Blocked Bath

jbatista

:mad: Please help and enlighten if you can!
We live in a 1950s semi...original cast iron bath and pipework in....its never happened until last night...washed sons hair after cut and rinsed away water but didnt notice till this morning when I came to bath that the pipes blocked and some water still in bath, I first thought it maybe frozen pipes...not so sure though now,,,put a few kettles of boiling water down thee and nothing,,,called dyno rod man out as we have B Gas plumbing insurance with them and he didnt turn up until after 5pm...he plunged a few times and nothing at all, except for a slight trickle outside....he is coming back tomorrow at 10am....
anyone else have any ideas what it may be...Dyno Rod man says pipe may be frozen outside...if its not that then he will have to take the side panel off the bath...I think it maybe fixed to the bath though and I really do not want him breaking it

ormus

very rare for a bath waste pipe to be frozen up.
more likely to be blocked. 90% of the time a good plunging clears it up.
sometimes you do have to dismantle the trap underneath.

jbatista

So does that mean getting into the bath through the side panel??? Sorry but have no idea at all!!!
The bloke did mention that Dyno Rod dont touch old piping either...any ideas on that too???

ormus

you bath should be summat like this one.
a very old pipe will be lead and not plastic. this maybe a problem.

phill99

He will have to take off the side panel. It wont be attached to the bath. It'll be screwed in on a timber frame. It should come out as one piece.

DVardysShadow

You can always try caustic soda and warm water, leave to soak. Generally shifts most stuff, but sometimes to where it bocks more effectively

jbatista

Thanx all I cant see any screws attatched to the bloody side panel..its driving me crazy, have Mr Muscled it and its not even shifted it at all...I really dont know what to do...and what could bea problem with leadpiping???
Thankyou all fro your replys

jbatista

Thanxforyour replys..I have just put some Mr Muscledown and it hasnt shifted one bit!
Why could the leadpip be a problem???
I m the end of my tether with this bloody house full stop...grrr the panel I acant find any screws at all for it...

ormus

sometimes the lead pipe had no access holes/plates. the whole thing was "welded" from end to end.
so its cheaper and easier to replace the whole lot with plastic pipe.

TomsMom

Could there be a build up of hair? If you wash your hair over the bath most people lose a certain amount with each wash, women having longer hair than most men tend to have more come out and either go down the plughole of block it. If it could be this then unbend a wire coathanger and poke it down the plughole, see if you can fish anything out.

If that doesn't help fill the plughole with Soda crystals, add some white vinegar, let it fizz, add more vinegar, more fizz. When fizzing stops follow with boiling water. Also Proprietary brands of drain unblocker.

keystone

ormus wrote: »

sometimes the lead pipe had no access holes/plates. the whole thing was "welded" from end to end.
so its cheaper and easier to replace the whole lot with plastic pipe.

If you can get the wretched thing off the bath with the bath in situ! Lost count of the number of knuckles I've lost to these. LoL!

Cheers