Slow drain, bathroom washbasin

[Barb]

Hi, here's a question for you plumbers.

My bathroom washbasin has got very slow to drain (not the first time) - I've tried all the gunk-type stuff you can buy, and also one of those plastic water-plunger things. It looks incredibly clean now, but it still runs very slowly.

Is there a flexible tool of some kind I can push down there to "poke" it. I believe that the drain pipe runs horizontally along the length of the bath to the main drain downwards, after the trap, if you see what I mean - and I'm wondering if the flow of water isn't fast enough to wash it through, which is why it keeps getting bunged up.

Thanks

Barb

[Owain]

B&Q have a selection of flexible 'snakes' for pushing down drains. Not sure how you get it through the plughole grill, you might need to take the U-bend under the basin off.

Owain

[Pete C]

Hi,

What works on my kitchen sink and shower is to get a 4 pint milk container and fill it with water, fill the plughole with water, turn the milk container upside down covering the top, put the neck of the container in the plughole, then squeeze it fairly hard keeping the neck of the container in place.

This creates a good pressure and flow of water you don't get from normal emptying, though you have to be careful if the waste fittings are push fit and any of them aren't restrained from popping out.

cheers, Pete.

[Rob Morley]

So I'm not the only person who does that :-)

[Set Square]

You can't really beat dismantling all the parts of the waste pipe (trap, elbows, straight bits of pipe, etc.) and cleaning them out properly.

Not a pleasant job - scraping out all the congealed soap, tootpaste, human hair, etc. - but it will flow a hell of a lot better once you've done it.

[Dave Liquorice]

Seems a bit over kill. I deal with ours with nothing more than a plunger, J cloth and water. Focus have small plungers that fit better to a plug hole right against the side of the basin. The J cloth is folded tightly and jammed into the overflow to seal it. Put in the plug, fill the basin with hot water, remove plug, let say 1/4 of the water flow out then vigoursly apply the plunger, don't be alarmed at the muck that comes back, keep plunging and letting water go through until it clears. For really stubborn slowness I fille the basin with hot water let it all go through then as the last 1/8th or so is draining slowly pour neat bleach into the plughole. Leave for a few hours then plunge as above.