All of a sudden, our bath tub won’t drain. Not at all. I emptied it with a bucket and used a plunger, and added an entire bottle of Drano. The Drano is just sitting there, not going anywhere. This has always been a slow drain, but it never totally stopped before. Time to call a plumber. Or maybe I’ll just buy a snake and see whether that works.
If you have trees in your front yard, it will be an expensive visit.
~VOW
Shame you started with the Drano.
Before you call the plumber, go buy yourself a heavy duty pair of rubber gloves and one of these little helpers: The Zip-It flexible drain cleaner/hair remover. No household should be without one. They’re about $3-4, and they do an amazing job.
Be careful to not get Drano splashed on you while you use it. Worth a try before you go for the expensive plumber option.
Good luck!
After you get this fixed remember that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
In other words you don’t want the hair to go down the drain–where it clogs. You want to catch it in a bathroom strainer instead.
https://www.google.com/search?q=bathroom+strainer&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=ACYBGNSxztoS488dZvSKpDWPWtLQ65n6WQ:1575593751112&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj7peGO6J_mAhX1HzQIHUrRAHYQ_AUoAnoECDUQBA&biw=1280&bih=605
If you are going to use a plunger, remember to stuff a rag in the overflow drain first. Otherwise the air that you pump in will just come out the overflow instead of moving the clog. Apologies if you already tried that, but many people forget.
Also, regarding the use of a plunger, (spoiler - possible debate topic!) I was taught “the proper way to use a plunger” by grandpa.
Instead of plunging rhythmically up-and-down to dislodge the clog, the proper way to use a plunger is to first push the plunger down slowly, to equalize the pressure underneath, and then once the seal is good, quickly pull up in a sharp motion. The theory is to dislodge the clog upward, rather than push it further (and tighter) into place.
This method is splashier, so since you’ve got Drano sitting there be very careful of the splash. Drano is really just bleach in a thickened liquid, so it will bleach out fabrics if it splashes on.
Is it freezing temperatures outside. Drain pipes freeze if water is standing in them.
Humor me: what kind of stopper does your tub have?
Correction. Drano IS NOT really just bleach. Bleach is Sodium Hypochlorite while Drano is Sodium Hydroxide (lye).
While bleach is dangerous because it will release active chlorine, lye is much worse because it will dissolve proteins and cause you to go blind. Your entire body is made of protein, so it will be bad news if you get it on your skin. It will permanently blind you if you get it in your eyes. It will not only bleach colors from fabrics, it will eat holes in fabrics.
Not that bleach is nice to get on you or your clothes, but you really have to be much more careful with lye.
–End of public service announcement. We will return to you to your normal programming.–
Addendum to above PSA:
Crystal Drano (in a small can) is Sodium Hydroxide, which is lye. Handle with extreme care!
Liqiud Drano (in a plastic jug with a handle) is Sodium Hypochlorite, which is bleach. The liquid has other stuff to make it thicker and heavier, so it will sink in standing water and hopefully dissolve the clog.
Both are extremely harmful to life products. Handle carefully, store properly.
HERE’S THE IMPORTANT PART!
Do NOT mix the two products!
You might think, “I have a really bad clog, I’ll send in all the troops!”
Please don’t. Mixing these two products will create a poison gas which could kill you.
The bathtub drain is likely the lowest drain in the house. If you have a blockage of the main line (the one that goes to the street to connect to everybody else’s sewage), the first drain in the house to feel the pain of the blockage will be the lowest drain.
Most homeowners do not have the ability to clear tree roots.
Call a plumber. The plumber will also know how to safely deal with whatever you have tried to use in the drain.
~VOW
If you can get to the underside of the tub, just open up the trap and clean it.
Dennis
If it’s a “toggle switch” trip-lever style, take out the two screws from the vent plate and remove the whole contraption. There should be a metal or plastic cylinder on the end, if that cylinder is missing, it’s still down in the pipes blocking the drain.
I got to wondering why there were two different types of Drano. I mean, if the crystals work, why make a liquid version? And I found this, on Wiki:
[bolding mine]
So Liquid Drano really DOES contain lye and is not just viscous bleach. But then if lye and bleach shouldn’t be mixed together–and it sure sounds unwise to me–then how do they get mixed in Drano? Is there some third substance that safely combines the two? As is plain, chemistry was not my best subject.
Once when I had a clogged tub drain and nothing else worked, I broke out the wet/dry vac, covered the overflow with a towel, stuck the hose in the drain hole and turned the machine on. A few seconds of really horrible noises and POP out came a shampoo bottle cap. It was only slightly narrower than the drain opening and was jammed in the pipe just past the hole. If the vacuum hadn’t worked, it would have required… a big fucking mess, so I was lucky it did work.
Nice trick! I’ll have to file that in the memory bank in case I need to do something similar. That also works for cleaning out the AC drip line if it gets clogged with alge.
If you fill up the tub about halfway, it makes it easier to keep plunging since there will always be water in the pipe. If you plunge when there’s just a little bit of water in the tub, when it drains out the air in the pipe will make the process not as effective.
You’re right. I mistakingly assumed sodium hypochlorite was an acid, it’s actually a base. Small amounts of NaOH (lye, the main ingredient of crystal Drano) are added to stabilize the bleach, so it remains effective longer.
I do know that bleach–sodium hypochlorite–mixed with ammonia, which is a base, will produce poisonous gas that can kill you, especially when enclosed in a nice, small bathroom. I thought sodium hypochlorite + sodium hydroxide was an acid/base reaction, such as the reaction when you mix vinegar (acid) with baking soda (base). Bleach + ammonia is a different type of reaction, instead.
So, if manufacturers mix sodium hydoxide with sodium hypochlorate, can the frustrated homeowner do the same by mixing crystal Drano with liquid Drano. Yeah, okay.
I wouldn’t do it. I would never tell anyone else to do it, either. The mixed up mess can eat holes in stuff, like your hands, the bath towels, your rugs, your clothes…well, you get the idea. Unplugging a drain is a rather “splashy” task. Unless that chemical mixture will absolutely, positively open the plugged drain, the situation will have to be physically unclogged, by plunger, by snaking, by wet/dry vac. And that wet stuff puddling around the drain could very well damage the plunger or destroy the wet/dry vac. It probably will not hurt the snake, but the splashes and drips will eat holes in your towels and rugs.
The wet stuff around the drain would be a professional hazard a plumber should know how to handle. My guess is that a snake would be deployed from an outside access.
I really, really, REALLY think you should call a plumber.
~VOW
Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Dwayne.
Dwayne who?
Dwain the bathtub. I’m dwowning!
My plumber recommended these lye crystals. Wear face shield, gloves and long sleeve shirt. It will dissolve soap build up, hair and grease.
FDC 99% Pure Sodium Hydroxide/Pure Lye, 2 lb Jar https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013KMNCJU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_36S6DbYSR86C8
Note that one formulation contained sodium hydroxide, and the other sodium hypochlorite. The poison gas that people have mentioned being released by mixing the two is chlorine, which is what the “chlorite” refers to. And chlorine gas has been historically used as a poison gas in warfare, you really don’t want to breath the stuff.
Sodium hydroxide on the other hand is the chemical term for lye.
Uh, no. Read my extensive reply upthread. All sodium hypochlorite (bleach) has sodium hydroxide (lye) added to it to stabilize it, and give it a longer shelf life.
Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) mixed with ammonia causes an exothermic reaction where chlorine gas is released.
~VOW