Bath tub drain slow

[sue]

What's a good drain cleaner for a slow draining bath tub drain?

Thanks Gloria

[Tim Zimmerman]

Don't know of any drain cleaners that'll cut thru hair, other than a snake.

Once, I had a slow drain like yours and it turns out to be 1-feet worth of women's hair.

[Brian]

Based on your advice, she will probably buy the cobra...

:)

[Mikepier]

If you have a drain lever on your overflow, it might not be adjusted properly, meaning the drain would be partially closed. To get to it, remove the 2 retaining screws on the overflow drain and the whole assembly should just come out. Now test and see if the water goes down your drain correctly. If it does, the drain stop needs to be adjusted. If it still goes down slow, you have a stoppage someplace else.

[Joseph Meehan]

Mechanical cleaning of the hair is likely the best solution. If you can removed the stopper you may be able to see some sort of cross piece and that may well have a think covering of hair and moldy soap scum. If you manually clean that I'll bet you will not need anything else done and many cleaning methods will not clean out the hair. I find a pair of tweezers good for the job.

[John Hines]

The gel stuff in "pro" strength seems to work the best.

There is a plastic zip strip about a meter or so, for a couple of bucks, to stick in, and pull out the hair. Haven't tried it yet, but for a couple of bucks, it is hard to go wrong.

[sue]

[Chuck Conner]

I'll second this recommendation!

[Speedy Jim]

Pull up on the "knob" and turn CCW slowly. You should feel a point where the knob meets resistance. Stop there but continue pulling upward. Now, take a slip-joint pliers and grasp the outer edge of the stopper and turn it CCW. It *should* unscrew.

Jim

[David Efflandt]

If it is a hair clog it is best to remove it.

But I had a problem where even if I ran the sink hard (or filled and drained it) it would back up into the bathtub drain. Apparently there is some sort of round chamber in the wall that both the bathtub and sink drained into and that was slow to drain. Drain cleaner in either the bathtub or sink did not seem to be able to clear it.

I let it drain down. Then about half a cup of Spic 'N Span powder and a tea kettle of boiling water in the sink got everything flowing.

[Colbyt]

And then coat the threads with a little grease or Vaseline before you replace it to make it easier next time. If you need to use pliers to get it out you have a minor problem that lubrication will avoid.

BTW the hair ball will usually be within 24" of the drain. Anything you can insert and snag with will work for pulling it out.

Colbyt

[orgasmickey]

Sounds to me like it's time to find yourself a new house.

[Oscar_Lives]

at least your drain isn't like this one