Advice requested to unclog a shower stall (75 or 100 foot snake?)

[Danny D]

I don't understand. Mine are as rusty as can be.

I'm thinking of oiling them - but maybe there's a better way?

[Danny D]

That makes sense, as the 1/4" snake just wouldn't go further than 10 feet. It bunched up, and that makes sense that it would do that at a "T".

In hindsight, I must agree. The clog was less than 3 feet in. I desperately wanted to go deeper, but the most I could go was about 10 feet, and nothing came back hooked on the line when I did.

Now that you mention it, when I had turned on the water initially, the drain pipe filled up within about 15 or 20 seconds (I didn't know enough to look closer at the timing though). In hindsight, the hair clog was probably at the first trap under the house (I assume there are traps in the crawl space?).

Ah, I see. Thank you for answering that question. For a brand new snake, that shouldn't be a problem; but I would think it problematic for the rusty ones on the white carpet.

[Danny D]

How long do you think it took for this "wad" to build up?

Should she have used a better drain cover than the one she has, with, oh, about ten 3/8" or so holes in it?

[hrhofmann]

Very carefully.

[hrhofmann]

You only have about 6" of snake between the handle and the drain opening. You work that 6" down and then move the handle 6" away from the drain and repeat over and over until things work ok. Patience (and sometime a half-galon of Draino) always wins.

[Dan Espen]

The one on the right is pretty rusty. I don't do anything to mine, just hang it back up in a dry basement. It has a blackish fine coat of rust.

Let me re-phrase, it won't rust apart and works in the condition you show. Usage should clean that up a bit.

I wouldn't put oil on tools that will spread that oil around the household.

[hrhofmann]

YES

[Attila Iskander]

Most likely you ran into a 90 degree connection, and had got stuck against it. The trick is to have a slight bend at the head of the snake about 1-2" back This does 2 things

1) It helps when you need to get around a T (usually at the standpipe 2) It whips the head around the internal circumference of the pipe and cleans off all the goo stuck inside the pipe.

[Attila Iskander]

The black goo is usually the oily residue from conditioner.

[Attila Iskander]

Didn't it come with a reel ? If not just go and buy a reel that will hold it

[Attila Iskander]

As posted elsewhere, the 25' snake probable got stuck at a bend or a T. Put a slight kink about 10-15 degree right behind the expanded wire This will usually help it work it's way past corners and bends.

[Attila Iskander]

At one point in time, you didn't know it either No reason to be an ass about the fact that now you do and he doesn't

And a "closet snake" is for use in a clogged toilet bowl. People throw all kinds of stuff down a toilet. The current most popular are the bleach wipes. Since they don't dissolve like toilet paper, they tend to clog up real fast.

[Danny D]

Now that's interesting. It was black, but didn't smell bad. It washed off my hands easily. Conditioner makes sense.

[Danny D]

Nope. It was tie wrapped (which is what I'm going to do with it right now, as my 'main' snake will be the one in the drum.

[Danny D]

Understood! Thanks.

[ChairMan]

In news:knp82r$i47$ [e-mail], Attila Iskander belched:

That maybe so, but I've never used a tool without knowing how to use it. People can get hurt that way and you can make a simple problem much worse. And i don't feel I was being an ass, just stating the obvious, because from his own photos it doesn't look like he even know how to use a snake. Or how to use google or youtube You don't pull the whole cable out and try to feed it in. With the time and money he has spent he could of easily hire someone, watched and learned more than he could here. With a lot less headaches Also, I was basing my comment on the number of post he's made on the many things he doesn't know. I have no problem with teaching or helping someone to learn, but they have to be willing to do a little work for them self.

True, it is designed for toilets, but can be used successfully in other drains. As a matter of fact, I 've used one in a shower before

So, we're not talking about what people put down toilets

[DD_BobK]

TomR-

Great summary & explanation.

[DD_BobK]

[Danny D]

You know, I once had to replace a few hundred irrigation sprinkler heads and I didn't know how to do that.

So I hired a friend who owns a landscaping company, at about $300/day, with the stipulation that he teach me, and *both* of us replaced almost two hundred sprinkler heads in addition to repairing the valve electrics.

Most of the sprinkler heads were buried, so, we'd fix one, and another would pop up out of the mud.

I learned a lot! For instance, there are *many* types of sprinkler heads, and some are drip, others spray, some adjustable, others set, etc.

So, your suggestion *is* viable.

Yet, another time the pool was a swamp, and I was in line for a church picnic at my house. I hired another friend, at $60/hour, to help and teach me. Guess what? I learned almost nothing from that guy. Dunno why, but, he just replaced stuff, and threw stuff in the pool and vacuumed stuff, but he had no concept of the delights in the details. He just wanted to get the job done. That was a waste of my money.

The problem, of course, would be to find a plumber like the first guy, and not like the second guy, on short notice.

[Danny D]