Slow draining bathtub

Icey77

Afternoon all, does anyone have any suggestions for a slow drainnig bathtub? The water is pooling around my feet as I have a shower and doesn't drain away immediately.

I have just moved in so have no idea what may have been put down there before (if anything at all!). I'm hoping it is a mass of hair, shampoo and other gunk etc that is holding up the water.

Any suggestions gratefully received and will be tried.

Viper_7

I'd start with a commercial sink/drain unblocker.
I found the Mr Muscle gel stuff to be good. Just poor in so it fills the U-bend etc and leave overnight.

Then depending on the result will determine next steps.

kalaika

A plunger and a good ol' bit of elbow grease might be all that's needed. I had a smilar thing a few weeks back and when I went at it with a plunger it cleared almost straight away. I went outside to the drain to find out it was a glob of my wife's hair and other crap the size of my fist that had accumulated over time. Lovely...

MORPH3US

Alternatively if you have an aqua vac then you could suck the blockage (most likely hair) back out the other way.

M

MrsBartolozzi

This is cheaper and more eco friendly than pouring chemicals down the plughole.
I'd start with a cotton bud/skewer/crochet hook - something thin and longish, knitting needle etc.
Stick this down the plughole and twirl it about. You will soon see hair and gunk sticking to it (it can be really gross so you might want gloves esp as it's not your hair!). Just pull up the lump of gunk and keep doing this until you can't see anything else. Should only take a few minutes. Rinse it out and see if this fixes it. If not, try one of the other suggestions given above.

HTH MrsB.

The_Plush_Doormat

kalaika wrote: »

A plunger and a good ol' bit of elbow grease might be all that's needed. I had a smilar thing a few weeks back and when I went at it with a plunger it cleared almost straight away. I went outside to the drain to find out it was a glob of my wife's hair and other crap the size of my fist that had accumulated over time. Lovely...

I used a plunger and as much elbow grease as I could muster to unblock my kitchen sink. Small problem, I forgot to block the overflow outlet with a rag/cloth. Luckily it was only my own "gunk" that my arm got covered in. If it had been someone else's, I would have cried like a baby. Don't forgot to block the overflow

brig001

As MrsBartolozzi says, but I use a couple of pieces of copper wire twisted together and use it like a spaghetti fork. It can be messy, but effective.

Ebe_Scrooge

Another vote for the "twiddling around with a bit of bent wire" approach - an old wire coathanger, straightened out with a small hook bent onto the end using a pair of pliers is ideal. Simple, effective, and near as dammit free, in true MSE spirit.

Actually, even better is to remove the u-bend and give it a good clean - depends on your particular bath as to whether you can get to it easily or not, but if you can access it then it's dead easy to remove, clean and replace, and you can do a really thorough job on it ( just don't clean it out in the bath / sink that you've just removed it from ! ).

Canucklehead

Good morning: Plunger, drain snake/auger, pressure washer...never chemicals. The OH has pulled many strange items out of customers' wastes over the years including a variety of objects used in an attempt to clear the blockage by the home owner;)

HTH

Canucklehead

david39

Another suggestion, that worked for me :

Fill the bath with warm water, then pull the plug out for 10 seconds. Refit the plug for 30 seconds to let the pipe empty and pull it out again for 10 seconds. Continue with this action until the repeated sudden surges of water entering the pipe push the blockage through.

In my case the blockage, found in the drain grill outside, was a congealed mass of hair and soap.

Of course - if it doesn't work, you have the problem of emptying the bath!

skinback69

hi
if your gonna use a plunger make sure you block the over flow up this applies to blocked sinks and basins too and to be honest if a plunger doesnt work i would cut to the chase and pull the waste pipe apart and unblock it that way i would never waste money on the liquids or costic soda etc as this hardly ever works nor would i go for a peice of wire cause some times it can be sharpe and do more damage to the trap or pipe than good
if ur gonna pull it apart its always gonna be blocked on a bend or at the outlet were it goes into the soil stack if you cut into because it is glued together (solvent welded) buy a universal socket usually 1" 1/4 or 1" 1/2 to connect up after you have finished put a hose pipe down and flush it out both ways make sure you block the pipe up were the hose goes in with kitchen roll though so the water doesnt come back at you
hope this helps you out