Our bathtub has a slow drain. I assume this is mostly due to hair and soap and whatnot. So we got some Liquid Plumr last night and used it. It seemed to work.
However, this morning, the drain is worse than ever. After a ten-minute shower, I was standing in about six inches of water. The tub took a few hours to drain. What gives? How in the heck did it get worse overnight? Is our tub infested with drain gremlins? Is more Liquid Plumr going to make it even worse?
P.S.: You have no idea how badly it irks me to type the word "plumr."
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
Can you see into the drain at all? Some drains have a strainer, catch, whatever you call it below the tub level. You might need to use a flashlight to see it. If so, get our your handy pair of needle nose pliers and start pulling out hair.
If not, it's likely in the elbow. If another dose of the Liquid Plumr doesn't work, you can try a snake.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Not a plumber, but for what it's worth...
You may have partially disolved a blockage, which moved through the pipe or just took up less space, making the drain flow better. Then the blockage might have broken loose and hit another clog, with the two filling more of the drain than either did alone.
More LP might work, or you might want to buy a snake at the hardware store (pretty cheap, easy to use). If you have some LP yet, try it one more time.
By the way, be sure to run lots of water through the drain before using the tub after using LP. If it backs up into the tub, it could burn you pretty badly.
Good luck,
Dagonee
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
You have now partially cleared the blockage(s), which have moved down the pipe to a worse spot and/or congregated.
This is why you should use the stuff for slow drains rather than the caustic stuff -- that, and your pipes will be a lot happier.
Try a plunger (or a snake, if you have one/can borrow one). Then buy the enzyme stuff.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Hatrack plumbing squad to the rescue!
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Silence! The Plumber's wife is speaking.
Is this the only drain you're having trouble with?
If it isn't, you have bigger problems, like a stopped up sewer. Also, are you on sewer or septic tank?
Snakes, and even the heavy duty sewer machines can be rented from equipment rental places. But, it's likely something you can get with the hand cranked snake they sell at Home Depot like places.
Liquid Plumr is not recommended - the chemicals can harm the inside of your pipes, by corroding away bits of the pipe wall, that will make it even more likely to clog, because then things like hair will snag on it and get stuck. In bathtub drains it's usually a hair clog.
Posted by peterh (Member # 5208) on :
If this is a home you rent, call the owner. If it's your house, beware that repeated Liquid Plumr use eats away pipes as well as what's blocking them. A friend of mine had to repipe her entire house because the previous owner used it like once a week on every drain.
Also, if you can just see down the drain and remove any hair manually, that can go a long way. I've built my house 3 years ago and have done this twice to clean up my drain.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
The Hatrack Plumbing Squad defers to the expert.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
This is currently the only clogged drain. I can see water about an inch below the little catch thingy. I followed the directions for slow drains on the bottle. I'll try to pull out any hair that I can and then give the Liquid Plumr another shot. If that doesn't work, I'll just call the landlord.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Our maintenance guy told us that if your drain is being plugged with something plastic, the Liquid Plumr will make it swell, and make the clog worse.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Get a snake. It was amazing how much gunk I hauled out of our drain with one.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
<defers to the Plumber's Wife>
Wasn't that a movie?
Although the needle nose pliers still work for me. I should make my wife do it since I can tell it's her hair that's clogging it. I'm such a good husband. Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Okay, I think I'll try a snake before pouring more Liquid Plumr down there.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
There is a whole other KIND of LP (and their competitors) for slow drains. The stuff that's been around for ever uses strong bases (mostly sodium hydroxide -- lye) to eat away at the protein/fat/inorganic material. But it ALSO eats away at the metal (or, to a lesser degree, PVC) of the pipes.
The stuff that hit the market about 10 years ago (IIRC) has no caustics. Instead, it contains enzymes and/or bacterial cultures. (Yum!) These eat away at the organic material (hair, skin, waste matter) that makes up the bulk of most clogs.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Go get the snake. They're not expensive and you need one around the house.
From your description, you have a clog. Hair, soap, and such makes a really good clog. I have to manually remove hair from our drain catch periodically, and I've used needle nose pliers, nothing wrong with that!
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I dug out a spider one time. He made a great framework to build a clog on.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
I second (third? fourth?) the suggestion to get a snake. They work great if the clog is semi-close to the drain. They only cost between $10 and $20 at any hardware store. The hand-crank ones work just fine. One of the best tools I ever bought.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
The gunk that comes out on the snake is so nasty.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Don't tell me that. Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Seriously, Jon Boy, have a bucket nearby that you don't care about. Then bury the bucket somewhere, so you never have to think about it again.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
It was like an entire ponytail. The worst part was that we hadn't lived here long and most of the hair wasn't ours.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
And then pour concrete over the area where you buried the bucket, then pave over it with brick and make it into a patio. And then put your grill right over that spot, so no one ever has to walk over it.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
But I don't have a back yard! What the heck am I supposed to do now, huh? HUH?!
Posted by peterh (Member # 5208) on :
Just be careful of clowns saying, "We all float down here"
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
If you get it out, take a picture and post it.
Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :
That way Hatrack will feel your pain a little bit.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Ooh, we shouldn't talk about clowns and drains in the same thread.
*shivers*
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
I sooooooooo want to see this monster.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
You people are SICK.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I think I'm the only female alive not squicked out about hair clogs. This makes me the only female who ever gets to clean the drains. I mean sure - it's gross, but it's hair. It's not like it's a dead gerbil.
....is it?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Actually, sometimes it looks very much like a dead rodent . . . Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
A slimy dead rodent!
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
It's the soap that makes it slimy.
The drains you don't want to clean out are the garbage disposal or the kitchen drains. Food clogs aren't just nasty to look at, they smell. Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
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I have to manually remove hair from our drain catch periodically, and I've used needle nose pliers, nothing wrong with that!
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