HELP! Drain blocked nothing seems to clear it!

HOLsale

our bathroom sink has been draining slowly all week. it will fill up about half way when you wash your hands and take about 15 minutes to drain

so i tried my tried and true vinegar and bicarb fix... didn't work

i tried the plunger... all that did was shove the water back up through the overflow and make a big mess :mad:

so we bought some expensive drain cleaner from tesco's... left it in for 6 hours (it says 15 minutes to a few hours) didn't do a thing! :eek: and i'm irritated because i get the distinct feeling it was just thick bleach :mad:

i've got some soda crystals in there now but they don't seem to be doing anything either

we're in university flats and they state quite explicity that if we have plumbing issues we'll likely be charged... i'm sure they'll find a way to blame it on us even if it's not our fault and we are soooooo broke right now (and i mean that very literally, the £2.99 we had to spend on drain cleaner hurt, it came out of the tiny food budget :mad: ) we just can't afford that

i have some metal skewers so i stuck them down the drain to feel around... there is something thick in there, think it might be hair... it would be my husbands beard hair and perhaps some from occasional haircuts (though i try my best to get most of that into the bin)

i can feel the skewers hit the ubend if i push them, but if i just stick them in part way they don't even slide down like they should... they just sit there, maybe tiltiing a wee bit :eek:

does anyone have any ideas whatsoever what we can do to solve this?

do we have to turn off the water supply if we want to take the ubend apart so we can see what's stuck in there?

HOW would we remove the U bend? we don't have any special tools...

any help would be soooo greatly appreciated, i'm really stressing over this and i've already got a huge helping of stress on my plate already :wall:

cheekymole

you don't need to turn the water off to remove the u-bend just unscrew it get rid of the gunge and screw it back on making sure the seals are still correctly in place. (DON'T turn the taps on with the u-bend off!)

rizla01

The U-Bend can easily be removed. Might have to use a pair of grips if too tight (Or painted over). no need to turn water off but a couple of towels underneath might be advised if no room for a tray/bowl.

That'll most probably be where the prob is. If elsewhere in a place that you cannot get to then go to the local plumbers merchants and purchase a couple of 'Bombs'.

Wonder if you've been doing some plastering/decorating/tiling and washed the implements in the sink?

dollop

Underneath your sink is the u bend place a bucket or pan underneath it then slowly unscrew the two sections where the u bend connects, any water collected to be caught by the bucket. Clean the u bend out and replace. Make sure you have the connections quite tight when you replace. Of course don`t run any water during the proceedure.

Noozan

You don't need any special tools. Put a bucket under the u bend before unscrewing it (speaking from personal experience ) and clearing out the blockage. If that doesn't work, try using caustic soda.

ChocClare

Ignore me if you did this already...

When you used the plunger, did you block up the overflow? A flannel will do, squashed in. Unless it's airtight, it WILL just come out of the overflow, and the plunger will do absolutely nothing at all - it's the force of the air that knocks the blockage out, so unless you block the overflow up it will just be forced out through that.

As I say, if you're saying, well DERR, then just ignore me!!

Mr_Proctalgia

All the above is good advice ,but, if still stuck go to Wilco's and get a tub of caustic soda and pour it down the drain, be aware that it will cause an exothermic reaction and may boil the water in the U bend so wear protective gear, leave the tap on a very very slow drip and overnight it will dissolve all organic products and leave you with pristine plumbing.

Hope this helps

Mrsbojangles_2

The best thing we ever bought for a blocked loo/drains is this can with air in it from B & Q was about £10 though! But you can use it over and over, its saved us twice now from having to call dynarod out, worked great and definately worth the money.

If you want more details on the name, drop me a PM and I will dig it out the garage in the morning for you x

HOLsale

rizla01 wrote:

Wonder if you've been doing some plastering/decorating/tiling and washed the implements in the sink?

no, they wouldn't take kindly to me altering their paintwork here :rotfl:

the only thing i can think of is that my 4 year old has dumped something down there... though what it could be i don't know... dh is wagering it's crayons :eek:

HOLsale

where do you get caustic soda? supermarket or chemist?

HOLsale

ChocClare wrote:

Ignore me if you did this already...

When you used the plunger, did you block up the overflow? A flannel will do, squashed in. Unless it's airtight, it WILL just come out of the overflow, and the plunger will do absolutely nothing at all - it's the force of the air that knocks the blockage out, so unless you block the overflow up it will just be forced out through that.

As I say, if you're saying, well DERR, then just ignore me!!

actually, no i hadn't done that :eek:

guess i didn't think about that.. i've only ever tried a plunger in a toilet before (which doesn't have this issue, thankfully!) i'll give that a shot before i undo the U bend, thank you