Stormin Mormon wrote:
A friend of mine lives in a rental property. The toilet is in the
second floor bathroom. The toilet drains very, very slowly. And in
many cases needs pluging to get the waste down the drain.

As he tells me, plumber came out, and had the toilet off the base. He
(the tenant) could see that the drain line was clogged with
"crystals". I tried my closet auger, which did loosen up some dark
grey particles that came back into the bowl when I pulled out the
closet auger. Still drains slowly.

An internet search isn't being very useful. Not many web sites on
clearing crystal clogged soil pipe drains. The toilet is next to a
bath tub which does drain, probably rather slowly. And in the same
bathroom is a sink which does not drain at all.

Any ideas how to open up the toilet drain a bit? I'm thinking either a
longer snake (25 footer) through the toilet trap. Easier to do might
be pour some acid drain cleaner into the bath tub, or into the toilet
tank. Anyone had experience with that kind of clog, and what worked
for you?

Gosh, I've cleared a few drains but i have never seen any crystals.
Usually it is hair balls, baby wipes, food clogs, etc. do you have a
clue what these crystals are, a guess even?? You might try calling the
landlord but I know that doesn't always get results. At least try to
get permission before fooling with his plumbing.

My 50' snake cane with a bent piece of tubing which allows me to get it
through a toilet trap. It's a Milwukee and has pulled me out of a few
jams. I don't use it a lot, thankfully.

Link:
http://www.absolutehome.com/web/cata...1519E07B814BAD

A longer snake almost always does the trick for me. The rentals are
always crappy is how I ended up buying one. I've never had much luck
with the drain cleaners but for sure are worth a try.

The next step after using a longer snake is to snake it from
downstream. Since yours is on the second floor you might be able to
ask the downstairs people if their plumbing is ok, after doing all you
can upstairs. If it's not, they may not mind if you try snaking it
from their place.

In one place I lived I pulled out seven or eight big clogs before I got
it flowing. In another place I ended up snaking all the way out to
the street before we called in a real plumber who had a little camera
he used to actually look inside the sewer pipe. Turned out tree roots
were blocking the pipe and the whole front yard had to be dug up.
Good luck.

Lawrence