Clogged bathtub drain...?

Question

i have used bam as directed and havnt seen much of a difference. The water builds up while i am in the shower and takes forever to drain once i am out. i'm skeptical about what to use because i have a septic tank and want to keep from messing with the chemical balance of the tank. What should i do now?!?

Answer 1

Usually these clogs are not solid they just need a little help getting loose.

#1. Try a wet dry shop vac. First clean out the shop vac filter good. Next run about 2" of hot water in the tub.

Now place the shop vac hose over the tub drain and switch the shop vac to on while sucking on the drain - Now switch hose on vac end to it is blowing into the drain, switch back and forth as quickly as possible - helps to have a 2nd hand helping you on this. Soon the clog should start to loosen up and eventually you will hear the shop vac suck up the clog out of the drain.

Answer 2

What sort of stopper do you have in the bathtub?  If you are able to remove it completely (sometimes you need a screwdriver, depending on the type-- there might be a s***w hidden just underneath the top of the stopper), you should be able to see if there is hair trapped underneath.  The number one cause of a slow drain is hair, and the best thing to do is to pull it out of there-- that works much better than chemicals anyway.  Sometimes a bent wire coathanger or something similar will help snag clumps of hair and pull them out of the drain, but be careful not to damage any of your plumbing.

Answer 3

You could try pouring boiling water into the drain.

Answer 4

I can usually fix that by using a plunger and pulling up sharply on it with a few inches of water in the tub.    

If that doesn't work, you can remove the screen (if you have one) and put a straightened coathanger with a small hook bent into the end down there, hook onto the hair that is almost assuredly part of the clog and pull it up where you can grab onto it and throw it away.     There is also a flexible tool made expressly for this purpose, and that will actually work better.

Answer 5

You should use your plunger on the tub ,but the secret to plunging it properly is that you need to remove the s***w(s) from the over flow plate . so you have access to the overflow pipe and than gently stuff a rag in the opening . this will build  some back pressure so you can plunge properly , just run the hot water while your plunging , if it is hair and soap it will flush out rather easily .