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    liquidstool's Avatar
    liquidstool Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #1

    Nov 8, 2008, 10:08 AM
    Blocked bath/sink drain
    Hi,

    I realize this question has probably been asked a 1000 times but my situation makes it a bit more unusual.

    I have an autistic daughter with a love of the bath but was forever flooding the house so I eventually completely blocked the bath in, stupidly in hindsight blocking all the plumbing away as well!

    I seem to have blocked the bath somehow and from memory, the bath waste tees into the sink waste, which in turn goes of into the soil pipe.

    I've tried the plunger, which blew the sink plug out with enough force to smash the mirror, coat the ceiling in water and yet still the bath drains away sooooooooooo slowly, whilst the sink drains so quickly, I can't get waterr in it fast enough, leading me to the conclusion that the blockage is around the T. Anyway, I've tried chemicals, soda chrystals, even bleach that was left overnight then when I emptied the sink, the bleach came back up through the bath plug! I've tried one of those augers? But the problem appears to be that it is getting caught on the bottom of the bath trap, not going into the pipe. Unlike most people, if I undo the screw in the bath plug and the trap drops away I can't get my hand underneath the bath to hold it back up! DOH!! It's a bog (no pun) standard bath plug, not one of these new fangled pop up waste things. I also will have the same problem with the overflow, if I undo the screw and the overflow drops away, I'm :eek::eek:

    Can someone help me out here? I'm not entirely sure that it's just hair down there as the plunger blew up flakes of paint and grout into the bath. Help please, I really don't want to have to disassemble the bath - I can't even get to the plumbing if I do because I've got a tiled floor!
    speedball1's Avatar
    speedball1 Posts: 29,301, Reputation: 1939
    Eternal Plumber
     
    #2

    Nov 8, 2008, 11:09 AM
    You're going about it the wrong way. You can't snhake a tub from the drain, you will run into the branch of the waste tee. You have to go in from the tub waste and overflow.(see image) Unscrew and remove the overflow plate,(The one with the drain lever) and pull out the tub stopper. You now have a clear shot at the trap. The way you were going in through the drain it ran you square into a tee that you can't get around. Now feed the cable( 1/4" best or 3/3" with a small tip.) About 2' down you will run into the bend of the trap. Crank and push at the same time to work around it. Your blockage will be found in the lateral pipe going to the stack. You shouldn't have to put out more then 10 or 12 feet. I have found tub and shower clogs to be mostly hair and the worm should auger into it and pull it back. Hope this helps and thank you for rating my reply. TOM
    liquidstool's Avatar
    liquidstool Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #3

    Nov 10, 2008, 04:02 AM
    Hello there

    Thanks for your answer. I tried your suggestion but as I expected, the overflow fell of the bath, resulting in me having to thake the bath apart :mad: Anyway, on a brighter note, I do appear to have moved the blockage, however, I can see the auger moveing across the T which is good but, I still have water sitting in the horizontal pipe which I think is bad, further more, when I fill the bath water rushes up the vertical pipe toward the sink trap, it's probably coming up about 6" from the T but I don't think I should be getting any of it. What does this sound like to you? Have I just moved the blockage further on? Or is it a problem with the fall of the plumbing?:confused:

    Regards

    Liquid
    speedball1's Avatar
    speedball1 Posts: 29,301, Reputation: 1939
    Eternal Plumber
     
    #4

    Nov 10, 2008, 05:19 AM
    You haven't gone far enough with the snake. You must work around the trap and put out about 10 feet more. Good luck, Tom

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