Completely clogged drain.

January 4, 2016 2:55 PM

How can I unclog my completely clogged bathtub drain? Will a zip-it work in this situation?

My drain is 100 percent clogged. I tried making this contraption (youtube video), which seems to me like a home made Zip-It. It didn't work at all. It sort of seemed like it wouldn't even go down more than several inches down the drain, because then it hit an absolute barrier. It certainly didn't bring anything up. So is it worth my going and buying a Zip-It if this didn't work?

I already tried a whole bottle of Drano when the clog was milder, and it did nothing. I also tried the baking soda and vinegar method when the clog was milder and it did nothing too.

I would prefer to not buy anything that costs more than 5 dollars, especially since I don't know if it'll work. I certainly can't afford to call a plumber.

posted by Blitz to Home & Garden (23 answers total)

Did you let the enzymatic declogger (there's super-duper extra strength Draino, now) soak for up to an hour, then flush with near-boiling water?

You can still try that now, even with a completely clogged drain.
posted by porpoise at 2:59 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Have you tried a plunger? Plungers work great on total clogs.
posted by fritley at 3:04 PM on January 4, 2016 [14 favorites]

If it is an old school drain, you can take off the plug lever that is usually a flattish plate on the front of the tub, under the water faucets. Usually it has two screws which must be put well outside the tub once you take them out. The flat face with the plug lever sometimes will come all the way out of the drainpipe and at the end of a long (like one foot) piece of metal tubing is a hair trap some what like a metal spiral. Pull this all the way up and your giant, nasty hairplug comes with it. While you have the drain open, put about 1/4 cup of dish detergent in the line, then slowly pour at least a couple of gallons of boiling water into the drain. Then put it all back together and you should have a cleared drain.
posted by Oyéah at 3:06 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm a lady who's only moderately handy, and I learned how to unclog my tub drain watching YouTube videos. Drain cleaning liquids are crap. You can likely do this with what you have on hand: needle nose pliers, a screwdriver, a plastic bag. You may also need some plumber's putty, which is less than $5.

Here's a video that goes through a bunch of methods. Starting around 9:23 is what I do, except I don't snake it. You probably don't have to snake yours, either. I simply remove the cap, then use the needle nose pliers and the screwdriver to form a primitive lever to force the drain opening cover to unscrew. Pull off all the hair hanging from the drain opening cover, verify nothing else is within sight in the drain itself, apply putty to drain opening cover (see video), and screw it back in. Takes 5-10 minutes, depending how tightly I screwed in the cover the last time, or how old the putty is.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 3:08 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Does you tub drain have a popup or lift bucket style plug? The popup type is a devil to clean a clog from. If it's the lift bucket type, I'd suggest you forget your $5 limit and get yourself a hand-operated snake. If you're positive the clog is just inside the drain, you can make-do with the Zip-It, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:09 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

if your water contains a concentration of calcium/limestone , you may need strong acid liquid to get it done.
posted by nims at 3:13 PM on January 4, 2016

@Thorzdad: The method I use in my comment above is for a lift bucket drain. No snaking involved. I simply remove the the cap and the drain cover opening thingy. Not sure what that's actually called by plumbers. It's the thing that takes some leverage to unscrew.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 3:13 PM on January 4, 2016

The one thing that unclogs my drain every time long-term is a plunger. Because the big ones are unwieldy, I got a little plunger from Home Depot for like $3 and it's awesome.
posted by Huck500 at 3:14 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: But how does a plunger unclog a bad clog? Because the plunger doesn't bring material up, right? And it doesn't dissolve anything.

It will take me a while to go through these, and understand what to try first, but I wanted to say I have a lift bucket plug.
posted by Blitz at 3:21 PM on January 4, 2016

I would snake it out with one of those mini-snakes. They cost a lot less than a plumber call-out and are less hazardous than drain-clearing chemicals. I also use mine to clear the dishwasher pipe that goes into the disposal.
posted by w0mbat at 3:23 PM on January 4, 2016

A lot of time the plunger will actually suck much of the clog material out of the drain as it breaks up. Clogs are usually in the trap, so even if the material is broken up and pushed past the trap it's not likely to form another clog. Seconding the use of a small plunger as you will get a better seal and it's easier to operate.
posted by Bringer Tom at 3:26 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

But how does a plunger unclog a bad clog?

It changes the pressure above the clog to be less or more than below the clog....which makes the clog move/break apart, etc. Sometimes moving it a little may be all that needs to happen. Maybe ask a neighbor if you can borrow one if you don't have a plunger already. Certainly worth a go!
posted by inflatablekiwi at 3:27 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've had good luck with Drano, plungers, and poking down the drain with an old wire hanger- obviously not at the same time. Are the toilet and the sink draining ok? If they're not then it's possible that you've got some tree root messing with your drain pipes. Is it extremely cold where you are? If so, pipe could be frozen at some point. Definitely try boiling hot water, regardless.

Do you own the place? If you don't then the landlord is supposed to fix it.
posted by mareli at 3:38 PM on January 4, 2016

Oh and the "absolute barrier" you're hitting is probably the U in the pipe that stays wet and keeps sewer gas from entering the house.
posted by mareli at 3:40 PM on January 4, 2016

Plunger recommendation - I also had a blocked bathtub drain a few weeks back. I had attempted to use a small sink plunger with no results. I then purchased a big-ass plastic accordion sink plunger and had heaping loads of icky success.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:45 PM on January 4, 2016 [6 favorites]

It's not super cheap, but I bought this awhile ago on a whim:

Bio-clean Drain Septic Bacteria

Recently, I had a toilet clog so bad that half an hour of plunging didn't budge it one bit. It was basically standing water that would eventually drain in, say, 2 hours or so. I followed the steps for the bio-clean and went to bed, 8 hours later it was flowing better than ever. I had to use ~100th of the product, so about $0.50.. too bad you can't buy it in smaller amounts. YMMV and I have no association with the product or company other than being a customer.
posted by mbatch at 3:45 PM on January 4, 2016 [4 favorites]

I would try a plunger (never hurts to own a plunger and a zip-it anyway), and make sure you're pulling up on the clog and not just forcing air/pressure down on it. A good plunging lifts and wiggles the clog, and the wiggling may be all you need to dislodge it.

For tubs, I like to get a good amount of boiling water down there to sit for 20 minutes or so, to soften whatever it can, and then careful plunging pulling upwards and letting go. Once you get it cleared, hit it with more nearly boiling water and then hot water to keep it from sticking further along.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:20 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've used this before for what was probably a hair/grease clog that I couldn't get to. Fill the tub full of water - like most of the way up. Use the pressurized air a couple times, and then the water pressure in the tub helps push the clog further on.
posted by hydra77 at 5:38 PM on January 4, 2016

N-thing plunger, it works so much better on really bad clogs than Drano. Also, if you're a renter, using drain cleaners might be against your lease agreement—mine states that we can't use them.

Wear eye protection if there's still Drano in the standing water, and don't wear anything you would mind getting crud on, usually you get some gross backsplash. (If you're me, you'll find this awesome because I love seeing the gross stuff that comes up.)
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 5:51 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Plain old boiling water. Works a charm!
posted by jbenben at 6:49 PM on January 4, 2016

I've had great luck with blue dawn dish soap, pour in a huge amount and let it sit for an hour or so, and then follow with boiling water and a plunger. You can google dawn and drain clogs to get specifics.
posted by pearlybob at 8:47 PM on January 4, 2016

> Have you tried a plunger? Plungers work great on total clogs.

But how does a plunger unclog a bad clog? Because the plunger doesn't bring material up, right? And it doesn't dissolve anything.

You may need to cover the overflow hole with a finger or thumb to get proper suction while plunging. Nothing can happen if there isn't a seal and the resulting suction during plunging. If there isn't an obvious hole in the tub below the faucet, it might be a slot in the metal cover that may also have the plug lever in the middle of it.

I've found that when plunging a tub or sink drain, the "upstroke" (pull back up after pushing down and getting a seal) is often more important in loosening the clump of hair and grease than the "downstroke." Be prepared with a plastic garbage bag or something to put disgusting gunk into for throwing out, because if successful you'll come up with a bunch of clumps and wads of it and you want to catch most of them, especially big ones, so they don't go back down the drain and re-clog things.

Add me to those who find Drano and its ilk useless, and possibly hazardous because of the chemical burn danger when it doesn't work very well.
posted by aught at 9:23 AM on January 5, 2016

Response by poster: I tried plunging and it immediately brought up soggy leaves. I cleaned up the larger leaf bits that I could but it's still not draining at all. I live on the third floor so I don't know why there are leaves in there or how deep it goes. I can't get any more leaf bits up though.

Should I get a stronger plunger, the kind that's like an accordion? Or try a snake? Everything I google about leaves in drains brings up stuff for outdoor drains.
posted by Blitz at 8:19 PM on January 5, 2016