New York, NY on Nov 29, 2011

My 80-year-old landlady refuses to call a plumber (NYC slumlords are AWESOME!!!) and we have done everything but snake

the very slow bathtub drain. I plunge it on a daily basis (helps a little) and we have done both Drano and vinegar (not at the same time...duh). The time has come to buy a snake and DIY this drain clog. What is the best, cheapest choice of HAND drain auger? We do own a power drill, so we could buy a power auger, but I prefer hand tools when possible. Thanks!

11 Comments

Woodbridge Environmental ... Colonia, NJ

You must be real careful when using a snake for the tub. The older homes as you live in used lead pipes for the tub traps and they can be punched through quite fast when using a snake. And not knowing what type you have can put you at risk for an expensive repair.
I would suggest if you used a plunger that you seal off the vent overflow on the tub when using it. If you have a lever that you turn to stop the water from flowing out of the tub, that you ...»
remove it as well. Quite often the plunger/stopper that is connected to the end of the lever prevents the hair clog from fulling clearing. By removing the lever and the associated stopper connected at the end, this will give you a much larger pipe opening and remove any restriction within the pipe and hopefully allow the water to be cleared using the plunger. Use a wet rag in the hole where the air vent is located so the plunging will push the water down the drain and not up the vent/stopper hole.
The use of Drano is ok, but you can purchase much stronger stuff at Home Depot, They sell products that ideally only a professional should be using, but they do have them. If you go into the plumbing isle where they sell these products you will see them in black plastic bottles covered in plastic bags for additional safety. This stuff will burn you. So when using it wear glasses and plastic gloves. Ideally you should pour this down the drain and let it sit for several hours. It will eat any hair or organic material that is in the drain where it sits. So if the trap to the tub is the issue, this will work. If it does not, then the issue is farther down the drain where a simple hand snake will not work. I use this stuff every few months down our washing machine drain. As my wife washes horse blankets during the winter and we get a lot of hair clogs as a result. I normally put down a fair amount down the drain and leave it over night without using any water in that drain line. In the morning I pour boiling water down the drain and it clears the slow drain right away.

on Nov 29, 2011 · Like 2
Chaya K New York, NY

WOW! Thanks! OK, I will start with the industrial strength Drano. If not, it sounds like I should call a plumber.

on Nov 29, 2011 · Like 0
Hewitt Remodeling Service... Virginia Beach, VA

Chaya,
I agree with Bob... do not attempt to use a snake nor give the friendly landlord any legitimate excuse to point a finger at you and claim you caused damage to the property. What initially makes sense that you are doing a favor can quickly turn around and bite you. Using readily available consumer drain cleaning products fall under the reasonable man approach.....

on Nov 29, 2011 · Like 2
KMS Woodworks Nederland, CO

Plunging with out covering the over flow is a waste of elbow grease. Most older drains use a "plug" that rides up and down the vertical overflow pipe...this is a hollow piece that allows water to flow through but is cylindrical and covers the the outlet of the horizontal drain run. This can be removed by taking off the over flow cover / lever assembly. It most cases 95% of the hairballs are clogged around this. ...»

http://www.homerepairforum.com/images/upload...
I have used a small dia 1/4" snake here with great success this is a small hand powered unit that can be finessed with out too much worry about breaking through old pipes. Mine is 25 feet long and very rarely do I need to go out past 5-6 feet.
Another option is the "zip -it" tool...this is a thin plastic rod that has "teeth" this is inserted and then pulled out the "teeth" grab the hair balls.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s...
Instead of the nasty chemical route about 4 gallons of boiling water can also loosen things up
on Nov 30, 2011 · Like 2
Chaya K New York, NY

KMS: Interestingly, our drain lever is almost non-functional. I think the first step will be for me to remove it and clean out the hair ball that might be inside it. And I hear you all loud and clear -- I will not snake it myself, given the age of the house.

on Dec 01, 2011 · Like 0
Woodbridge Environmental ... Colonia, NJ

You can purchase new levers at most big box stores. Most likely not only is the plug blocking the pipe, but quite often the spring device on the back of the lever normally rusts out and becomes damaged in short order. They are pretty much universal so its not hard to find them to fit.

on Dec 01, 2011 · Like 0
Caroline G New York, NY

I live in NYC too and between the old pipes in my building and my long hair, my bathtub gets clogged easily. Drano works but I prefer as less chemical solution so I found this online a while back and it's worked pretty well for me: try 1/2 cup of baking soda followed by 1/2 cup of vinegar (just be careful of the fumes!)
Also, prevention will go a long way. Cleaning out the hair after ever shower definitely helps.

on Dec 01, 2011 · Like 0
Tamara K

Send your demand for repair to her in writing and give her 2-weeks to fix it. In your letter tell her if she doesn't respond/repair within 2-weeks you are going to call a plumber yourself and have it repaired, then you can legally deduct the cost of repairs from your rent that month. (Paralegal here who did exactly this with her former landlord.)

on Dec 01, 2011 · Like 0
Chaya K New York, NY

Yes, we use a metal screen drain guard to stop hair from going down the drain. I tried the baking soda and vinegar first -- actually twice -- but it did not work.

on Dec 01, 2011 · Like 0
KMS Woodworks Nederland, CO

get one of those "zip -it" tools...they only cost a few buck...try that first from the drain.

on Dec 02, 2011 · Like 0
Peggy L Houston, TX

I used the zip it on my sink and it worked like a charm - thanks! Still trying to fix the bath drain in my 50+ year old house.

on Jul 10, 2012 · Like 1