Plumbing Snake

Whenever the sink in your bathroom or your kitchen gets clogged, you can use a plunger and clear the drain, thus allowing free passage of all that goes down the drain. But sometimes it happens that the drain gets blocked so badly that a plunger is not sufficient enough for you to unclog the drain. What you need now is a plumbing snake. No, it is not really a snake, but a device or a flexible auger which is used to unclog drains and clean them so that the water can pass through freely. Clogged drains starts to stink and sometimes, due to overburdening of blockage, the drains might even burst. Hence, whenever there is a situation where you cannot unclog the drain using a plunger, it is best that you get a plumbing snake. Given below are some tips on how to use one and what it actually does.

The Definition

The plumbers sometimes call it an 'electric eel' or a 'toilet jack' as well. This is a flexible auger which is used in unclogging those points of the pipe where the plunger cannot reach or for cleaning which the plunger is not enough. It is actually a coiled metal wire with a gap between the wires towards the end. This gap is present in order to retrieve all those objects which are clogging the drain. The other end of this coil is attached to a device which has a crank and this crank is used to rotate the wire and direct it inside the pipe. Sometimes the wire, instead of pulling out the object breaks down the blockage so that the water can pass easily. It also scraps and cleans the pipe from within thus getting rid of all the dirt that had accumulated, which in turn had decreased the diameter of the pipe.

Tips for Usage

One has to be very careful while using this tool. One tiny mistake can sometimes even damage the pipe. Just follow the simple tips that are given here and you will not face any problem while using one.

• The first thing that you have to do is get everything ready and near your hand. Get ready for dirt or water flowing out of the pipe, hence, keep a cloth and bucket handy. The snake is sure to get dirty, so make sure that you are wearing gloves while handling the pipe.
• Now move aside the drain cover and then very slowly put in the neck of the snake. The size that you use depends on the size of the pipe as well as the amount of blockage. But it is best that you start off with the smallest snake and then move on to the larger size if you find it difficult to use, so as not to destroy the pipe.
• Rotate the crank clockwise. Do not hurry. Keep inserting the pipe unless you find the blocked area. Once you find the block, reposition the snake near the mouth of the pipe so that you can feed the snake further.
• Now once you detect the clog, rotate the head of the neck unless you get a good grip of the blockage and then very slowly pull out the snake from the pipe. Get ready to face a messy situation. If the clog is a huge one then slowly push the snake so that it can eat away the clog.
• Once the debris is cleaned, run hot water inside the pipe so as to get rid of the remaining debris and you end up with a clean drain.

That was simple! You can use the plumbing snake on your own and you do not have to send for the plumber every time your drain gets blocked.