Unclogging a drain. Help!

Cristina

Cristina

O.G.
Oct 23, 2005
12,994
43
#1
I have to (ugh!) unclog a drain in my guest bathroom tub. It rarely, if ever, gets used. I have family coming on Friday, and the water drains super slowly.

A colleague told me to boil a large pot of water, then pour it down the drain while it's still boiling. Has anyone successfully tried this method? I've tried Draino three or four different times, but to no avail :rolleyes: I'm starting to think that BF is going to have to hit Home Depot for a drain snake.

Any advice/help would be appreciated! :nuts: I'll try anything at this point, LOL!
 
#2
Hi, my husband's cousin worked at Home Depot. They were told to advise their customers to buy a very strong "drano-like" product but it's very corrosive and would eat away at the the pipes... he said it's much better and just as effective to use Clorox (or any brand) Bleach (like the kind you could use for laundry) and that could do the trick. It worked at my dad's house. Good luck!
 
#5
^ LOL at new and unused! :lol: I just got a terrible visual :P

I haven't yet, but that was one of the suggestions when I Googled "unclogging a drain" earlier today. I'm going to start with hot water, then move onto baking soda and vinegar, then resort to the plunger (eek!) and a wire hanger (also in my Google results). After that, I'm out of options :rolleyes:

Thanks, Leah!
 
#6
Yep, I have done the hot water with bleach, and then if that didn't work, I used straight vinegar. Last resort would be a plumbing snake type of thing. Just make sure to let the hot water run for a while after you use bleach!! The fumes can be a little overpowering.
 
#7
Yes, I've heard of the boiling water method!

Another one I just read of is to pour some baking soda into 1 cup of vinegar down the drain, wait 15 mins then pour some of the boiling water down the drain. Repeat if necessary.

The recipe is courtesy f my new book Ecoholic that I got for christmas:smile:
 
#8
I have to be really diligent about using drain covers because I have long hair (and I shed a lot). I think the drain snake works the best, it gets everything out and you don't damage the pipes in any way. But unless you have the equipment you need to call a plumber.

Back when I was a renter, I called my landlord for this problem. He had the plumber come by when I was at work. Later that night I was getting ready to take a shower, I pulled back the curtain and and screamed my head off because it looked like there was a giant rat in the tub. Turned out the plumber left the big clog of hair that he'd pulled out, right in the tub. Gross.
 
#10
^^ Ack, gross! :yucky:


Okay, I did it! Call me DIY queen :P I got down and dirty, used the hanger first to dislodge everything (it was close to the surface) and dug everything out :yucky: It wasn't too bad, but still gross. I'm dumping a second pot of boiling water down the drain, followed by vinegar. So far, so good! Thanks for the advice, everyone. Super helpful!
 
#12
It is also good to put the hot water on in the tub once a week and let it run down the drain. You can do it with baking soda and vinegar too. I was told to pour water in the drains that don't get use just to keep them clean. I don't know--a plumber told me this. You know that rat hair story in the above thread well that happened about 3 times when I had to clean our shower drain when we moved into this house. The previous owner had long hair and the drain was so messed up. It was the grossest thing I have ever done and the smell was horrible too....... UGH
 
#13
This also happened to me and it got so bad that water was actually erupting from my tub when I used the sink. So what worked a miracle for me was the drano liquid gel. Works like magic!
 
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