I just got off the phone with a tool rental guy. My tub is draining very slowly. I've tried plunging and a hand snake. Plunging does nothing and the hand snake seems to get stuck about 3 feet into the line. I do not see a drum anywhere. I called asking about an power auger and the guy recommended I use a pneumatic gun to clear the blockage. Will this damage my pipes?

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Originally Posted by larsgor

I just got off the phone with a tool rental guy. My tub is draining very slowly. I've tried plunging and a hand snake. Plunging does nothing and the hand snake seems to get stuck about 3 feet into the line. I do not see a drum anywhere. I called asking about an power auger and the guy recommended I use a pneumatic gun to clear the blockage. Will this damage my pipes?

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Unless you have a older house you have a "P" trap and not a drum trap.
Using air pressure is fine as long as the blockage is between you and a vent. If there's a vent between you and the clog the air simply goes up the vent.
Sounds great! Works lousy! Especially on a tub where you have a open overflow plate to exhaust the air. Having said that there is a way it could work. Block the overflow plate off and shoot the air through the drain. Have someone jam a wet rag into the overflow plate opening while you shoot air into the drain. I still say removing the overflow plate and snaking from there is the way I would go about it. Good luck, Tom

Thanks for your help, Tom. I tried the gun and it worked, sort of. The gun seems to have pushed the blockage further down the line. Now the toilet in that room, which was working just fine, is very slow to flush. Now when you flush the toilet water backs up into the bathtub. I tried using the gun again and all I managed to do is blow out the wax ring on the toilet. Should I just throw in the towel and call somebody to rod out the pipes, or could a fairly handy guy with little experience use a power rodder to clean out the pipes? Thanks

How do you know what happened to the wax seal? Chances are all you did was shoot water up past it and it's OK.
Let me lay out the typical bath drainage hookup. The toilet drain connects to the main. The lavatory connects to the toilet drain and the tub connects to the lavatory drain and is wet vented by it. If you went on the roof with a sewer machine and came down the lavatory ventyou should be able to reach the clog. Let me know what you decide. Tom