Clogged Drain...Natural de-clogging formulas??

[FarmerDenise]

There should be an outside clean out somewhere. The same place a plumber would insert a snake.
They also make a rubber hose attachment, that baloons up and pressurizes the water coming from the hose and then it pulses. This forces the clog along and eventually into the septic tank. I don't know what it is called, but it works wonders, better than anything else I've ever tried. And it is pretty easy to use.
You might want to check with your hardware store. I'd go to a smaller one though. Since those mega stores don't usually have knowledgable people working in them. This thing cost from around $8.00 to $20.00 depending on the size. They come in sizes for the kitchen sink to sewer pipe size.
Our last plumbing "incident" occured just this week and we cleared it up in 15 munutes using this tool.

 

[patandchickens]

Possibly stupid questions, but:

a) have you tried a simple plunger? YOu have to use a wet rag and hard hand pressure to plug up the overflow drain hole in order to get it to do anything. Be careful with the newfangled "super blast o' air" type ones if you have older plumbing though as it is possible to separate weebly old plumbing joints with too much pressure. Not saying don't do it, just don't do it with excessive abandon on 80-yr-old pipes

b) are you sure the snake is sticking on the trap and not on the assembly that the built-in bathtub plug is mounted on? (If you have the kind of bathtub drain that at no point in its history *had* a built-in handle-operated plug, so it was designed to be plugged only by your placing a rubber plug on it, then this is not the problem -- but most tubs these days do have the built-in thingies). You should be able to tell by how far in the snake goes.

If a plunger doesn't do anything and you cannot in any way get your snake in from any angle, I have sometimes had luck by taking some medium gauge wire and bending it into a sharp v-shaped hook about 3/4" long, and stuffing it up and down into the drain to try to pull out hair and other guck. Mind, you want to use a gauge of wire that you CAN forcibly straighten to retrieve if it gets stuck.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[ABHanna4d]

Nope the clog is still fully lodged in there! No sign of it moving at all...bummer.
SO we are going to try and remove the trap and use our pipe snake...the trap is glued in place so that will be a little interesting to get out.

In the meantime if you hear of any other unique ideas we are SO willing to try anything!

 

[ABHanna4d]

Possibly stupid questions, but:

a) have you tried a simple plunger? YOu have to use a wet rag and hard hand pressure to plug up the overflow drain hole in order to get it to do anything. Be careful with the newfangled "super blast o' air" type ones if you have older plumbing though as it is possible to separate weebly old plumbing joints with too much pressure. Not saying don't do it, just don't do it with excessive abandon on 80-yr-old pipes

b) are you sure the snake is sticking on the trap and not on the assembly that the built-in bathtub plug is mounted on? (If you have the kind of bathtub drain that at no point in its history *had* a built-in handle-operated plug, so it was designed to be plugged only by your placing a rubber plug on it, then this is not the problem -- but most tubs these days do have the built-in thingies). You should be able to tell by how far in the snake goes.

If a plunger doesn't do anything and you cannot in any way get your snake in from any angle, I have sometimes had luck by taking some medium gauge wire and bending it into a sharp v-shaped hook about 3/4" long, and stuffing it up and down into the drain to try to pull out hair and other guck. Mind, you want to use a gauge of wire that you CAN forcibly straighten to retrieve if it gets stuck.

Good luck,

Pat

we did try the plunger...and to no avail, but we did not try it with a wet rag. And now, interestingly enough, our dog chewed up our plunger today while we were at church...GREAT timing! So we will ahve to get a new plunger before we can try this method.

The snake is definately getting caught on the trap and is just wont wiggle through all the turns in the pipes...probably the same places that the silly little (or big) clog is lodged!

We did try a coat hanger but not anthing longer than that so we will dig some wire out of the garage and try that!

 

[ABHanna4d]

There should be an outside clean out somewhere. The same place a plumber would insert a snake.
They also make a rubber hose attachment, that baloons up and pressurizes the water coming from the hose and then it pulses. This forces the clog along and eventually into the septic tank. I don't know what it is called, but it works wonders, better than anything else I've ever tried. And it is pretty easy to use.
You might want to check with your hardware store. I'd go to a smaller one though. Since those mega stores don't usually have knowledgable people working in them. This thing cost from around $8.00 to $20.00 depending on the size. They come in sizes for the kitchen sink to sewer pipe size.
Our last plumbing "incident" occured just this week and we cleared it up in 15 munutes using this tool.

we tried from the outside cleanout and we just didnt have enough length on our hose...or a nifty camera on the end like most plumbers have!

WOW that rubber hose attachment sounds interesting.

We have several new methods to try and hopefully this cleans it out...by the time we are done with all this we will have probably spent more than if we would have just called the plumber, but I guess thsi will just be one more lesson learned and then we can save money in the future...just not htis time!

 

[Beekissed]

Lye? Or will that eat your pipes?

 

[ABHanna4d]

Lye? Or will that eat your pipes?

It might eat the pipes, the plumbing is at least 70 years old.

 

[enjoy the ride]

This was a timely post- my shower has been backing up a bit for the last week. Reading stuff here made me get out a coat hanger and go fishing- I was amazed at what ( : ) I pulled out. Drain is now back to normal. I gave it a baking soda/vinegar treatment after the clean out.

I just want to caution about the hose pressure thingy- I used that once on old plumbing and had to replace all the pipes under the sink that I blew apart. Also you need a certain amount of pressure to make them work and individual waters systems may not produce enough.

Also, during that same super-clog incident, the plumber used his snake and actually punched a hole in the old cast iron waste pipes under the house. He replaced the cast iron for about 15 feet which at least took the clog with it. Old plumbing needs caution.

Anyway thanks for the motivation. And good luck with your problem.

 

[ducks4you]

Do you pipes drain into a septic system? I won't wait for your reply--IF SO, and your pipes are old, your septic might be full. That's how why discovered it the first time after we moved into a 100 year old house.

In case this is so OR in case it happens in the future, you'll know to call and have it cleaned out.

If not, once the line is clear DO NOT use anything like liquid plumber because I discovered with my old pipes, this product will clean out any rust and cause an additional clog at the end!

Hope this helps!

 

[ABHanna4d]

Do you pipes drain into a septic system? I won't wait for your reply--IF SO, and your pipes are old, your septic might be full. That's how why discovered it the first time after we moved into a 100 year old house.

In case this is so OR in case it happens in the future, you'll know to call and have it cleaned out.

If not, once the line is clear DO NOT use anything like liquid plumber because I discovered with my old pipes, this product will clean out any rust and cause an additional clog at the end!

Hope this helps!

We do not drain into a septic system. We live in the city and it drains right into the city main.

Still no luck on de-clogging the drain though, we are probably going to have to call a plumber