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Summary: Household drains often become clogged without much warning and if you procrastinate, not only will the slow drain frustrate family members, but it could get worse. Just knowing what to do often has the problem half-licked before you even start.
The kitchen and bathroom sink traps are the usual locations in most homes that get clogged. In the bathroom, the problem is often due to hair, waste products, threads from fabrics washed or rinsed in the bathroom sink. In the kitchen, it can be from dish cloth threads, food particles, trimmings from greens, meat grease build up and other chance residues. In the laundry room, the utility sink could get clogged from just about anything from sand to sawdust to paint chips, depending on what someone decided to wash or rinse out from the garage or workshop. If you live in an area with "hard" water, lime deposits can form. All of these substances may build up over time and cause an obstruction that slows or stops the flow completely
Whether the drain is just running slow or if it is totally stopped up, it can usually be cleared with that odd device that looks like a large suction cup attached to a broomstick handle called a "Plumber's Helper", or plunger, as long as there is water remaining in the sink for the suction power to work. Creating a vacuum is required when using a plunger. In a dual sink situation, such as in a kitchen, you will need to close the opposite drain and fill that other side with a small amount of water to cover the drain to prevent air from interfering with the suction on the other side. Most people have two plungers, one for the toilet and one for the sinks, for obvious reasons.
For or more stubborn clogs in the kitchen sink, if the plunger doesn't solve the problem, you can usually remove the drain basket and clear such an obstruction using a drain-trap auger that you can feed into the drain. Once it is inside the drain, twist the handle to push and pull the auger a few times to clear the drain.
In the bathroom, if you can't remove the small drain cover, then you may have to unscrew the plug cap at the bottom of the gooseneck pipe below. Have a bucket or bowl ready to catch the dirty water and gunk when you get this cap off. From there you can fish around for the obstruction with a short length of wire that has one end bent to form a hook, or a crochet hook. As a rule you'll find such obstructions on the UP side of the bend where they are easily reached with the hooked wire. Be very careful not to damage the threads that the plug cap screws onto. And be sure to coat the threads with pipe compound before you replace it or the trap may leak.
In bathtubs and showers, the culprit is usually just hair which can be plucked out using a wire with a hook on it, a crochet hook, or an old dental tool. Ask your dentist if he will give you one that he is planning to throw away. They come in very handy for many things no matter what shape the pick end is. You may or may not be able to remove the drain cover in the bathtub (I can't in mine), so the dental tool works beautifully in this situation. Plungers don't work well in bathtubs because of the air intake on the overflow vent that is usually 12 inches above the drain. Duct tape and plastic wrap over vent can help a plunger to work though.
Toilet stoppages are usually easy to break with either a plunger or an auger. Unless some hard object, such as a small toy, has been dropped into the bowl and is lodged just out of reach. If you have reason to suspect this, don't use the auger. Instead, dip the water out of the bowl and try removing the obstruction with your hand. CAUTION: If you have to force your hand or finger into any opening in the bowl, don't. You may have trouble getting it back out.
If you can't reach the obstruction then try the hooked wire. Bend the wire as you go so it will follow the curve of the bowl. Work carefully, changing the shape of the hook if the first try doesn't do it. If all else fails, and if you KNOW it is a toy or other object such as a ball, you may have to remove the toilet to get to it. Using an auger or snake would only push it further into the drainage system and could cause even more severe problems.
Partial stoppage of toilet bowls that result in sluggish flushing may also be caused by a slow buildup of lime deposits from "hard" water. Usually these can be loosened with a short blade knife.
For long drains or floor drains in the basement, you can use a flat-steel sewer rod that is often referred to as a "snake". It often comes with several attachments to put on the end of the long wire such as a spiral root cutter, a shovel root cutter, or a roller ball for special situations. A clog in a floor drain can be anywhere between the floor inlet and the street but as a rule it will be under the floor or near the floor inlet if the drain has a trap. However, if there are tree roots in the drain tile, you'll need professional help.
Otherwise, remove the drain cover and push the snake through the pipe. Don't be discouraged if the first few tries result in the snake kinking or winding up into a ball and refusing to go any further. Just pull it partially back out to unkink it and keep probing for the weak spot. If you persist you'll hit it sooner or later and free end will pop through and any water that may have seeped up onto the floor will go down the drain.
Whenever you clear a drain, flush it out with clean water to get rid of any remaining debris.
There are many prepared chemical aids for clearing drains. Most of these chemicals contain caustics and you should read all warnings and instructions on the container closely before using.
As a rule, there is no trick at all to get at any obstruction in the trap or below it, but it may be a bit time consuming or messy to keep poking at it until it breaks up and finally drains your problem away.
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