The bathtub is not only the one of the most used plumbing fixtures in the house. But like most commonly used things comes the downside of having to repair them when they stop working correctly. The bathtub drain will commonly get clogged with hair and will slowly become so clogged that the bathtub will not drain until the water is completely off and even then will take up to 30 minutes to drain.
The bathtub uses something called a “trip lever” as the waste system on the tub. There is also a p-trap connected to the trip lever assembly but most of the time the p trap will not be clogged and just the drain will be full of hair and can be cleaned out in a number of ways.Depending on how much hair or debris are clogging the drain will depend on what method will work best for you, so that is why we are giving you three ways to save money by unclogging your drains yourself. The tools and supplies you will need can be purchased at any local home center. If for any reason you feel you can not do any of these steps or methods, it may just be best of you hire a licensed plumber or drain cleaner to do the job for you. Now lets get to the top three ways to clean your clogged bathtub.
How To Unclog Your Bathtub With A Snake:
If you have an electric snake or a manual cable snake you will have to clean out the tub drain the same way. What you will want to do first is to get a flat head screwdriver and remove the two screws that hold the trip lever face plate on. Once you remove those two screws you can pull the face plate towards you and remove the drain stop. Now that you have the trip lever out you can remove the bathtub drain grate by removing the screw in the center of the drain. On most trip levers this is a single Philips head screw that will need to be removed. If you have a touch toe tub drain which pops up and down, you will have to unscrew the drain by turning it counter clockwise.
Once you have the bathtub drain cover off and the trip lever out you will first want to remove any visible hair or debris that is in the drain that was under the grate. Next you will want to remove and hair or debris that is wrapped around the tub trip lever. Once you have cleaned all the visible hair from these pieces [trip lever & drain], you can now take your snake and stick it in the tub drain where you pulled out the trip lever stop. Stick your snake down a little a time until you feel that you have reached the stoppage and then retract your snake and remove the blockage from the end of the snake. If you feel that you have removed everything and then tub line is now clear you will want to test the bathtub drain to make sure that it is fully clear now. To do so, just fill up the tub about half way and then drain the water and see how long it takes to drain. Toward the end, when the tub has a few inches of water you should start to see what looks like a min water tornado, which means the drain is fully open.
How To Unclog Your Bathtub With Liquid Plumber Or Drano:
If you do not have a snake and choose that you want to use liquid plumber or some other type of liquid drain cleaner, there are a few things that you can do first to make it work better. One of the things you can do to make the liquid Drano or plumber work better is to remove the bathtub drain grate or pop up and try to remove any hair that you may see. Once you remove any visible hair, try running the drain to see if you will still need the liquid drain opener anymore.
If your tub drain is still clogged after you have removed the hair you will want to follow the detailed instructions on the bottle of your liquid plumber, as some “off brands” may require longer times before using the bathtub. Some of the major names in liquid drain cleaning like liquid plumber and Drano can actually unclog your drains quickly if used correctly. Always be sure to check the instructions on the container it comes in.
How To Unclog Your Bathtub With A Plunger:
The plunger can be a very effective tool when it comes to unclogging drains and most people do not even know that you can use a plunger to unclog a tub. You will need to do a few things before you start to plunge. The first thing you will need to do is to remove the tub trip lever face plate and clog the trip level opening with a wet rag so when you start to plunge the tub drain you can avoid splashing water from the top of the trip lever, this also will give you more suction when using the plunger.
Now that you have the rag in the trip lever you can start pushing up and down on the plunger until the water starts to drain from the tub. If you have been plumbing for a while and the bathtub drain is still clogged you will either want to try another way to unclog the bathtub or maybe hire a licensed plumber or drain cleaner. Each way to unclog a bathtub drain that is listed above may work in some cases and not work in others. It is always best to try to determine for yourself which method may be best for you since you know your plumbing best. often there are frequently asked questions, so here is some of them with answers.
Problem: “My Tub has no drain cover, now what do I do?”
Solution: If your tub does that have a drain cover then just look in the drain and see if you see anything stuck in it like soap chips and hair.
Problem: “My tub still drains slow after using liquid plumber”
Solution: Even though some of these more common and well know liquid drain openers do a good job in most cases, sometimes is just necessary to use something a bit stronger to clear the stoppage such a drain cleaning machine or manual snake.
Problem: “I dropped soap down my drain and now its clogged”
Solution: This usually happens when there is no drain cover on the bathtub drain. If the soap that has clogged the drain is visible try removing it.
Problem: “I just had a professional Roto-Rooter company clean my bathtub drain and It’s still clogged”
Solution: Sometimes the drain will have a “soft stoppage” and when the snake goes through it will unclog it a bit but not completely and over time it will quickly clogg up. Call the drain cleaning company back up right away and ask them to come and look at what is going on. There could be additional problems with your drain or something just could have been missed. Its always better to call them right away.
Problem: “I have tried everything but my tub still won’t drain”
Solution: It may now be time to call a licensed professional to come and and properly clean your bathtub drain.
Problem: “Where can I buy a plumbing snake?”
Solution: You can buy a plumbing snake a plumbing supply house or a local home center like Lowes or Home Depot.
The three ways listed above are all the most effective ways to clean and unclog your bathtub drain using basic tools. If you have any types of physical limitations you may not want to do this yourself as it will require some awkward positioning as well as a bit of strength to plunge and to snake the tub drain.
My tub is clogged and I do have a manual snake. When i put the snake in it seems to get caught right around were the two pipes connect. Because of this I can’t get the snake to the clogged up area. Any advice would be appriciated.
Greg,
You need to stick the snake down the trip lever NOT the tub shoe,
You need to remove the plate that is on the tub, and then feed the snake down there.
Hope that helps!
two story apartment: top tub occasonally drains into bottom apartment bathtub. WHY???? I have snaked but it still happens. i do minor plumping repairs. this is new to me ,,,can you help?????
Your snake was either not long enough to reach the clog or, it did not go in the right direction.
Have you snaked from the first floor tub?
i went into basement and took out p trap for apartment 23 tub. . water came out. If i leave trap open the water in apartment 27 up stairs does not drain into bottom apartment tub 23. when i snaked in apartment 27 it went down about 8 feet. any other suggestions?
In the basement follow the drainpipe from the first floor tub to whee it connects to other drains that are not affected by the clog. There is no noubt in my mind that the second floor tub connects before that point. You will have to effectively snake the distance from the first floor tub to where it connects with the other drains that are not affected.
Thank you I will give this a try and get back to you.
Success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I went ahead and disconnected the black pipe where it meets the iron pipe. It had a rubber sleeve. The black gunk was solid. I took a peace of small metal pipe and hammered into the black mass. Pulled all the crusty stuff out. then i snaked for 15 ft to main drain. I made a solution of baking soda and vinegar, scrubed the hole clean then ran HOT water for 5 minutes I had both tennants run the tubs for 5 mins also smooth sailing. Thanks again for all your help
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback and we are glad we were able to help you out!
Spread this website to your friends and family so they can also learn to do things themselves.
Let us know if you need anything else.
;-)
I can not get my toe touch drain cover off!! I keep turning it counter clockwise, but to no avail! Please help!
Hi Jenny,
The top cap on the toe tap stopper might be spinning and not unscrewing the part underneath.
You might see if you can grab the part underneath with a pair of needle nose pliers ans see if you can get it to unscrew. Worst case scenario replacement toe taps are available, just don’t damage the cross bar the toe tap stopper threads into. That can get dicey for replacement.
Hope this helps,
Redwood
i have a tub drain cover which lifts and turns to open and turns further to drop down into the closed position. the little knob unscrews but that reveals nothing. i can’t figure out how to remove this thing to access the drain. there is no lever on the overflow cover.
You should have two Flathead screws on the cover.
Once you remove those you can remove the trip lever assembly,
Let me know if you need more help.
After you get everything apart EXCEPT the brass plunger that ia frozen in its seat go to ACE hardware and buy a special tool ($8.00) that looks like a tuning fork. It has a castelated top and a cross handle for turning. The forks are pointed and fit nicely over the cross bar and into the holes of the plunger. I put a 1 1/16 ” socket on the top of the tool and the plunger broke free as if there had never been a problem!
Okay I tried plunging on my toilet because the water level would not go down and as i was doing that the water would come gushing out thru the bath tub and then it would take forever for the water to go back down. Then i tried plunging the the bath tub and it sucks out all of the water from the toilet bowl and does nothing after that….i tried Drano but i dont think it helped….why is it going from one end to another? its connected i imagine….i dont kno wat else to do????
Hi Melissa,
The drain and the overflow are connected so that when you plunge the force of the water will come up through the overflow. You need to block the overflow with a rag when plunging.
I seem to be having the same problem as two folks above. I can’t get the toe cap or drain at the bottom of the shower off. I read the responses above and they don’t seem to match my problem. I turn and turn the drain and it won’t come out. I took off the overdlow cap and there is no trip assembly mechanism there. I feel like this is a different kind of drain altogether but I keep thinking there has to be a way to get this out! Thanks for any help!
Hi Amy,
There are several types of drain plugs you may have:
Pop Up Stoppers controlled by a lever on the overflow plate should lift out usually with some maneuvering.
Lift and Turn Stoppers will either have a screw under the knob on top which unscrews or, when lowered into tha partially closed position unscrew by turning the stopper.
Toe Tap Stoppers should unscrew just by grabbing the top and turning it. But, frequently will not and the top just spins especially when the threads are corroded in place. The chromed plastic top usually just slips and turns without unscrewing when this is the case. I usually just grab it with channel lock pliers and squeeze it while turning, if it crushes and breaks oh well… I’m replacing it anyway!
5th floor apartment
trying to use a snake
I don’t know much plumber terminology and my super is on vacation or something. Please help!
I am trying to use the snake, I have two holes in the tub. The hole on top and the hole on the bottom. The bottom hole is the where the water goes through and “seems” clogged.
I bought a snake , 20 feet in length.
I removed the top holes cover with two screws , but there was nothing there behind it. It looks like empty space to me. Either way I stuck the snake through there and I see it goes through some and then actually
pops back out the bottom hole.
When I saw that I said “wtf” and then I stopped. I don’t know what to do. Draino doesn’t work, the plunger doesn’t work. Please! Please help!
I have a clogg in my master bathroom shower and nothing is working. I have tried baking soda, draino, a snake type of thing with a retractable “claw” thing on the end, wire hanger etc, plunger… I know nothing about removing covers or plates or anything. Couldn’t even tell you which is which. This clog is driving me CRAZY!!!! I cant afford a plumber but would LOVE for our bathtub NOT to fill up with water on occasion while taking a shower. PLEASE HELP!!!!