My daughter lives in an apartment in New York City that was built in the 30's. Her bathtub is draining is very slowly. Outside the tub coming out of the floor is a chrome(?) pipe with a smaller rod coming out of it. This is the drain plug. I seem to remember one in an old B&B that I stayed in once. How do I troubleshoot this to see if it is the problem for the sluggish drain?

Hi Baker.jeanb..

That is an old fashioned tub waste assembly. If the tub is slow to drain you'll want to have your daughter remove the plunger mechanism (smaller rod inside the tube) and then cover it with a wetted rag. Then your daughter will need to fill the tub with 2 inches of water.

While holding the rag firmly into the tube your daughter will want to have a friend take a plunger and plunge the tub drain. Pulling up on the plunger does more than pushing down on it... ;)

The rag is important as it stops the air from being forced out the tub waste assembly and allows the force from the plunger to be focused on the tub drain itself.

That should help some. If not, then the next step would be to get an electric hand-held snake and snake the tub drain down the tub waste assembly (again, removing the plunger).

Hope that all made sense..?

Mark