A few weeks ago our shower started to occasionally drain slowly. As it got worse, I thought I’d have to get out the snake or call a plumber. Then the other day I thought ‘why not just try the plunger?’

30 seconds of plunging, and I suddenly felt the blockage break loose, and the 8cm of standing water drained immediately.

Gotta love simple fixes that work.

  • Landless2029@lemmy.world
    6·
    2 days ago

    TLDR: I had a slow drain turn into about $1k

    My bathroom sink was slow and I tried to plunge it. Ended up clogged right after. Wife and I now have to brush in the kitchen. Wife not happy.

    I go to open the clear out under the sink. It’s glued in… Never seen that before. Old ass house…

    So I call a drainage tech. He snakes two runs in the basement. Doesn’t clear it. Tries to snake the bathroom sink. Explains the lack of access prevents him from clearing it out.

    He recommends a plumber. He calls the guy, sends pics, gets me a quote. I get 3 more qoutes. End up with the first guy. Upsell to a sink as well.

    I turned off the water under the sink and the old knobs decide to start leaking. Yay. Add that on too.

    So bathroom now has a new sewer clear-out, standard elbow removal, new sink, new sink water shutoff and new laundry shutoff (because fuck it, the old one was too high up)

    So that’s how I had a slow drain turn into about $1k

  • i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca
    27·
    2 days ago

    There’s something intoxicating about that first flushing sound as a clog gets knocked loose and the water starts draining at full speed.

    • BCsven@lemmy.ca
      6·
      2 days ago

      Years back we had a lot of snow and ice accumulate on our road in the metro Vancouver area. Plows had banked the snow up. Then we had lots of rain and melt. But the sewer was frozen over. There was 6 inches of standing water on our street. I grabbed a shovel and chipped through the ice to flip a chunk off the sewer grate. The sound of all that water flooding into an empty sewer was like being at niagra falls. Thundering power. So satisfying.

  • Horsecook@sh.itjust.works
    8·
    2 days ago

    I don’t like using plungers for anything other than toilets. Toilets open up to a wider pipe immediately after the trap. That’s not the case with sinks and showers. There’s a risk you’ll just move the clog further down the pipe, where it’s harder to reach. And the clog is more likely to be grease and hair, which aren’t water soluble like paper and shit.

    Sodium hydroxide is a very basic solution for clogged drains.

    • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
      2·
      2 days ago

      Sodium hydroxide can also damage your pipes, so I don’t necessarily know that it’s a good replacement in this case.

      • Horsecook@sh.itjust.works
        6·
        2 days ago

        First thing I’d eliminate is the possibility someone’s flushing wipes, tampons, hair, or worse. If that can’t be the issue, I’d wonder if the toilet is an early low-flow model, which were notoriously prone to clogging.

        If that’s not it, then I’d be thinking the drain line is partially obstructed by something more durable than turds. If it’s the lowest drain in the house, maybe your main line has tree roots in it.

      • Big_Boss_77@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        4·
        2 days ago

        Need to watch out for bellies in your runs to septic/sewer… that can slow down a lot of things too, especially if you don’t run a lot of water down it once or twice a week.

  • Log in | Sign up@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 days ago

    Check the outside drain into which that pipe exits if there is one. The hair and gunge may well now be partially blocking it. Ours backed up under heavy rain quite frequently until I installed chicken wire an inch above the grid down there

  • slothrop@lemmy.caEnglish
    91·
    2 days ago

    Plungers are oft overlooked and underrated. Patience and light elbow grease are all that’s required.

      • Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        5·
        2 days ago

        Is there a simple way to clean them? I dry heave every time I have to pull out sink clogs, so I just use the little $1 disposable plastic ones so I can chuck it in the trash and be done with it. I’d prefer to have less one use plastic, but every time I’ve tried to clean them off (even with gloves on) it’s been such a sensory nightmare I couldn’t take it.

        • CentipedeFarrier@piefed.socialEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

          If you get a nice metal one you can use acid to dissolve the hair that gets stuck in it. Then you can just wash the soap scum off.

          DISCLAIMER: acid is incredibly dangerous. Make sure you know how to handle it. Wear easy to remove protective clothing, acid-rated eye protection, acid-proof gloves, and ideally do this outside, where spills aren’t a catastrophe.

          I don’t do this to clean my snake, myself, but I do sometimes use sulphuric acid in my drain to clear up clogs my snake can’t reach (note: my drains are safe for this, not all are. Do not just assume you can dump acid down the drain and be done with it. You can corrode or rupture your waste lines.) so I know it works fine to break down hair and stuff, then the rest just washes away. If you go this route, soak in acid outside (it fumes, and you don’t want to breathe it), preferably in some sort of sealed container. But do make sure the container is acid-proof, like glass. And you can dilute the acid if you want, a little goes a long way if you let it sit for a while.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
          1·
          2 days ago

          No, if you get a disposable one, it’s really not worth trying long to clean and reuse them. A regular snake is much easier to clean

    • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
      1·
      2 days ago

      You can avoid clogging problems when trimming your bears by not flushing the hairs down the drain in the first place. I usually try to trim into a small trashcan primarily, and the remaining hairs I wipe away with some toilet paper and throw in the trash.