Our u bend drain is blocked with tiling grout, how can we unblock it?
it’s not a normal drain, it’s in our conservatory on the floor and i am not sure it’s easily accessible, the pipe is an iron one and goes under our conservatory. it’s been blocked for a few months so desperate to get it unblock – please help!
give it a good rodding
that should shift it
roto rooter
Tiling grout by its use is not soluble in water….so you have a problem..may be able to clear it with a rod…but suggest you get a specialist company…….as its probably set hard as a rock now.
Replace it?
you need commercial type pipe rodding equipment. bext to get a guy from the yellow pages.
You can get these reels of bendy plastic…especially for the job of clearing pipes of blockages….try in BQ or any good DIY store.
If not…it might be a job for the professionals…in which case, I would make sure you check out a few, get some good recommendations and an agreement regarding works and price…before they start.
I hope the bendy plastic works…sounds cheaper in the long run
Try spirits of salt – this dissolves cement and similar materials, but is generally safe to use in drains.
You usually access the trap from above in this kind of drain (Wade or similar makes) – remove the cover plate and see if anything can be lifted out.
Get you hand down it and use you fingers to break it up. It should not be too difficult use a small stick or meat sckewer if you have to Do not bang it just scrape it is quite soft. Then poor in a little water and see it it drains if it does keep scraping until it is all loose at the bottom of the U bend. Try and get most off it up into a container and then and then throw several buckets (pails id you are from the south of England) of water down the U bend it should clear it. i hope I do not need to tell you to protect the floor. Do NOT throw it down another grid. That will work if it is only the U bend blocked. You will be up to your elbow in the grid .
Grout being what it is it will be solid blobs, but it won’t have a fix on the side of the pipe as it has always been in water.
The only way to shift completely is with a high pressure hose. Using a rod will move it to the side only and provide a short term cure.
First you need a drain cleaning fluid, (any DIY store), because grease and hair will have bonded the grout by now.
If you can get hold of a HP car wash jet or even get a hose in the drain have a go yourself at blasting it out. The pipe is iron, you can only get wet trying.
Next up you will need a drainage engineer.
Avoid caustic soda , try hydrochloric acid ( muriatic acid ) to break down the alkali that is in the grout, the chances are that it might work.
You can obtain this dangerous chemical in a builder’s merchant under brick clean UK
xenon is right. Used it myself for same problem and it worked
The cheapest,easiest and cleanest way is to buy and fit a new one — they are only a few pounds from a DIY store and you don’t have to worry about chemicals doing any damage.
replace the u bend, any way you will have to remove the contaminated one to clean it, also an iron one will rust away leading to escaping water so replace it with plastic