occurrence, check the pitch of the drain line to see that it isn't close to horizontal in part of it.

All the above, but sounds like you may have some sort of solid obstruction or protrustion that's catching hair, etc.

If you do try to blow or plunge it out, remember there's probably some type of overflow hole around the rim of the sink or somewhere and that must be blocked as well. Wet rags generally work ok.

I vote to disassemble and clean.

Ahhh the JOYS of plumbing! Be prepared for things to break, especially with plumbing. Also you have to make sure your sink etc is vented too or it will never drain correctly. This usually isn't a problem but it can bite you. Watch for bubbles coming up through the drain.
Be prepared for black smelly gunk too.

I'm a licensed plumber. Is it a lavatory (hand sink) or a kitchen drain? The most effective solution is usually mechanical cleaning (augering). The increasing trap size is a bad idea as you will simply create a constriction later in the line where the pipe must inevitably reduce in size. Near-boiling water can be effective, but of course, be careful!

Compressed air and plunging will only help if the clog is between the vent and the fixture. If it's past the vent, the pressure will simply escape through the vent.

It's a bathtub/shower..

I'd rather not get under the house to take the trap off if I can avoid it. It's not completely clogged or anything, but it's definitely not moving fast like the sinks do..

Making matters worse, it has a stopper on top that I can't figure out how to get off.. it looks like it would screw off, but it doesn't.. If I could get it off, I'd run a snake down there, but the snake won't fit with the stopper on there..

Would not hurt to get some of that enzyme powder that you mix with water, and pour it down there. Available at Home Depot, etc. Listen first though to the licensed plumber, not me.

ACMarina said:

It's a bathtub/shower......Making matters worse, it has a stopper on top that I can't figure out how to get off.. it looks like it would screw off, but it doesn't.. ......

Click to expand...

I have a shower that had a stopper that seemed to screw in but wasn't. It actually had a set screw underneath holding it on. If your's is similar; with the stopper fully raised, you should be able to get a screwdriver in there to loosen the screw.

Hawkeye's the pro here, but it may be that the "popup" stopper system has failed, which is very common with older plumbing. This is the system of levers and shaft that open/close the drain with the little lever at the overflow fixture (generally on the tub somewhere under the faucet.). The lever end or the lifting rod corrode allowing parts to fall down into the drain. Unless you can access it through the wall behind the fixture, sounds like an under-the-house adventure.

You might try a cleaning snake down the vent on the roof. Then you'll have an on-top-the house adventure. Generally tubs aren't vented straight to the roof, so that might not be feasible.

Good luck.

im no expert at all but i did stay in a holiday in last night.last time i had drain issues i took aprt my plubing it was amazeing what was in there the main culprit was straws .have no idea how they got in there i dont drink with em

I used to pour the draino down the tub with usually just moderate and temporary results. Then one day I took the trap off and with a pair of needle nose pliers and cutters, carefully removed all the tangled hair and it since has drained quite well.

If you're looking for something to pour down the drain I would 3rd or 4th the near boiling hot water. My uncle who is a plumber swears by "Thrift". In our first house it works like magic, I have no idea what's in it, but it works. I gave some to some people here at work with older homes and now they all use it when they have an issue.

I once used drain cleaner & boiling water in a clogged sink, the waste pipes underneath (Plastic) leaked a little, and messed up my under sink cupboard, so be careful.

They may not have been fully tight before application.

I like the KISS approach. I take a very wet rag and block off the overflow/vent. In the tub/shower it's usually at the bottom of the fitting for the lever that operates the drain stopper. Run some water into the tub/shower after blocking off the drain with a plunger and then after the water is a few inches deep, plunge away. Lift the plunger for a moment to let a little water down the drain and plunge again keeping the water level a few inches inches deep. Remember that it's the suction action that tends to do the most good so it's the upstroke that's actually most effective. You must maintain a good seal with the wet rag at the overflow all the while you are plunging.

Yes, you should see some nasty looking gunk coming up. After plunging a few times I remove the catch and use a piece of thin coat hanger to carefully scrap out any hair, gunk, etc. Put the catch back on and run some very, very hot water through the drain and that usually does the trick. The hot water should be hotter than what you can get out of the tap -- time to put the kettle on.

Be careful if you have used any drain cleaner recently as it might back up and splash. That would be a bad thing. Better to run water through the drain for several minutes after you've used a chemical.

If that doing this doesn't work then one of two things is most likely going on. First the clog is further down the line. Time to get a snake. The other problem could be a blocked vent tube. In most newer homes the vent tube is a piece of PVC that rises out of the plumbing system and sticks out of the roof. Lots of things can end up clogging the vent, even bird nests. Clearing a vent like that is not an amateur job.

Bigiron's right, a common problem is an overflow/stopper failure. Additionally, there are two ways to auger the drain. The preferred way is through the overflow. Remove the two (sometimes one, but rare) screws holding the escutcheon/trim on. Then, if it's a trip-lever type stopper, gently pull up. You'll see a double flat rod of sorts connected to an adjustable piece of what looks like thread rod. Connected to that is a brass (sometimes plastic) cylinder that serves as a stopper. Then, snake down the overflow. This solves most issues. However, hair will also collect in the tailpiece that goes from the actual tub drain to the tee that connects to the overflow. Most hardware store, including Home Depot, carry an inexpensive drain tool that looks like a long zip tie (panduit strap) with little barbs on it. That tool is great for clearing hair out of the tailpiece.

Let us know how it goes.

Wow --


I'll hafta' try that "boiling water" tip.


Sounds like a winner. :thumbsup:

_

Boiliing water will do 99% of what the commercial caustic cleaners say they will do and it's way easier on the plumbing. It will temporarily expand PVC, so you might see a few drops of leakage but those should go away. You might also cause some loosening and leakage in PVC with cleanout tools. That should stop with a little tightening after it cools.

Commercial drain cleaners do get a jump on the gunk in the waste pipes and the trap. This is important to prevent the breeding of drain flies and to help start to clear a clogged drain in some cases. So while they are needed all the time they do have their uses.

Hot water and manually clearing the drains are a lot cheaper, just about as effective, and pretty easy once (and if) you learn how to do it the right way.

Here is another idea, and I only say this because it worked for me just about 3 days ago.

We had a slow shower drain on a new house. I removed the grating. I then used a shop vac on the drain pipe.

It pulled out a hunk of concrete, a quart of nasty water, and 2 8" long pieces of duct tape. Drain works very well now.