The average person will either attempt to use a plunger or drain snake when unclogging a drain.
In most cases, one of these solutions will work.
However, what happens when things don’t work out as planned? What if snaking the drain made it worse?
If snaking the drain made it worse, use a drain cleaner to loosen the debris. Let it sit as directed and then attempt to use the drain snake again. If this does not work, disassemble the piping and remove the clog.
It’s possible this can happen depending on what has been rinsed down the drain. If it is a larger object that squeezed through, it might not dislodge with the help of a drain snake due to how it’s wedged inside.
This is nothing to worry about as long as you don’t keep running the water inside the fixture.
Just attempt to use a drain cleaner and see if that loosens the clogged spot. If not, you will have to take apart the pipe to get deeper into the drain.
Here is a comprehensive guide on what to do if snaking the drain made it worse.
Table of Contents
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Steps If Snaking Drain Made It Worse
1. Don’t Run The Water Until Fixed
If a drain snake doesn’t work, this means you have a deeper clog to deal with.
It’s also a clear sign that running water or using the fixture is off-limits until the problem is resolved. If you don’t do this, things are going to spiral out of control and the problem will get worse.
You have to put away the drain snake too.
Just take the time to turn off the water and make sure you have full access to the drain in the fixture.
This will allow you to go through the steps listed here when snaking the drain made it worse.
2. Use a Drain Cleaner And Let It Sit
If the drain auger does not work, you will need to loosen the clogged spot in the drain.
How do you go about doing this?
You have a few solutions including attempting to find something to pick up the debris inside the drain. However, this might not work when the drain snake is used.
So, you will now have to look at using a specialized drain cleaner or unclogged.
This will help loosen the debris in the drain ensuring the drain snake does its job when used again. Be patient with the drain unclogged and let it sit as directed on the bottle.
3. Use Drain Snake Again
When snaking the drain doesn’t work, you will want to let the drain unclogged do its work.
However, the goal is to now take the drain snake and attempt the same process again. You will ensure the drain snake goes all the way through by doing this.
In most cases, this is when the problem will go away because the unclogger will have helped.
What happens when things are still clogged in the drain?
This is when you are going to have to think about moving on to a more dramatic step that will require more work on your part. In some cases, a person might hire a plumber at this point and that is fair too.
4. Disassemble Piping To Go Deeper Into Drain (If Needed)
The step here is to disassemble the piping.
You will have to look at what’s going on deeper inside the drain. This isn’t going to happen when you are accessing the drain from the hole in the fixture.
To do this, you will want to disassemble the piping and look at the p-trap in detail.
This will shed light on whether or not the clog is hard to dislodge. If it is, you can use the drain snake here again.
Should You Run Water When Snaking a Drain?
You should not run water when snaking a drain. Push the drain snake in, twist it, and see if that unclogs the drain. If not, remove the drain snake and then turn on the water at full blast. This might loosen the debris and push it down.
Final Thoughts
“Snaking the drain made it worse!”
If snaking the drain made it worse, this means the clog is more robust. To fix this, you will have to pour a drain unclogger into the drain, let it sit, and then attempt to use the drain snake again. If it still does not work, the piping will have to be disassembled to access deeper parts of the drain.
It’s always best to let a plumber take care of the last step. However, you can manage the rest easy as long as you have a good drain unclogger in hand.
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