Clogged sink drain!

[wooohooo]

So my girlfriends house her sink drain clogs after it fills up fully for about 5 seconds. I checked the p-trap, emptied it and cleaned it. Used about 8L of hot water straight down the pipe, used vinegar and baking soda and finally tried Drano. No luck.

I took off the p-trap and shoved an auger/drain snake down there. It gets stuck where I put an arrow/circled it in white.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76798572@N05/7042296429/

It however gets stuck there kind of like I'm hitting a wall. This is also a junction where it connects into another pipe.

I got a cheap $15 snake from home depot, should I get a better one? Should I try cutting the pipe?

I have the week off so I don't mind trying to do this rather than call a plumber, but I will if this is too hard.

Anyone got any advice on what to do? Thanks!

[blankall]

Is it just the sink or are other drains in the proximity also running slow/clogged?

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by blankall

Is it just the sink or are other drains in the proximity also running slow/clogged?

Just that sink (bathroom). All the other ones run fine. Bathtub drains fast too.

[worth]

Stop jizzing in her sink

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Originally Posted by worth

Stop jizzing in her sink

Took a whole 4 replies. Cmon CP. We can do better than this.

[GoinAllTheWay]

So there is a water trap hidden from view, yes? Sorta a strange setup but should work. Where you have your white arrow, is that glued together or can you unscrew that by hand?

Odd you would be hitting something that hard as you shouldn't be unless she lost something down the drain? I'd try grinding away at it with the snake you bought first before doing anything. You can certainly cut the line a bit before hit dissapears into the wall assuming your are comfortable fixing it after.

How handy are you?

[blankall]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

Just that sink (bathroom). All the other ones run fine. Bathtub drains fast too.

If it's only the one sink, the clog is most likely occuring before the pipe hits the wall. Your best bet is to try and take the thing apart. The plastic bits are most likely not glued. You should be able to unscrew them and pull them apart then clean out that long black piece.

If that doesn't work you may need to hire professionals as the blockage could be between the wall and the place where the pipe connects to the larger main pipes. That's much more difficult to get at without professional equipment. Although unscrewing that long black piece could get you more access to the clog.

My guess is the snake you are currently using is not making that bend into the wall. You're just jamming it straight down and you're eventually running out of room to push.

[vektor]

Does it drain slowly if you put water in the sink? If so I'd poor some foaming draino down the sink, probably a giant hairball or a kleenex. If that doesn't work call a plumber, it's just past the joint in the wall if the other drains aren't clogging.

[Deegee]

When our bathtub got stuck we filled the overflow hole and plunged it like my life depended on it.

Whatever was stuck freed itself and we have been problem free since.

[8 Ball]

Probably hair and gunk caught in the pop-up that goes up and down to fill the sink.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Originally Posted by Deegee

....we filled the ... hole and plunged it like my life depended on it.

[SebC]

This is just a ploy to make Explore, isn't it?

[calumniate]

Maybe just use your third leg?

[wooohooo]

So turns out I didn't need to get some foaming draino just an hour and a half of hard augering.

I think I wasn't augering right. Before I would hit the wall and just keep winding but it would do nothing. This time I would auger to the point, keep turning, push more line in and keep repeating. Worked good.

Thanks!