Friggin shower drain has some cloggage...most effective unclogging procedure?

[MaxDSP]

The draino didnt work well and the snake was a PITA but we did manage to lessen the clog. This crap seems to happen every month or so, even when people are good about cleaning the drain after a shower. Is there anything else that is less of a PITA than the snake and does the job well?

 

[her209]

Buy a new house and move.

 

[mugs]

I got some super-duper strength stuff at Home Depot, a lot stronger than Drain-O. Worked better, but the clog still came back (not as fast though).

 

[Zanix]

Did you try a plunger? > draino, I hear drain o is bad for pipes contrary to what the commercials tell you.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Nothing is better than a snake except new plumbing. Buy a power snake at HD and run it through the drain 3 or 4 times. It will unclog it for several months, but if you live in an older house it will still clog up again.

 

[grrl]

A plunger is a good idea, but be sure to plug up the vent so all the air and water is forced down the drain.

Or if you can get a garden hose up to the drain and blast water down it, that may work better. It will clean out more of the pipe if the sides are really gunked up.

If not, I used to use boiling water and Drano. That seemed to worked really well. I wouldn't dump the water all at once though. I'd dump it a bit of a time to give the acid a little time to work as it went down.

 

[Kelvrick]

Do you already have one of those net things over the plug? Keeps the hair's and such from going down.

 

[Sundog]

How far did you snake it back???

If you only went 10 feet or so you probably did not do it far enough. Try 20-25 feet, or longer if you main line is farther away.

 

[tk149]

You must be one hairy dude, just like your avatar.

 

[MaxDSP]

already tried the plunger before we moved on to the snake, and yes we do have a strainer on the drain. We're using a hand cranked snake, those power ones are expensive, I wonder if they rent em out.

 

[Sundog]

Originally posted by: MaxDSP
already tried the plunger before we moved on to the snake, and yes we do have a strainer on the drain. We're using a hand cranked snake, those power ones are expensive, I wonder if they rent em out.

Yes, they are rented out. And if you think they are expensive...consider this. Roto-rooter charges $110 to power snake one drain. How many drains need to be cleaned to pay for the power snake? Then think about how long you will own the house and will you use it in your next house.

 

[MaxDSP]

Originally posted by: Sundog

Originally posted by: MaxDSP
already tried the plunger before we moved on to the snake, and yes we do have a strainer on the drain. We're using a hand cranked snake, those power ones are expensive, I wonder if they rent em out.

Yes, they are rented out. And if you think they are expensive...consider this. Roto-rooter charges $110 to power snake one drain. How many drains need to be cleaned to pay for the power snake? Then think about how long you will own the house and will you use it in your next house.

😛...If it was up to me, I'd buy it just for saving me the PITA every month, but my dad insists on doing things the hard way if the alternative involves spending money 😉