Plumbing

[bartl]

I've been using a plumber's auger (aka a "snake") to clean drains for years. I have a 30 foot model that cranks by hand, or can connect to an electric drill to make it a power snake. It cost me about $25 at Home Depot (and, by coincidence, I was getting a cheap one clean my parents' gutters a couple of weeks ago, and the model I have is STILL about $25). It's really easy to use, and will pay for itself the first time it's used. Note that you should not use it on toilets, as it scratches the porcelein. There's a special one for toilets, which is also about $25.

[Steven Grant]

I used to have one of those, when I lived up near Seattle. Yeah, they're useful, though the one I had was for toilets so it got a smidge disgusting. (The ones for toilets are hard to clean.) This is actually just as easy; the only reason it wasn't easy and was so time consuming was I hadn't any idea what I was doing, since I'd never done it before, so I was going slow and easy. Now I know; I think I could rip it apart and put it back together in about as much time as it would take me to get the snake from the garage, use it, and put it back. Really, all the pipes just screw and unscrew whip whip whip whip whip. Now I know how to get them apart, how much pressure reassembly requires, etc.

But yours is still a good tip, particularly if you don't have modular pipes.