The Creek Line House

One Simple Trick to Unclog Your Tub Drain

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Are you looking for a way to clear your clogged tub drain?  One that’s chemical free, super simple and actually works!  Check out this trick so obvious you’ll be surprised you missed it.
Are you looking for a way to clear to your clogged tub drain?  One that's chemical free, super simple and actually works!  Check out this trick so obvious you'll be surprised you missed it.

My tub drain where Kennedy and I shower has been a little slow lately. That’s putting it mildly. By the time our showers would be over, there would be 8 inches of water in the tub and it would take something like 3 hours to drain. We had ourselves a very clogged tub drain. I tried cleaning out the hair from the drain of course, but no luck. I tried baking soda and vinegar, but no luck. I tried sticking a pencil down there to pierce the gunk like I used to do in our old house, but the way this drain is shaped didn’t allow for that.

Oh, and one more thing. I’m really, really deathly terrified of those nasty chemical plumbing liquids that you can get to clear drains. If I used one in just a random sink drain, I would be convinced I was dying from the fumes for the next 6 months. So the tub? Where we take baths? Not a chance.

So I put up with the 8 inches of water for a few more weeks.

Clogged Drain, Tried Everything

I don’t know how or why, but suddenly one day, I think it was at dinner time, I remembered this special little tool we have. You may even have one too. Get this: It’s specifically made for clearing drains. Amazing, right? The only thing is, it’s usually used on a drain of a different kind.

That’s right, a plunger!!

OK, all the smarty pantses out there can just stop laughing now. If it took me this many years to realize this easy solution to my constant tub drain problems, I bet there are quite a few others out there just like me.

It was easy. And it did work. It literally only took me about 2.6 seconds to clear up this little problem. I was so excited that I ran and told Chris about my adventures. Turns out he’s one of those smarty pantses and didn’t understand my pure, unfiltered joy at this moment.

How to Unclog a Bathtub Drain

Anyway, here’s how it works!

Are you looking for a way to clear to your clogged tub drain?  One that's chemical free, super simple and actually works!  Check out this trick so obvious you'll be surprised you missed it.

Fill your tub with a couple of inches of water. Or just use the water trapped in there after your shower.

Are you looking for a way to clear to your clogged tub drain?  One that's chemical free, super simple and actually works!  Check out this trick so obvious you'll be surprised you missed it.

Remove any plugs or water stoppers and position the plunger over the drain. Push down, forcing air into the drain and creating suction to loosen the clog.

Are you looking for a way to clear to your clogged tub drain?  One that's chemical free, super simple and actually works!  Check out this trick so obvious you'll be surprised you missed it.

Drains Like New

Watch your tub drain as quickly as the day it was first installed! Oops. Looks like it’s time to clean those orange water stains again. Well, the tub’s not pretty, but at least we no longer have a clogged tub drain!

That’s really all there is to it! Problem solved! I hope this helps some of my fellow clogged drain sufferers out there. I can’t wait to hear from all you people who have known about this for years and have been holding out on me too!

MORE LIKE THIS!

Courtenay Hartford
Author at The Creek Line House | Website | + posts

Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.

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Comments

  1. Angela @Angela Says says

    I like your soccer duck, he’s pretty awesome. Anyways, you’re solution did make me laugh only because I was thinking the same thing. Although I would probably bleach mine before I put it in the tub. 🙂

    Reply

  2. Valley Girl says

    I used to work in a hotel and another plunger tip I can offer is to make sure that the overflow drain is covered or it may not plunge as well. Smart thinking! 🙂

    Reply

  3. Vanessa says

    Why haven’t I ever thought of that?! I usually reduce myself to pulling out the hair clogs with pliers. Ugh, creeps me out b/c it reminds me of The Ring where that girl crawls out of the well with all her long hair…creepy!!!

    Reply

  4. Kathy Pearlman says

    It doesn’t always work. Sometimes it just brings black sludge up from the drain and makes the tub icky. But if it’s just slow, it might work. Better to stick a wire hanger of a toothbrush or something like that into the drain and get the hair that is trapped around the drain at the top. That’s usually what makes it drain slowly.

    Reply

  8. Karen A says

    Awesome! I’m going to go try it. I’m up to about 3″ now. My best tool from past tries came from my sewing room…the very long super skinny tube turner thingy. (You know, the thing you use when you sew a sash or narrow band c& you stick that tool in there, it grabs the end and ou can turn it right side out?) It can reach really far into the drain and reach gross globs of hair.

    Reply

  9. Anonymous says

    Another tip is to use nair hair remover. Squirt a good amount down the drain and give plenty of time to get to the (most likely hair) clog and then run hot water and it is all clear 🙂

    Reply

  11. debra rithman says

    You can also pour some baking soda into the drain followed by vinegar. Let it fizz, add some more vinegar, let it fizz again and then plunge 🙂 then rinse with super hot water. That helps clear clogs that are usually a little farther down the drain 🙂

    Reply

  14. moti6640 says

    One thing to always check if your clog doesn’t go away is to remove that big silver cap on the wall of the tub. The rod that goes down the drain will have soooo much hair you won’t ever believe your tub ever drained. After pulling that trap out and discarding the clog pour a load of baking soda in the outlet and then pour a cup of vinegar in the tub drain hole and watch the magic begin. Cleans out your drain quickly and helps the clog stay away for awhile.

    Reply

  15. Anonymous says

    I have used a plunger for a clogged sink also. Works great even though it way be a bit awkward with a smaller sink.

    Reply

  16. Anonymous says

    My mother inlaw paid a LOT of money to watch a plumber do this to her tub! Tip…when repair services come…WATCH WHAT THEY’RE ACTUALLY DOING, then you never have to call them again! 😉

    Reply

  17. ess says

    The Plunger is genius!!! It’s the only thing that worked. A $5 solution (at Lowes)! Baking soda and vinegar did nothing for me. Great post, like seriously.

    Reply

    • Courtenay says

      Yay! I’m so glad! I actually just used this trick again on one of my sinks this afternoon. Always works like a charm!

      Reply

  19. Beverly says

    This tip was a godsend to me. I had tried everything and was about to call an expensive plumber when I found this on the Internet.
    2 minutes with the plunger and my horribly clogged bathtub drain was running like new!
    Thank you, thank you thank you!!!!

    Reply

  20. Kim says

    We had a plumber over who was doing some renovation work, and when my husband told him we might need a drain snaked, he showed him that trick. He also said not to tell his boss he gave us that info! LOL!

    Reply

  21. Sharon says

    Same here, my story is almost identical except 3 inches of water. Happened to mention I was heading to hardware store to buy more drain cleaner to a friend whose in her 80s and she was as surprised as me that I hadn’t tried the plunger. Happy to say it was an instant and long lasting solution!

    Reply

  22. Abba says

    Most times there is hair clogging the tub. Every now and then you should take out the drain plug and remove the hair. Also you can get at the home improvement store’s a about 18 inch hair removal tool that cost less than $4.00..works on sinks to.

    Reply

  23. Barbm1712 says

    My teenage daughter has extremely long hair and we were forever having problems with her bath tub draining. We had a plumber come out and he snaked the drain and got the water out and then told me about a ‘hair trap’ that I could purchase on Amazon (he has three teenage daughters!). They come in a package of two for less than $8.00. We ordered, received and placed over the drain and each time she showers she knows she is supposed to collect the hair in the ‘strainer’ and put in the trash can. Has been working like a charm, no stopped up drains! Saves me about $300.00 a year in plumber calls! And, when it gets gunky with soapy residue, in the trash and us the second one! Our other bathroom doesnt’ need it since I have shorter hair and the drain is configured differently.

    Reply

  24. Marc says

    Hi.. Thank you for this post. Literally saved me a $300 call to the plumber. And you are right, it took 2.5 seconds! Unreal.. Thank you.

    Reply

  25. JoW says

    I will try the toothbrush first. I always have a lot of hair collecting at the top. The plunger will be the second thing
    I try. Thanks all.

    Reply

  26. Christine says

    Wouldn’t this just push the clump of hair further down the pipes? I would think it may stop and clog somewhere deeper that could require a more expensive and invasive visit from the plumber. I like those long plastic sticks with the sharp edges that you push down the drain. The hair catches on to the sharp edges and you can pull it right out.

    Reply

  27. Adele says

    I think I’ll buy a new plunger, preferably in a different color, to use exclusively for the tub or sinks. I recently read about using a bit of all natural septic tank treatment in drains. I poured some in a sink that did not have any standing water, left it overnight and the next morning it drained quite well. The drain had not been completely clogged, just slow to drain. I have a small very small snake that will bring up the clog but I really rather it go down! Thank you for giving me another idea.

    Reply

  28. Kathy Ennis says

    Thank you, thank you, thank you. Sounds as though you have been taking showers at my house. The water will not drain out and will also back up from the bathroom in my second bathroom. Then it will go to the floor drain in my laundry room and overflow onto the floor. My plan of action is pulling out the plunger and using it AFTER I clean with bleach. I am so glad to have found this on one of my Pinterest boards. Thank you again.

    Reply

    • Fernie says

      If your clog backs up in other drains you need to close those off and do 1 at a time or will waste your precious energy. I can’t tolerate bleach so I always use vinegar and soda and if I want to sanitize I go to peroxide 3% at the store and use it straight, also vodka is a good one for that too.

      Reply

  29. Paul Brownell says

    This idea worked for me too. I used everything and then I got the idea to use the plunger. Cleaned out in minutes. I also used it on the sink. It blew out a lot of gunk out the overflow until I stopped it with my hand. Real handy tool.

    Reply

  30. Mary Blumreich says

    Well I feel like a dinosaur. I have used a plunger to unclog this seventy-three old tub drain for fifty years at least. 🙂 I thought everyone knew about plungers…anyway this time it won’t work and the configuration of the drain won’t let me push the little yellow thing or a toothbrush down, and after pouring in one bottle of drain cleaner and having it sit in the three inches of water for two days I am going to call a plumber tomorrow.

    Reply

  31. Courtenay says

    Hi Courtenay. A plunger does come in handy. I’m glad this worked well. If you want to prevent a clog like this in the future, take a hanger and use it to clean out the drain. You’ll get a lot of hair up this way.

    Reply

  32. Sabina Muniz says

    I’ve already tried this method and still am is there any other way, I’ve used chemicals, natural supplies, the plunger, stuck wire hangers down, even got the fancy snake thingy that will go down the drain and retrieve any gunk and what not. Its embarrassing because the slow drain leaves things behind in the tub and I just dont know what to do anymore.

    Reply

  33. Adrienne Crawford says

    I never knew that a simple plunger could be used to unclog a bathtub drain! It’s a great tip to try before reaching for chemicals or calling a plumber. Thank you for sharing this helpful trick with us!

    Reply

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