Always got 2+ projects on my plate. I fix one thing. Something else breaks.
Never fails. Guess it's like that for many folks.

Little brick bungalow in midwest US, built in 1954.

The bath sink drain stopped up very abruptly last nite. It's always run slow,
has what looks like 1.25 " pipe running into the wall. All original
plumbing in bathroom.

I put bakg soda, Drano crystal, and a pot of boiling water down it. Plungered
it. No help. Got out my $6 snake, no help. Bought a $30 Ridgid auger, worked
and worked it, no help.

There's 2 little closets between the bathroom and a bedroom. The big stack
runs right by the toilet, and is maybe 4' from where the drain enters the
wall. I got an easy 4' of snake thru there at least twice unless I miss my
guess. Snake feels like it bottoms, but I figger it just ran into the far side
of the big drain pipe.

What am I missing here? How could it still be stopped up? There's no
perceptible change in the restricted (maybe a teaspoon/minute) flow.

Liquid Plumber??

Any/all help much appreciated.

Puddin'

"Law Without Equity Is No Law At All. It Is A Form Of Jungle Rule."

"Puddin' Man" wrote in message
...
Always got 2+ projects on my plate. I fix one thing. Something else
breaks.
Never fails. Guess it's like that for many folks.

Little brick bungalow in midwest US, built in 1954.

The bath sink drain stopped up very abruptly last nite. It's always run
slow,
has what looks like 1.25 " pipe running into the wall. All original
plumbing in bathroom.

I put bakg soda, Drano crystal, and a pot of boiling water down it.
Plungered
it. No help. Got out my $6 snake, no help. Bought a $30 Ridgid auger,
worked
and worked it, no help.

There's 2 little closets between the bathroom and a bedroom. The big
stack
runs right by the toilet, and is maybe 4' from where the drain enters the
wall. I got an easy 4' of snake thru there at least twice unless I miss
my
guess. Snake feels like it bottoms, but I figger it just ran into the far
side
of the big drain pipe.

What am I missing here? How could it still be stopped up? There's no
perceptible change in the restricted (maybe a teaspoon/minute) flow.

Liquid Plumber??

Any/all help much appreciated.

Puddin'

Got a wet/dry vac? Someone told me about this, and it's worked more than
once.

You have to make sure you have water in the trap, take a wet rag/wash cloth
& cover the over flow. Turn on vac, suck out the drain. Repeat several
times making sure to fill the trap with water. Covering the overflow with
a _wet_ rag is very important, otherwise the vac will just suck the air.

Don't try any compressed air, I know someone who thought they had a better
idea. It blew the joints apart @ the trap.

Puddin' Man wrote:
Always got 2+ projects on my plate. I fix one thing. Something else breaks.
Never fails. Guess it's like that for many folks.

Little brick bungalow in midwest US, built in 1954.

The bath sink drain stopped up very abruptly last nite. It's always run slow,
has what looks like 1.25 " pipe running into the wall. All original
plumbing in bathroom.

I put bakg soda, Drano crystal, and a pot of boiling water down it. Plungered
it. No help. Got out my $6 snake, no help. Bought a $30 Ridgid auger, worked
and worked it, no help.

There's 2 little closets between the bathroom and a bedroom. The big stack
runs right by the toilet, and is maybe 4' from where the drain enters the
wall. I got an easy 4' of snake thru there at least twice unless I miss my
guess. Snake feels like it bottoms, but I figger it just ran into the far side
of the big drain pipe.

What am I missing here? How could it still be stopped up? There's no
perceptible change in the restricted (maybe a teaspoon/minute) flow.

Liquid Plumber??

Any/all help much appreciated.

Puddin'

"Law Without Equity Is No Law At All. It Is A Form Of Jungle Rule."

Take it all apart and clean the soap scum and hairballs out of the trap,
and where the arm for the stopper comes into the tailpiece?

A 1954 trap will likely disintegrate as soon as you touch a wrench to
it, so have new parts sitting on the floor next to you. They are cheap,
and the job is enough of a PITA that I replace them as a matter of
course when I take a drain apart. You can buy PVC kits that replace
everything from the tail coming out of sink to the compression fitting
on the wall. If drain is exposed (vanities were rare in the 50s), and
looks matter to you, you can still get the chromed brass stuff, for a
little more money.

If you wanna keep trying chemicals, I have had the best luck with the
binary cleaners- two liquids in a siamese jug. But that may be a
function of my local water and the brand of soap I use.
--
aem sends...

On Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:31:45 -0400, aemeijers wrote:

Take it all apart and clean the soap scum and hairballs out of the trap,
and where the arm for the stopper comes into the tailpiece?

I cleaned the trap, etc after the hot water failed to help.
The stopper is permanently stuck "up": damaged years ago.

A 1954 trap will likely disintegrate as soon as you touch a wrench to
it, so have new parts sitting on the floor next to you. They are cheap,
and the job is enough of a PITA that I replace them as a matter of
course when I take a drain apart.

So did I , years ago. Likely more than once.

You can buy PVC kits that replace
everything from the tail coming out of sink to the compression fitting
on the wall. If drain is exposed (vanities were rare in the 50s), and
looks matter to you, you can still get the chromed brass stuff, for a
little more money.

All that's left is maybe an inch of the pipe going into the wall.
Just enough to get the PVC compression fitting on.

If you wanna keep trying chemicals, I have had the best luck with the
binary cleaners- two liquids in a siamese jug. But that may be a
function of my local water and the brand of soap I use.

I'll try anything the way it's looking now.

Thx,
P

"Law Without Equity Is No Law At All. It Is A Form Of Jungle Rule."

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 21:16:07 -0400, "Larry" wrote:

Got a wet/dry vac? Someone told me about this, and it's worked more than
once.

You have to make sure you have water in the trap, take a wet rag/wash cloth
& cover the over flow. Turn on vac, suck out the drain. Repeat several
times making sure to fill the trap with water. Covering the overflow with
a _wet_ rag is very important, otherwise the vac will just suck the air.

Not sure I understand. It'll suck the water in the trap up, and then
what? Suck some gook out of the drain pipe embedded in the wall
over 4 feet away(hopefully)?

Don't try any compressed air, I know someone who thought they had a better
idea. It blew the joints apart @ the trap.

I wouldn't necessarily mind except for the trap water. Sounds like
forced air might be more effective than vacuum. Maybe force gook
from little drain pipe into big one (where it's not a problem)?

Thx,
P

"Law Without Equity Is No Law At All. It Is A Form Of Jungle Rule."