[mrslap]

I am having trouble with a tub drain in a house that I have just moved into. The tub take about an hour to drain. I have tried drain cleaners, and they help a little for a short time but will still take 20 to 30 minutes to drain. I have tried to pulling out the drain lever on the tub witch is a rod with a spring like thing on the bottom but that does not make any difference. I do not know what else to try. The home is on a concrete slab and I have no access to the piping.

[speedball1]

No problem Slappy,

Remove the drain lever thingy and then pull the stopper up and out of the tub drain. You are now ready to send a snake down the open drain lever hole. You will hit a bend in the trap about 18"down. Crank and work your way around it and into the tub drain line. Now run out about 10 or 15 foot of snake. Now see if the tub doesn't drain any better. Cheers, Tom

[mrslap]

How do I get the stopper thing out when I remove the lever it has a sping thing on the end but no stopper

[freebie314]

If the drain has a drum trap it will be of no use to send a snake down the overflow,. and if the house is on a slab I'd guess the house is probably 30-50 years old so it probably has a drum trap..,. here is what you can try...
1. Remove the overflow cover and pull it out.
2. use a wet rag and plug the overflow with it, make sure its wedged nice and tight but make sure you can take it back out when you need to.
3. fill the tub with about 2 inches of water
4. pluge the heck out of the drain while holding the rag so it doesn't push out,. you'll probably pull a bunch of hair and soot back, Make sure you grab the hair before it goes back down the drain.
5. pull rag out of the overflow and re-assemble

Hope that works.

[speedball1]

"How do I get the stopper thing out when I remove the lever it has a sping thing on the end but no stopper"

The stopper is the thing in the tub that will close off the drain. It will pull right up and out giviing you free access to the trap and drain line. If there is no clean out cover plate on the floor the chances are that you have a "P" trap and not a drum trap. While it's true drum traps were used on tubs in the 30's and 40's they are forbidden by code since then unless specifically authorized by the inspector. You may try plunging but the surest way to clear a drain line is to snake it out. Good luck, Toim

[mrslap]

Thanks for the ideas I will try them.