Homee2010
New Member
Hello!
A newbie here. I recently unclogged a bathtub drain in a way I'd never before seen, and I want to share it with you.
A naggingly slow bathtub drain finally gave up the ghost. A snake, a hose-end balloon thing didn't work, and neither did professional-strength chemical.
My house is c.1950s, raised on piers, but the crawl space beneath the house is very low. An access could have been made by chiseling out a few "soldiered" bricks used as air vents (through which I could see the drum trap), but I didn't want to have to do this. Calling a plumber would have been expensive...So...
I walked through my garage looking for ideas. I saw my 15 gallon Craftsman ShopVac and it hit me....
I brought the ShopVac to the bathroom, and covered the vent hole with shipping tape. I filled up a 2nd bathtub that shares the common main drain, added water to the already-clogged tub, and jammed the open nozzle of the ShopVac against the drain and turned it on. My son then opened the drain to the 2nd bathtub. As the vaccuum got filled, I emptied and refilled , repeating the procedure 3 times. The stinky black crud from the first suction gave way to clear water. And PRESTO, the tub drain now runs as new!
I didn't want to suck up much sewer gas, hence the 2nd tub fill. Plus, I think that sucking THAT water backwards through the problem drain facilitated emptying the clogged/full drum trap.
Hope you like my story, hope it helps someone.
Alex
A newbie here. I recently unclogged a bathtub drain in a way I'd never before seen, and I want to share it with you.
A naggingly slow bathtub drain finally gave up the ghost. A snake, a hose-end balloon thing didn't work, and neither did professional-strength chemical.
My house is c.1950s, raised on piers, but the crawl space beneath the house is very low. An access could have been made by chiseling out a few "soldiered" bricks used as air vents (through which I could see the drum trap), but I didn't want to have to do this. Calling a plumber would have been expensive...So...
I walked through my garage looking for ideas. I saw my 15 gallon Craftsman ShopVac and it hit me....
I brought the ShopVac to the bathroom, and covered the vent hole with shipping tape. I filled up a 2nd bathtub that shares the common main drain, added water to the already-clogged tub, and jammed the open nozzle of the ShopVac against the drain and turned it on. My son then opened the drain to the 2nd bathtub. As the vaccuum got filled, I emptied and refilled , repeating the procedure 3 times. The stinky black crud from the first suction gave way to clear water. And PRESTO, the tub drain now runs as new!
I didn't want to suck up much sewer gas, hence the 2nd tub fill. Plus, I think that sucking THAT water backwards through the problem drain facilitated emptying the clogged/full drum trap.
Hope you like my story, hope it helps someone.
Alex
