tub wont drain. Is the problem up or down?

homeowner432423

Greetings!

I have a bathtub/shower drain on the 2nd floor of my house that is clogged (only drain with a problem in the whole house). I have replaced the metal overflow, drain and trap with PVC but still no luck. The remaining cast iron metal pipe is horizontal for about a foot or two, and then goes into a tee. I have pushed a 25 foot snake through this pipe but still no flow. The part of the tee that goes down meets up with other drain pipes less than 25 feet from where I am snaking. Also my wife said she thinks she heard me snaking loudest in a room above the bathroom. I can think of only 2 possible situations at this point.

1. my clog is below the tee and my snake is going upwards at the tee.
2. my clog is in the vent and my snake is going downwards.

If my clog is below the tee how do I make my snake go downwards? Is it possible that a clogged vent would not let the tub drain? I have a big cast iron clean out in the basement but the other pipes meet up with the pipe that I snaked before the clean out.

Thanks for your help everyone.

TheEplumber

Sounds like your going up the vent instead of down- happens sometimes.
I usually don't have any cutting heads on my smaller cables. This allows me to put a small 45 degree bend in the cable. When inserting the cable, orientate the bend to the tee. It should the drop down the tee to the blockage. There's a good chance the obstruction is right there and forcing the cable to go up the too versus down.

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homeowner432423

Do you mean you cut off the end of the snake that opens up a little (about the size of a thumb)?

Thanks

jaydevries

try a couple times to see if you can get it to go down the other thing is does the vent go straight up and out the roof if so you can run snake down from there i have had to do that before

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be careful my advice only comes from general knowledge i know about the 4 rules it takes to plumb and they are
1 poop needs to flow down hill. 2 hot on left cold on right
3 i get a pay check on Mondays 4 do not chew finger nails at or after work.

Javiles

You’ll need a drop head on the end of that cable for that situation.

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Alan

The only thing I see missing from your original post is where you pulled the stopper for the tub and yanked a bunch of hair out of the lower shoe.




If you did already do that, you need a drop head, as suggested above, and possibly a different size cable depending on what you're using.

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homeowner432423

No hair, just rust. I'm using a 25 foot long 1/4 inch snake attached to my drill. Last night I got it to go downwards by bending the head a little. It drains but its slow. No slime on the snake, just rust. I guess I just need to do it a few more times.

TheEplumber

Please clarify- Did you replace all of the waste and overflow, including the drain shoe and ptrap?

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homeowner432423

yes. All that is left from the original is the tub and a cast iron pipe sticking out horizontally from the wall/ceiling.

TheEplumber

If you have a trip lever tub drain, make sure the linkage is adjusted properly

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homeowner432423

The new drain is the lift and turn kind. No linkage to fiddle with.

plummen

Thats what I do,then bend a 45 degree bend into the end of the cable

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TheEplumber

Same here. Nobody at our shop has heads on their small cables

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Alan

We don't have small cables at our shop because some @#$^#^# keeps using them to snake mainlines.

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plummen

Now thats funny!

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