Snaking a clogged tub drain

Question

My tub was draining slowly, so I removed the drain cover stopper and reached down into the drain with needle-nose pliers and extracted a disgusting wad of hair and soap residue, as I have done several times before.

However, this time it didn't solve the issue, so I got a drain snake and fed it down into the drain, but it did not extract any further clogs. And on my next shower, the tub drained much more slowly. I made the problem worse!

I thought I would have to call a plumber. As a last resort I watched a few do-it-yourself videos on YouTube, and one of them showed removing the overflow plate and feeding the drain snake down that way, instead of the actual drain. So I tried that, and lo and behold, it brought out another fat disgusting hair clog.

Why did snaking the overflow plate work, when the actual drain didn't?

Answer 1

Because the standard tub drain has a sharp right-angle T junction where the overflow and tub drain meet (this is also where the stopper is located if the stopper is operated by a lever on the overflow plate, as opposed to an in-the-tub stopper or rubber stopper over the drain.)

The sharp right-angle is not friendly to snakes passing, and the stopper, if present, even less so. Coming down the overflow is, on the other hand, a straight shot, and the stopper comes out with the plate if it's that style of stopper, so it's not in the way.

I highly recommend using a hair-catcher over the tub drain to reduce this problem going forward - a little more frequent easy cleaning of somewhat less disgusting collected hair .vs. dealing with the gunked up mess collected over a longer period in the pipes.

Answer 2

Because, as others have pointed out, the overflow is a straight shot down the drain pipe and the bathtub drain has a couple of nasty 90-degree corners that the snake isn't likely to get past. Here's a picture of the typical set-up:

Answer 3

I believe you missed part of the plug that was clinging on to the stopper. By running down the overflow you picked that last chunk up, I have found in some cases that pulling the stopper out makes it easier to get to the plugs, but many times I have to do both as my wife and all the grand daughters have long hair so for me this is an every 6 month thing. I pull the stopper because it is easy, if the hair in the drain comes out I put it back together but most of the time I have to pull the fitting and get the little bit that is still hanging on. Now I am good for 6 more months.