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I had a professional plumber out today. He spent about 3 hours trying to unclog my kitchen sink. Finally he said there's something wrong with the drain because he can't get it fixed. So here I am with no working sink and I'm not sure what to do now. The company I am working with has offered to bring a camera and have a look around the drain pipes.

Is there anything I can do on my own to try and fix my problem? Why couldn't a professional fix it?

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Did he say what he thought was wrong with the drain? – Niall C. Oct 15 '12 at 20:26
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Are the other drains in your house also not draining properly? – The Evil Greebo Oct 15 '12 at 20:26
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sounds like a pretty lazy plumber – Steven Oct 15 '12 at 20:28
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@Steven Not being able to fix a backed up drain in a single visit, does not make the plumber lazy. Scoping a drain with a camera is a common practice when the drain cannot be easily cleared, and often the company only has one technician and/or camera that can scope the line. – Tester101♦ Oct 15 '12 at 22:05
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@Tester101 true but if it took three hours to figure that out I would be asking questions about the "professional plumber" – UNECS Oct 15 '12 at 22:43
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1 Answer

up vote 7 down vote

Plumbers don't have x-ray eyes, sometimes they need to scope a pipe to find the problem. This does not make him a bad/lazy plumber. It just means he doesn't carry the scope in his truck, or the company has a special technician, who is the only one who runs the camera. Let the company scope the drain so they can see what they are dealing with, at which time they will offer you options on how to correct the problem.

It could be:

  • A ball of roots, that could not be broken up by the auger.
  • A collapsed pipe.
  • A shifted pipe.
  • A large foreign object that cannot be moved by the auger.
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You take the trap apart under the sink and clean that out as far as you can. 5 minutes? Maybe you can snake to the stack. Another 5 minutes? Still won't drain? You're done without any other tools or climbing on top to check the stack from the roof. What was he doing the other 2 1/2 hours? – Rob Oct 18 '12 at 13:03

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