Trying to unclog a bathtub drain...?

Question

I watched youtube videos and tried using a plunger while plugging the top portion of the drain. I also have a little hand snake that I tried. Some of the hair did come out of the drain, but it is still slow, and when I try using the snake from either the bottom or the top of the drain, nothing comes out. I've done it last year and it worked, not sure why it's not working now, or if I did something different...help?

Update : It is a drum trap...I think I can't snake that can I?

Answer 1

step 1 is pour drain cleaner into the drain and waiting 30 minutes ,
step 2 is plunge it like crazy , don't be gentle , you want to have some water in the tub if it is still not draining and push up and down on the plunger with a lot of force and speed to get a good suction going and hopefully get the clog to loosen and go down or come out at the top of the drain
if this isn't enough you get a snake that is at least 8 feet long so it can go the length of the tub and past both corners in the pipe to the main drain , those little snakes that are a foot long are useless

finally , if you get clogs frequently you either need to pull the pipe off the bottom of the tub and make sure its clear then snake as far as you can towards the street ( rent a 25 or 50 foot snake ) or you call a plumber who has a camera and check the drain , it could be clogged with roots that grew into the pipe from your hard and if it is the plumber can either use a special snake that cuts roots or he would need to dig up the yard and replace the main drain pipe

I had a toilet that always clogged every 6 months and after almost 2 years finally got a plumber to come in , the drain was filled with roots about 40 feet from the house and the roots colletcted the stuff that got flushed and went down the drains until it backed up and the toilet was the lowest drain so backed up first

Asker's rating & comment

Answer 2

You may need a plumber. It sounds like the clog is further down than you can reach. Try flushing all your drains at the same time and see if it backs up in the bath tub. Make sure you only flush clear water from the commode. Buy or rent a longer snake.

Answer 3

You need to block up the overflow when you use a plunger. otherwise your just pumping water out of the overflow.

Source(s):

Plumber UK