There are blocked drains that can be quickly fixed with a plunger or some Drano, and then there are drains that block up again and again, no matter what you do. These drains, too, can be unclogged and fixed for good, and there's a good chance you can do it yourself. The DIY experts at Q&A network Stack Exchange offer answers on unblocking chronically clogged plumbing.
romkyns Asks:
I suspect the blockage occurs somewhere beyond the trap, because washing machine water sometimes comes out the bathtub drain. I have used foaming and non-foaming drain unblockers. This has just been money down the drain. I've also tried a plunger and a snake, neither of which have worked.
Is there something else I can try or is it time to call a professional?
Voodoo Answers:
One thing I'd suggest before springing for a professional: Get a drum auger (pictured at right) that attaches to a drill. It's a plumbing snake that is wrapped up in a drum. You attach the base to a cordless drill then it has a trigger that slowly, but forcefully spins the snake down the pipe.
I have an old house with pipes that get easily clogged and this has been a revelation. It works vastly better and is much easier to use than a hand snake. I've found that it gets around bends in pipes that i could never quite manage with the hand snake. They run around $30 or so and have certainly saved me hundreds. Plus it's strangely satisfying to pull a mass of gunk out of your bathtub drain.
Remember to never use snakes on toilets though.
kkeilman Answers:
One additional quick check?make sure your vents aren't plugged (or you have proper venting for your drain plumbing). That can cause drains to run really slow, and for drain water to back up through areas of low restriction.
Jay Bazuzi Answers:
When drain water from one fixture comes back out another fixture, it means your blockage is beyond the point where those drains meet. You need to get a good look at the topology of your waste plumbing, to get some ideas about where the blockage is. Clothes washer to bathtub is a common symptom, because the clothes washer drains a lot of water up high (it has a pump) and the tub drain is down low. Snaking down a drain is really hard, because of all the curves of the P-trap. If you're lucky, you have a clean-out somewhere, like under the house or behind a wall. Otherwise, you can try removing a P-trap to get the snake in, or removing a toilet. Removing a toilet is not very hard, but can be daunting.
We had a similar problem in this house. There were a few clean-outs accessible in the crawlspace, and our landlord used a hand-held snake in them, but didn't have much luck. They hired a professional plumber. He pulled a toilet out and ran a huge snake down the drain (not one of the handheld units, but a huge, loud, floor-standing model heavy-duty cable). After running all 75' out, he borrowed another snake from his colleague, for 150' of snaking. This is a single-story house, on a 50'-wide lot, so the snake was well in to the street! He said he pulled out a lot of roots. This is apparently common in older plumbing. They develop a small leak, and nearby plants grow after the nutrient-rich water, and find their way into the pipe. It took him about 4 hours.
Plumbing is simple. There aren't a lot of rules to follow. Everything works in obvious ways. You don't need a lot of expensive, complicated tools, and if you do need something big, you can rent it. Anyone can fix plumbing. But it can also be unpleasant. Screw-on connections may be rusted in place?hacksawing is often easier. There's the spectre of old poop and hair. Things may be difficult to reach?in a cabinet behind a sink basin or in a muddy crawlspace full of rat droppings.
If the job takes a few days, and you're unaccustomed to living without plumbing, it can be a trying time. Especially if there's a whole family in the house, and they aren't sympathetic. A pro will get the job done much faster, since they arrive with the right tools, parts, and experience. There's a lot of instructions out there, on the internet, at the library, at the hardware store. If you decide to get your feet wet (get it? ha ha) then you will be able to find the information you need.
Illustration by Sean Gallagher.
Find more answers at the original post here. See more questions like this at Home Improvement, the DIY site at Stack Exchange. And of course, feel free to ask your own.
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