Plungeable (sp?) drains?

[puntloos]

Silly side question but some of my current house's drains do not respond well to using a plunger. Some are so weirdly shaped that you can't get a seal, and a few others somehow dump the wastewater in the under-sink-cupboard (!!).. 

 

Is it a good idea to pick drains with this in mind? Or is plunging a bad idea anyway.. or.. 

[ProDave]

It is a looooong time since I have had to use a plunger. Not in the last 2 houses (that I built)  It was only something I had to do in my old 1930's house with a very long very shallow drain run that was not done very well.

 

If the plunger makes it leak under the sink, you have a problem with the trap not sealing at one of it's joints.

[puntloos]

3 minutes ago, ProDave said:

It is a looooong time since I have had to use a plunger. Not in the last 2 houses (that I built)  It was only something I had to do in my old 1930's house with a very long very shallow drain run that was not done very well.

 

If the plunger makes it leak under the sink, you have a problem with the trap not sealing at one of it's joints.

 

Indeed, I was wondering if 'using a plunger' is even a thing when a house is designed properly, but my current 1970s home needs plunging regularly (not the toilets, really only talking about basins, showers) and I don't think my family puts an unusual amount of 'non-watery-stuff' down the drains. 

[PeterW]

In old houses it’s usually due to small bore pipe work, such as 32mm, and soap / hair etc build up. Best way to clear that is one of the decent foaming drain cleaners down every trap followed by emptying the hot water tank through the pipes ... best done last thing at night so it can sit and dissolve the crud first then flush through in the morning. 

[JFDIY]

The few times I've had to use a plunger, I always push down slowly to evacuate the bellows, then with the tap running to create a good deal against the sink bowl, I pull up with a sharp swift movement. This way you are doing two things, trying to un-consolidate the material from the direction it accumulated and most importantly, pulling all the joints in the system together, rather than forcing them apart.

 

Sometimes the amount or crud that comes out into the bowl is encouraging and can be collected before it goes back into the pipes if you're quick.

 

 

 

[Temp]

Our shower tray has drainage grooves which makes it hard to get a plunger to seal. On day I might print a plastic widget to fill them in but meanwhile a ring of wet dish cloth used as a crude washer seems to improve things.

[oldkettle]

On 03/01/2020 at 01:10, Temp said:

Our shower tray has drainage grooves which makes it hard to get a plunger to seal. 

 

We have something similar. I put a towel in a circle around the drain and then the plunger works fine.