TomR wrote:
I am going to meet with a friend of mine in a couple of hours to see
if I can help him with a clogged/slow drain issue. I haven't seen it
yet, but so far, he seems to be saying that it is mostly a bathtub
(and maybe a sink in the same bathroom) that has a slow drain
problem. I think he said he tried to unclog it before but had some
problems with it, and he wants to know if by looking at it if I could
figure out how to correct the problem.
Of course, we'll be doing the routine stuff -- using a plunger, a
snake, one of those plastic hair-cleaning gadgets, maybe Liquid
Plumber, etc.
But, I was wondering if anyone has ever tried using acid -- probably
not something too strong, but maybe diluted acid or whatever. I know
about keeping acid off of porcelain, and I know about adding
acid-to-water and not water-to-acid from chemistry classes and past
experience. And, since it is someone else's house, I don't want to
mess up their drain lines with too much or too strong of acid.

Any thoughts or experiences on the acid idea and any specific
suggestions would be appreciated.

Again, I am going there in a couple of hours, but I'll check here
beforehand just in case anyone gets to respond before then.

Also, I may just pass on the whole acid idea unless someone here has
any suggestions that we may want to try.

My favorite solution to plugged pipes is using a garden hose and a couple rags.
Stick the end of the hose down the drain. Wrap a rag around it and stuff it down
the drain to form a seal so water can't come back out. Press another rag over
the overflow drain, if any, and holding both rags firmly in place, have your
assistant turn on the hose, going up to full blast if the water is not all just
forcing it's way back out past the rags. Pull everything out - problem solved.