Is A Plumbing Snake Stuck In The Drain? (Fix It Now!)

When a plunger just won’t get the job done, you may have to break out an auger to get the job done. An auger, also known as a snake, is a long piece of wiring with barbs or hooks attached to the end. The idea is for the barbs to break apart toilet paper and other materials that can become clogged in your sewer line.

Most of the time, the snake is meant to be the thing that puts an end to the issue. But what happens when the snake gets stuck in the drain? What do you do then? There is not an easy solution to this. You will have to disconnect the U-bend at the bottom of the drain and fish the snake out that way.

So we know that the snake is meant to break up blockages further down into the drain than a plunger can handle. Most of the time, the snake will simply break apart the blockage and your toilet will flush once again.

In a rare happenstance, you may find your snake stuck in the drain. How does something like that happen? Well, it can happen when the clog or blockage is severe. In this case, a snake won’t get the job done even when you do recover it.

In the event of severe blockages, you will need to call a professional. They will use jetting and other more heavy-duty methods to get the clog out of your drain. Find out how to get a broken snake out of your drain.

There are two methods for getting your snake back. You can keep pulling, hoping that the snake will break free or you can go the slightly more complex route. It is important that you exercise caution while doing this because there is a chance that the snake could break off.

If neither of these helps and you still can’t get the snake out, professional intervention is needed. Bad as things are, you don’t want to further complicate the issue by breaking the snake off in the drain.

We will operate under the assumption that you tried to pull the snake free and it wouldn’t budge. In that event, you have two choices: to break or not to break. The former is not advisable as it just adds another layer of difficulty to your clog.

Grab a few things that will help you get the snake free. You will need a small basin, some drain-cleaning gel, a couple of large kettles or pots, and a medium-sized plumbing wrench. As you can guess, this isn’t going to be the simplest fix.

If you are using a snake, there is a pretty good chance that this step will not work but it is worth a try anyway. Grab a drain brush and push it into the jet drain around the snake.

The idea here is to shift the blockage around with the drain brush. If it is close enough to the surface of the bowl you may be able to move the blockage around enough that the snake comes free. But the simple fact that a snake is required likely means that the blockage is further down in the drain. Still, it’s worth a try.

After trying the previous steps, there is a chance that the snake is still lodged tightly in the blockage. The final thing to dry involves those kettles or pots, boiling water, and drain-cleaning gel. It is also a good idea to lay some towels down around the area as the potential for mess is much greater here.

Fill up a couple of large kettles or pots with water, bringing them to a boil. Hold the handle of the snake off to the side, pouring half a bottle of your preferred drain-cleaning gel into the drain to help clear out the blockage.

Follow the drain-cleaning gel up with the now boiling water. Give it about 10 minutes or so, allowing the gel and the water to work to soften and break down the blockage. Try the snake again, turning it on forward first and then reverse.

Most of the time, the blockage should be softened enough to remove the snake from the blockage. In some cases, the blockage will also break apart, clearing the issue. If this does not work, then there is a major blockage at hand that only a professional can clear.

For the most part, blockages comprised of waste and toilet paper are not going to cause the type of severe clog mentioned above. That’s not to say that you can’t cause a pretty serious clog that way, but they usually break apart at some point.

The toughest blockage that you may face may not be your fault. Sometimes tree roots can grow around the sewer line, getting inside and blocking up the pipes. After all, there is plenty of waste within that has lots of nutrients that can attract the trees.

In that instance, there likely won’t be any way that you can pull the snake free without breaking it. The most likely scenario is that the barbs on the snake have caught on the roots. The roots will need to be broken up and removed before either issue – the stuck snake or the blockage – can be resolved.