Shower, bathroom sink, and toilet clogs are very common occurences. The good news is that they can be easily dealt with, and rarely will require a call to the plumber. With a few tools, a little elbow grease, and some preventative measures, you can be your own plumber. If confusion arises, you can call Plumbers of Tweed Heads.
Sink Clogs
Bathroom sink clogs are almost always caused by hair. Most of us brush our hair over the sink, where the mirror is, and hair inevitably falls in. Sink clogs can usually be cleared with a plunger. Put a few inches of water into the sink, and stuff a rag into the overflow hole (this is usually located opposite the faucet, near the top of the sink bowl). By stopping up the overflow, you’ll be sure to direct the pressure of your plunges down at the clog, and not out the overflow. Remove the sink stopper (now would be a good time to remove any hair or debris from this, as well) and position the plunger over the drain. Plunge up and down a few times, then give a hard, quick pull up. Think of it as trying to suck the clog back into the sink. If it doesn’t clear, try this a few more times.
If the clog is really stubborn, you’ll need to get more aggressive. This will require going below the sink and dealing with the trap, which is where most clogs get stuck. The trap is the U-shaped section of pipe under the sink. Place a bucket under the trap to catch any water. Use a pipe wrench to loosen the nuts at both ends of the trap. Remove the trap, and see if it is clear. Use your finger to pull out what you can. For areas deeper into the trap, unbend a wire coat hanger and use that to push down through the trap. If there’s no clog in the trap, then the clog is located further down the line. Using your pipe wrench, remove the pipe that is sticking out of the wall. Now, you’ll need a cable auger (commonly called a snake). Snakes can be rented at almost any home center. It’s basically a long cable of coiled wire that will grab onto any clogs and allow you to remove them. Insert the end of the snake into the pipe, and start cranking and pushing it through the pipe. You’ll feel resistance when you hit your clog. Work the snake until you push through. When you stop feeling resistance, it means your clog is cleared after drain pipe cleaning Reassemble your drain pipe and trap, and run the water to flush out any leftover debris. Clog cleared!
Shower and Bathtub Clogs
These, like sink clogs, are usually caused by hair. The first step is to remove the stopper and clean any hair and soap scum off of it. Sometimes, that’s enough, but rarely are we that lucky. The next step is to use the plunger, just like we would for a sink drain. As with the sink drain, you’ll have to cover the overflow. Use a rag and hold it tightly over the overflow drain as you plunge. In most tubs, these are found near the top of the tub, under the faucet. If plunging doesn’t work, you’ll have to snake.
To snake a tub, you’ll remove the plate that is over the overflow drain and feed the snake down there. For a shower stall, you’ll remove the cover over the floor drain and feed the snake down that way. Insert the snake into the overflow or drain and start cranking and pushing your way through. The important thing when dealing with a tub is to keep cranking until you’re through the P-trap, which is located under the tub. This is where most clogs end up. It may be a little tricky to maneuver your way through it, but be patient! Once you’ve snaked your way through, reel it back in, replace the face plate, and start running the water. Fixed!
Toilet Clogs
Happily, clogged toilets can usually be fixed very easily with your standard plunger. It’s all in the technique. Place the mouth of the plunger over the “drain” at the bottom of the bowl. Most people instictively use a push motion to clear a clog, but in this case that’s not the best idea because you could just end up pushing the clog further down the line and making a bigger job for yourself. Instead, use the pull motion of the plunger to free the clog. Seat the plunger over the drain hole and press down firmly. Then, give a quick, hard pull up. The idea is to bring whatever is causing the clog back into the toilet bowl, where it can be broken up a bit before being flushed away. Nine times out of ten, a few good plunges will solve your problem.
In the occurence that plunging doesn’t do the job, you’ll need to get a tool called a closet auger. Most home centers have these available for rent, but if you need to buy one it will cost between twenty and forty dollars–still much better than calling out a plumber! These are like snakes, except that they have a rigid pole instead of a spool, and there is a bend at the end that makes it possible to get through the curves and angles of the toilet trap, which would be nearly impossible with a regular snake. To use a closet auger, place the end of the auger into the drain hole with the hook end facing up. Hold the auger steady as you crank and push the auger into the toilet trap. There are about three feet of cable in a closet auger. Crank until you’ve extended the cable all the way, then crank it back in. Flush the toilet. If it’s still a little slow, run the auger through again, this time kind of “wiggling” the shaft around so that you get the sides of the trap, dislodging anything that may be stuck to the pipe. Crank it back in, and give it a flush. All set!
Prevention
For toilets, there’s not much you can do to prevent clogs. For sinks and bathtubs, though, a couple of simple tricks will save you a lot of headaches.
- Use a screen over your sink and tub drains. You can buy drain screens in any hardware store or home center. You simply position these over the drain, and they catch any hair or lint–before it goes down the drain. Simply clean the screen out regularly, which is much easier than snaking the drain!
- Once a month, clean the drain with a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. Simply shake some baking soda down the drain, then follow with a bit of vinegar. There’s no measuring needed here–once the baking powder/vinegar mix starts foaming up, you know you’ve got enough vinegar. Let this work for about five minutes, then follow with boiling water. This will keep your drains clean, as well as deodorized.
Bathroom clogs can be annoying, but they don’t have to be a catastrophe. And, now that you know what to do, they don’t need to be costly, either.