The joys of being a home owner
Since moving into our new house two months ago many people have commented on how my wife and I will be responsible for any problems that arise -- we can't just call the landlord any more.
A few weeks ago we had problems with our shower. It wasn't draining well and by the time you were finished it looked like you had taken a full bath instead. It would slowly drain out though. But one day we came home from work and saw that it hadn't drained at all. We took the cover off the drain, plunged it a few times, and finally stuck a screwdriver in there and pulled out a bunch of gunk. The drain was clear and the water quickly drained away.
Yesterday it was backed up again. It wasn't draining at all. We had watched her brother's dog Friday night and all Saturday. He had been in and out of the bathtub so we thought maybe he clogged it somehow. First we had to use a bucket to get rid of some of the excess water. Then we plunged, which had no affect. We took the cover off the drain and tried the screwdriver trick again, but we didn't find any gunk. Getting annoyed, we want to the store from some Drano. I poured it in and let it sit for 15 minutes. When I came back, the water was still there. The instructions said to flush the drain with hot water after letting it sit. I turned the faucet on and let it run, only to fill the tub even further.
Getting frustrated, I decided to flip the lever for the plug to see if that would loosen anything up.
As soon as I flipped it once, there was a loud gurgling sound as all the water went down the drain.
I hereby propose "Kanning's Rule": "Always try the simple solution first," AKA the "make sure it's plugged in" rule.
-- C.
A few weeks ago we had problems with our shower. It wasn't draining well and by the time you were finished it looked like you had taken a full bath instead. It would slowly drain out though. But one day we came home from work and saw that it hadn't drained at all. We took the cover off the drain, plunged it a few times, and finally stuck a screwdriver in there and pulled out a bunch of gunk. The drain was clear and the water quickly drained away.
Yesterday it was backed up again. It wasn't draining at all. We had watched her brother's dog Friday night and all Saturday. He had been in and out of the bathtub so we thought maybe he clogged it somehow. First we had to use a bucket to get rid of some of the excess water. Then we plunged, which had no affect. We took the cover off the drain and tried the screwdriver trick again, but we didn't find any gunk. Getting annoyed, we want to the store from some Drano. I poured it in and let it sit for 15 minutes. When I came back, the water was still there. The instructions said to flush the drain with hot water after letting it sit. I turned the faucet on and let it run, only to fill the tub even further.
Getting frustrated, I decided to flip the lever for the plug to see if that would loosen anything up.
As soon as I flipped it once, there was a loud gurgling sound as all the water went down the drain.
I hereby propose "Kanning's Rule": "Always try the simple solution first," AKA the "make sure it's plugged in" rule.
-- C.
posted by Cerpicio at 9:26 AM
2 Comments:
I read Consumer Reports on drain cleaners including mechanical ones. Anyway, I will try to keep in mind "try the simple first".
Since you don't have a major issue with the drain, good. If you didn't I would suggest mechanical means, as noted that all chemicals can eat through old pipe -- making it a terrible problem.
What I did not know was that the enzyme cleaners sometimes take a day to work and only work on few occlusion types.
Anway, your cats are now happy that the visiting dog is gone, I presume.
I had a simular kind of incident. It wasn't as straight forward, but when I noticed that the drain cleaner didn't really speed things up, I started monkeying with the plug lever. It didn't work immediately, but I noticed it seemed to have some play to it, so I jerked it six ways to Sunday and in one particular position, a bubble came up and the whirlpool started. I left in that position and the drain keeps up with the shower easily. I've ALSO noticed (for future reference) that sometime when you have a legitimate clog, you can jerk that lever around and it will sometimes clear it. ALSO, I almost never use drain cleaner. I've found that sometimes just sending some Tilex (mildew remover) down the drain opens it up. I think mildew being a major component of the clog, removing it makes it more likely to clear the drain, especially if you have a lever to jiggle. Anyway, my tub works just fine now. I wouldn't say it's broken, but it definitely is a nuance that only a homeowner would know about.
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