I could never be a plumber

[KFC911]

I now have a plumber on speed-dial ... "charge it"!

I thought about just buying a $500 beast to unclog my parents' instead ... nah...

I'll continue to call Ronnie ... nights, weekends, holidaze ... and he lives clo$er

Worth it

I have learned from my recent efforts ... just call "the man"... the hard way.

[CurtEgerer]

[A930Rocket]

I recently bought the barbed gizmo to clean our sink drains. Not much hair, but there was this black **** mixed in with it. I wanted to barf.

[stevej37]

^^^ It's working.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Zeke

A larger tie wrap chucked in a drill will clear out sink traps.

^^^ That stopper is nasty. I'd toss it in favor of a new one. But if the seals still work and you can stand the thing, I guess soak it in dishwasher detergent for a while and hose it off.

Out in the yard.

It was in good shape except for the hair and gunk in it. I cleaned it with hot water and compressed air, slathered it in Sil-Glide, and it works like new. The trap was clean. Apparently all the hair, snot, toothpaste spit and (shudder) got caught in the stopper mechanism.
Not sure what you mean by “tie wrap.” Zip tie? We use 1/8 wire rope chucked in a drill to clear VW preheat tubes. Something like that?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

Could I ask you to take a picture of it once it's cleaned up?
I don't understand how it works.
Seems like it's a self clogging drain with all the hardware hanging off what ever it is you're holding in your hand.

I don’t understand how it works either. There is some kind of cam mechanism inside, a spring, some wire… It does seem like an advanced sort of self clogging, plumber job security design. At least it’s easy to access if the stopper isn’t stuck down (this one was). If the stopper isn’t stuck you just pull the whole mechanism up and out.

[look 171]

See that o-ring (black) like thing up near the top? It goes into a tube (drain) once the pop up is depressed keeping it water tight. Push it again, it pops up above the tube allowing water to drain. Some of that o-ring like flap are clear instead of black. They last for some time.

That thing is no different then the traditional pop up with a lever that goes through a hole in a faucet. That round ball with a shaft through the pop-up traps hair just as fast if not faster

[peppy]

I guess dealing with public restrooms all my life I have become very used to how nasty plumbing can be. My main rule is don't get it in your mouth, you can wash it off of everything else.

I remember I was about 10 and the main sewer line had stopped up at the restaurant. I spent a few hours in the manhole at the edge of the street pushing a sewer snake. That night as I was in the tub dad comes in and dumps a 1/2 gallon of Clorox in the water with me.

[Seahawk]

We replaced a lot of the old sink drains with different sizes of these depending:



Much less complicated and easy to clean. $9.00.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

We replaced a lot of the old sink drains with different sizes of these depending:


00.

That must function on the same principle as the ones I have. The wire at the bottom is identical. I didn’t take time to try to understand how it operates. Mine are plastic and that looks like metal. If these things give me anymore trouble Im going to look for the metal ones.

[Zeke]

@wdfifteen, 1/8th wire rope would be better. Tie wrap, zip tie, same thing. Kleenex, tissue. Ty Rap is a trademark so that's where I got it. Cable ties is another but that excludes duct ties.

But they do knot up due to their flat shape. I suspect wire rope would do the same at some point but I like the idea. A 3 foot length with a swage at one end to chuck up w/o fraying would sell well as an item.

[Scott Douglas]

So you have to reach down through the standing water to pop it back up to get it to drain?

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

So you have to reach down through the standing water to pop it back up to get it to drain?

Just like the kitchen sink plugs, yes.

Never been an issue.

[wdfifteen]

Scott, yes!

[Scott Douglas]

OK!
Thanks guys, appreciate it.

Our tub drain has a plug that screws into the drain and is pulled up/down to seal it. I've removed it as it only traps 'stuff' better and we just use a rubber stopper when the grandkids need to take a bath when here.

[Bill Douglas]

Those sink/basin unblocking products work really well. they contain a whole lot of caustic soda also known as lye, and they dissolve gunk fast.

Me being a bit Scottish I hate to give my money to someone else for a job I can do myself. So I've completely re-plumbed about six houses. It's quite easy.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Just like the kitchen sink plugs, yes.

Never been an issue.

There's a toe tap model for a tub as well.

[GH85Carrera]

I hate plumbing, and every "simple 5 minute project" becomes an multi trip to the store ordeal.

There are just three easy rules to being a plumber.

S**t flows downhill.
Never ever lick you fingers
Payday is Friday.

I have a slow drain on my bathroom lavatory drain. No doubt it is just collects toothpaste, beard hair trimmings and soap buildup. "All I have to do" is take apart the P trap, and clean it out. I will wait until it gets even slower to get full benefit of the project.

[KFC911]

Freshly renovated, all new plumbing in the bathrooms ... easy access .... long runs though... TP clogs ....

...on down the line(s) .... several times now .

I would seriously purchase the two different beasts the plumber used recently .... different calls after my attempts ... and I had rentals .

Hell naw ... Ronnie just lives a few miles away, and he's a good dude ... said day/night/holidaze ... doesn't matter .... works for me.

What do y'all do for clogs like that?

[Bill Douglas]

KFC, I bought one of those cheap Chinese made drain unblockers that look like a wound up spring and has a small auger on the end. And you power it up with a powerful electric drill. It works very well and you don't have to wait for a plumber/drain man to schedule you for a few days time.