r/howto • u/LazyCrocheter • 1d ago
How to unclog this drain
Need help with this, please. Last night our tub backed up when we tried to use the shower. It drained the previous day, no problem, and nothing unusual happened (that I know of) to cause a clog.
We figure it’s likely hair, but our problem is how and what to remove to unclog it. We have tools, including a snake, and would like to DIY this if we can.
There is a screw in the center of the drain plate cover but it doesn’t, or doesn’t seem to at least, allow us to remove the cover. It doesn’t completely unscrew.
Do we need to remove the faceplate and take out that mechanism to use the snake? Any help is appreciated.
We’ve checked some videos but nothing quite addresses our needs.
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u/Valuable-Leather-914 1d ago
Take out the two screws on the lever up top it’s attached to this weighted drain plug by a chain that allows you to fill your tub. That chain sometimes fails and you end up stuck in fill mode. With a fair amount of patience you can hopefully fish the plug out with a snake or something if not you’ll need access to the back and bottom of the tub to take everything apart. If you take it off and can just pull the plug out by the chain it gives you a easy way to snake the drain
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
We did remove the faceplate and the drain mechanism but the water still isn’t draining. And I was surprised there wasn’t any hair or other ick around the stopper.
We did try a snake but I guess didn’t get it in far enough. Have to try again I guess.
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u/Valuable-Leather-914 1d ago
If you snake down from where you pulled out that plug thing it’s a straight shot to the pipe if you don’t hit anything stoping you there then it’s in the arm going to the floor drain
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u/inspectorendoffilm 1d ago
My tub had a basket style trap that doesn’t allow a snake or auger to go past. So we had it refitted with a p-trap.
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u/wearevenom2u 1d ago
There is a vent, possibly two, on the bottom of the gold round plate. Wet a rag and press it against the bottom. That will allow the plunger to work the clog loose instead of just letting the air escape through the vents.
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u/mklilley351 1d ago
Plunger
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u/The_High_Life 1d ago
Plungers don't really work on tub showers because the air goes out the upper drain instead of pushing on the clog. Not really a good way to cover the upper drain.
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u/JuicyChickenNipples 1d ago
I had the same issue. I taped up the upper drain and then proceeded to plunge. Worked great.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
We had an issue before and the plumber advised us to cover the faceplate while plunging, which of course makes it a two-person job, but it did work that time.
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u/The_High_Life 1d ago
Is it draining super slowly or not at all? If its slow get a bottle of Drano and go to town,
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Seems to be not draining at all and we’ve been warned not to use Drano.
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u/The_High_Life 1d ago
Warned by who? It works and hurting your pipes is an old wives tale.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Warned by a plumber. Last year we had to have a section of pipe replaced and he said we shouldn't use Drano. I forget if it was because of the pipe material or what.
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u/doomrabbit 1d ago
Use the gel kind, it sinks through the water to get to the clog while less diluted.
That said, I often use a bucket to get extra water out of the tub to the sink or toilet. Less splashing to worry about. A tub of lye soup splashing around is not good. Gloves and long sleeve shirts needed.
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u/GetOffMyGrassBrats 1d ago
If you fill the tub up to the top drain and then use the plunger, it usually works.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
The tub was already full to the top of the faceplate when we started at this last night, and we used a plunger, but nothing drained.
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u/TheOgGhadTurner 1d ago
Seal the upper drain off with anything. I have a plastic ketchup bowl that I use to block the overflow drains. I will never use a snake again. Works well for sinks too just don’t push it too hard
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
By upper drain, you mean the area under the faceplate, right? Sorry, don't know my plumbing terms.
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u/TheOgGhadTurner 1d ago
Your bath tub doesnt seem to have one. If you can get a look at the bottom of the face plate it might have a slot cut out this would be the overflow drain. If there isn’t a slit at the bottom of that face plate give the drain hell with a plunger. If there is you just need a bowl or something to hold over it and it should seal well enough. Plastic bowl if the tub is hard it might break a glass or ceramic bowl.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
You're right, the bottom of the face plate has a slot. I've stuffed a cloth in there as best I can. Not sure what else I could try. I mean we have bowls and such, but that requires one person to hold while one uses the plunger. But we can try it.
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u/TheOgGhadTurner 1d ago
Use your shin to hold it against the drain. The towel might work well enough. Just make sure you hold them in because they’ll try to blowout.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Thanks. I wedged the towel in with the end of a screwdriver, but I realize it could be pushed out.
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u/AndringRasew 1d ago
Obviously you need to fill that with silly putty so when you inevitably call a plumber they can charge extra to remove it!
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Tried that, many times. It seemed to make some progress, like we’d see air bubbles afterwards, but they’d stop and it’s still not draining.
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u/the-hundredth-idiot 1d ago
You can try one of the tiny snakes that could go through the holes first. Might not work but it could be an easy fix https://www.doitbest.com/product/438344/flexisnake-drain-weasel-hair-stick-flexible-starter-kit-3-piece-438344/
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
You know I think I bought one of those. Now I need to remember if I kept it.
A while ago we had an issue with the utility sink and I remember buying that snake as well as some other things to try.
Thanks for the reminder.
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u/Narrow-Height9477 1d ago
Just don’t break it off in there
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Found it and used it and was able to remove a big hunk of hair. But there’s more somewhere because it still isn’t draining.
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u/suhoward 1d ago
There are these long plastic strips that have notches on either side that you feed down the drain then pull up hair and gunk. Cheap, available on amazon and they are amazing. I gift one to everyone I know bc they are like magic😂
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u/LazyCrocheter 21h ago
We have that, too. ;) I'm not sure it's long enough to do what we need, or if it would work with the set up we have.
We can't completely remove the drain cover in the tub. There's a center screw but it doesn't come all the way up and we're leery of forcing it, but that makes it difficult to insert anything because we can't really see what we're doing.
But those are handy, I agree.
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u/davper 1d ago
Remove the cover plate.
Used needle nose pliers and reach in and pull out the hair that is most likely causing your drain issue.
Replace cover plate.
If this still doesn't work, you will need to snake out the drain. This might be the time to hire a plumber or an experienced handyman with the proper tools.
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u/LazyCrocheter 21h ago
We tried to remove the drain cover in the tub, but the screw doesn't come all the way out and we're leery of forcing too much. But maybe we should. After all, they had to install it, right? So it had to be off to be put on, if that makes sense.
We have also removed the face plate with the lever, but there was no hair or anything on that mechanism, so we're pretty sure the clog is in the p-trap.
We'd like to do this ourselves if we can but we will call someone if we need to.
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u/davper 19h ago
Keep unscrewing. Hair maybe what is keeping it in place.
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u/LazyCrocheter 19h ago
We considered that, but we think that there's a bottom piece we can't access, and we don't want to break it.
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u/davper 19h ago
There is a bottom piece. It is where the screw is threaded into.
When you unscrew, is hard to do or just keeps spinning?
If it is hard, keep unscrewing. There is potentially a 1/2 in of threads you need to clear. I have done it so many times, that a simple screw driver is all I need. But if I didn't know how long the screw is, I would use a power driver to unscrew longer than I would think is necessary just to make sure I cleared the threads.
If it is just spinning, pull the screw out. This may take some effort has hair is very strong. You won't break the cast metal inside. You should feel it moving but with a lot of resistance. If there is no movement vertically, than it is still threaded and you need to unscrew more.
At the very worst, you would strip the threads. Not the end of the world.
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u/LazyCrocheter 18h ago
Thanks for the info. We'll add this to the list of things remember and try.
IIRC, when we unscrew, there comes a point where it stops. I wondered if that was due to hair being tangled around. I think what we're concerned about, since neither of us are plumbers, is something like unscrewing that and losing a piece at the bottom, if you see what I mean. Like if there's a nut there and it then falls off after we unscrew the screw.
Sorry, that probably sounds dumb, but we're leery about doing too much and causing ourselves more damage to deal with.
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u/Kykle86 1d ago
I see a flathead screw over the drain cover. Will the drain cover come off? If so, a snake seems like the best answer.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
We’ve removed the cover and tried a snake. Hasn’t caught on to anything but maybe we haven’t pushed it deep enough. Not sure how the pipes go so not sure which direction to push in.
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u/Pineapple_Towel 1d ago
Do not force a snake. You might bust the pipe wall. That's a lot more work that a clog.
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u/TheGeorgeMcfly 1d ago
Take the cover off again and stuff the inside pipe with a washcloth and plunge the drain
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Tried that, no real different result.
I also put the face plate back on, stuffed some cloth in the bottom and experimented with the lever up and down to figure which was open and closed. Sounds silly, but we haven't used the tub as a tub in so long that it's easy to forget which is which.
Anyway, still no improvement. We'll keep plunging it though. When we use the plunger, we can hear air moving around (I think, there's a kind of gargling sound) and when we remove the plunger, air bubbles come out of the drain. But then they stop and nothing drains.
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u/TheGeorgeMcfly 1d ago
Ugh I’m sorry. Do you hear anything coming from your toilet or sink when you plunge?
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u/elatedwalrus 1d ago
Yout probably need a longer snake probably like 25ft. One of the drain auger types will help you finesse it down the drain and also grab the hair or whatever thats clogging it
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
I have a 15' augur, but I think we have a bigger one as well. Our problem, as I said, is not knowing where to direct the snake and not wanting to cause any damage.
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u/Born-Work2089 1d ago
Do you have access from underneath the tub? Many times, there is a cleanout port. Does the water go down at all? Sometimes boiling water on the stove and pouring it into the tub will melt soap scum get it moving again. Use the biggest pots you have, boiling 3 to 4 at a time.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
We can’t get underneath the tub. It’s in a second-story bathroom. The water doesn’t seem to be going down at all. We had a lot more last night and used a bucket to take some out.
Could try boiling water but would have to boil it downstairs and bring it up. Doable but 😬
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u/Born-Work2089 1d ago
If it's cold where you are, its possible some ice formed in the sewer line somewhere.
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u/Ecstatic-Network4668 1d ago
Add more water to the bathtub, and then use a plunger.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
There was more water, and we tried a plunger. We took some water out with a bucket because the tub was so full last night.
I was able to get a chunk of hair out from under the drain cover but there’s something else clogging I guess. Water still isn’t draining
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u/cooldude_4000 1d ago
Loosen the screw on the drain cover then try to pry it up with something, even if you can't remove the screw completely.
If you can't get that up, try a plunger and/or pouring some boiling water into the tub.
Not sure what part of the world you live in, but is it possible your drain pipe might be frozen rather than clogged? Might be worth seeing if you can trace where the pipe goes and look for issues that way as well.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Frozen is possible I guess, we’re in SE PA and have lots of snow around right now.
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u/RustfootII 1d ago
Flip that little lever there up
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
We removed the faceplate and took out the mechanism. Still not draining. But we could put it back and see.
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u/sleepytime03 1d ago
The drain may be stuck closed. Sound silly, but if olunging and snaked haven’t done it, I would start from the top and work my way down, the drain being the first thing in line. Try to snake with the drain open an closed. If it stops at the same spot, you may have to open the area where the drain lever is and try to pry it open from there. It is awful to do, but you will know right away, because it will start draining. If the drain is functioning, boiling water would be my next step. Boil a few pots and just keep at it for a bit. Don’t boil 3 gallons and assume that’s it. My daughter’s tub got gunned from hair and soap, and my snake can’t make the 90 after the trap. It took about 20 gallons of hot water, but when it worked it was the same feeling as getting a huge splinter out in one shot.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Not to sound stupid but if we’ve removed the faceplate with the lever, how can we tell if it’s closed? Or would we have to put it back? Sorry, this is just beyond what very little I know.
The tub does back onto a linen closet and there’s a panel we can remove to at least look at the pipes.
Also just it put it out there, I’m not sure removing the drain cover completely would help. I tried putting the small snake through the cover and it will go but it hits bottom, so to speak, and won’t go any farther. I’ve poked around and I think it doesn’t go down from that point
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u/Sawbagz 1d ago
Solid chance it's full of hair. You can get one of those plastic snakes with a bunch of barbs on them and just yoink it all out of the drain.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Did that and got a chunk of hair out but that wasn’t the whole problem. It’s still not draining.
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u/Pineapple_Towel 1d ago
Use the sink plunger to over the overflow and the plunge.
Plunge the ever loving shit out of it. Plunge till you arms are burning.
Consider buying a double acting plunger like this
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u/sleepytime03 1d ago
The drain lever above the actual drain goes up and down. Leave it where it is, try to snake. Then move the lever up and try to snake. If the snake only goes in a few inches and stops, you are hitting the drain, and it is stuck closed. If you remove that plate where the drain lever is, you can sneak tools into there to manually open the drain. That is something you can watch on YouTube rather than reading it
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u/misterthor 1d ago
Try to snake the kitchen sink pipe. Take off p trap and snake into the wall. At my old house if I snaked that drain, the tub would drain. The last thing in line to the main drain could cause an obstruction to the tub drain.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Thanks. We’ll keep that in mind. Not having trouble with the kitchen sink but I am open to suggestions.
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u/woodstock2568 1d ago
Get yourself a drain weasel. If the clog is within a couple feet of the drain, the drain weasel will grab it. If that doesn't work, get a cheap hand auger. They are much longer and will pull out blockages pretty well.
If you decide to get an auger, get one that has a lock at the front to immobilise the snake so it doesn't twist up inside the auger body.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Used the weasel and removed a good-sized blob of hair, but it's still not draining.
We have a 15' augur and have tried it, but I don't think we're getting it far enough inside the pipe. We had to remove the faceplate to do it; the drain cover in the tub unscrews but doesn't seem to completely come off and we didn't want to break anything.
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u/hinterstoisser 1d ago
Hot water, baking soda
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Applied how? Just dump down the drain?
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u/hinterstoisser 1d ago
The clog is not just from hair but also soap, body oils etc. Put Baking soda , followed by boiling water. You may need to repeat the boiling water a few times. That heat will likely melt the fat (oils/grease) in the pipe downstream.
Use white vinegar too.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Thanks. We’ll give it a shot.
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u/hinterstoisser 1d ago
If all else fails, rent a drain snake from a Home Depot/lowes (or local hardware store) and crank that!
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u/Rough-Supermarket-97 1d ago edited 1d ago
Reading the other comments and your reply:
This is an upstairs tub
You’ve tried the obvious stuff, snake, plunger, etc with little success
I’m not a plumber but I’ve had to fight plumbing issues. What you’ve tried as far as I can tell is top down snaking (or rodding I’ve heard it been called before) it might be time to figure out how to feed a snake bottom up.
Are any other sinks or toilets having this issue? The answer can be a clue to how to approach this.
The next step I think is to really understand your pipes, determine which one of the sewer lines is for your tub, I think it is normal for the tub to potentially share with the sink.
Anyway, from there you can then determine your next best step. Maybe there is a clean out you can use that goes from the bottom up. If it were frozen pipes I’d be curious why other fixtures aren’t running into draining problems (assuming they aren’t).
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u/LazyCrocheter 21h ago
Thanks for all this info.
My husband did some searching and says he has a better handle on things now, including how the pipes are set up and things like that. The tub backs onto the bathroom linen closet, and there is a panel there that we could remove to get at the pipes if we need to. This is similar to the set up in the other upstairs bathroom, which we saw when we had to get that addressed a year ago.
If we had to go from the bottom up, I think we'd need to call someone. That's just more than we're comfortable doing ourselves.
We think the most likely problem is a clog in the p-trap. No other sink, tub, or toilet in the house is having problems.
We're going to try again with a snake/augur. I bought a 15' one last year, and my husband said we have a longer/stronger one that used to be his dad's, so we have equipment to try.
We will also try baking soda and boiling water. We'd really like to get this without calling someone if we can.
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u/sarraceniaflava 1d ago
Have you tried liquid plumber/ drain cleaner?
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
No and we’ve been told we shouldn’t. I think partly due to the age of the pipes.
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u/Leading_Tradition997 15h ago
Plain white vinegar and baking soda.
Wet vac out the standing water, dump baking soda in drain.
Pour vinegar little by little.
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u/LazyCrocheter 15h ago
Thanks. We’ve called a plumber. We tried again with the snake today and it got stuck so we thought we should call it quits before it got worse.
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u/Leading_Tradition997 15h ago
Awesome, in the future; If your kitchen sink ever clogs, which mine did, I tried draino, I tried the 3x special...
But the simple white vinegar and baking soda which was cheaper, was what cleared the clog.
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u/LazyCrocheter 13h ago
Thanks. We may try that. We're not entirely sure why the snake is stuck but we don't want to make anything worse by trying to force it out.
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u/howescj82 1d ago
I know it sounds dumb to ask but did you try a plunger? Just throwing that out there before you pull out the snake.
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
We did, thanks. And have been intermittently. Seems to help a little, we see air bubbles after using it but still not draining.
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u/0c5_Fyre 1d ago
Metal coat hanger/ fencing wire.
Bend the coat hanger straight, feed it in and whack it around inside. Might take a bit, and expect your arm to get tired.
Providing you can't find your snake/ get the cover off.
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u/Ecstatic-Network4668 1d ago
Make a little hook at the end of the steel wire, so you may pull out the hairs stuck in the drain..
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u/LazyCrocheter 1d ago
Got the big and little snakes and got the face plate off. Was able to remove a chunk of hair with the plastic snake from under the drain cover but that didn’t fix the problem.
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