Sunday, March 21, 2010

Shop-Vac to the rescue - How not to unclog a shower drain

Getting ready to go out tonight for dinner I find myself showering and the drain is really slow. This is kind of odd since put I Drano down about a week ago and it seemed to run smooth. I asked Diana to bring the plunger, I plunge, it only gets worse.

It's not draining at all and I have a nice broken blister on the palm of my plunging hand.

All kinds of nasty stuff is coming back up, we're no longer headed to dinner and it's a disaster.

Emergency plumber called, sketchy guy calls back. I tell him he's not coming over. Out of Drano.

Time to try my Shop-Vac, first I jam the hose down the drain and suck the water up. Maybe the suction will pull whatever is in the drain up and out. No dice - still not draining.

Next it's reverse the hose and take a wet wash cloth to wrap the hose end and try to blow the clog down. That does the trick. It's draining like never before.

Swab some Manuka honey on my broken blister, nice burning sensation, and I'm good to go.