HELP! Every year I need a plumber to come and snake out the drain to my washer. The last plumber showed me how to do it, but I can't get the snake to go much more than 2 feet. I have called three plumbers and the closest I can get one is Monday. Any ideas other than a laundry mat for the weekend?
Won't help you now but you might want to get a lint filter to prevent the problem in the future.
As far as snaking.... just keep twirling it. Hardware stores sell different types. Some work and some don't. I had a cheap one once and it was worthless.
Check Yellow Pages for a tool rental center. Get a powered sewer snake. Depending on the size of the drain (and the trap you'll have to get by) you may have to settle for a hand-held powered unit. But the pro devices are powerful and will run a 1/2" diam snake cable down a 2" drain with ease.
Jim
drain to my
get the snake
the closest I
the weekend?
Use a garden hose with a rag wrapped around it to seal it into the drain to force water through the pipe. Plug any overflow drain.
Bob
Get a "Drain King" drain opener. Available at places like ACE Hardware for about $15.00. This is a device that you attach onto the end of your garden hose and insert it into the clogged drain. When you turn the water on, the Drain King swells up to form a seal in the drain and forces water thru the drain pipe until the blockage is cleared. Like you, I have one drain that plugs up periodically and have used the Drain King to clear it a few times - the last time as recently as a week ago. I bought the Drain King many years ago when they were about $10. and it has paid for itself many times. Wouldn't be without one.
I can't help with the snaking but I agree with Art that a drain protector would be a good idea. You can see one designed to add to most clothes washer drain hoses at the following link. It has a removable filter so you can clean the lint periodically (and put the plumber out of business?).
JFYI
Dan O.
- Appliance411.com
I thought I would share with you guys a clogged drain problem that I can almost laugh about now.
The "drain" was the french drain around my house. We discovered it was clogged and called Roto Rooter. They tried their normal power snake with no success. They then suggested the camera treatement at a cost of $200 or so. That came up with no addiitional insight. Next we tried their $400 pump truck that can handle just about anything. No dice.
Eventually we brought in a backhoe and dug down 13 feet deep for the front of my house including tearing down the stoop and digging down there too by hand. We found that the french drain was full of concrete. The house has a poured concrete foundation including the stoop and the pipe for the french drain was routed thru the forms for the stoop without a sleave. So when the stoop was poured it went into the perforated pipe going thru the forms and voila a french drain filled with concrete.
I would think that Roto Rooter should have realized there was a problem when they could only push their snake or camera so far?
Dan O.
They expected bad mud or gravel. No one would have dreamed a pipe filled to the brim with concrete.
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