The Utility of Groaners

[Briar Lee]

The official name is a Drain Bladder, but the old plumber who showed me how to use one called it a Groaner, why he did not know.

I own six different places with septic pipes that can and do clog up.

For the last dozen years or so my drain cleaning augers and steel tapes and air blasters and other gadgets sleep in storage.

These work by hydraulic water pressure. Remove the T fittings and put the Groaner on a garden hose and stick it as far as it can go down the drain pipe that’s clogged.

Turn on water and the clog goes on down to the Mississippi and thence to the sea. You won’t use anything else, after you get one, I promise.

My son and I just made his mother happy by unplugging her sink.

Which is why a garbage disposal is the plumber’s friend, you know?

I’d never heard of these until I saw one, and now I won’t be without it.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Oh these. They have their uses, without a doubt, mostly for a soft clog. A wad of toilet paper or pasta which magically goes down a drain (I have yet to meet the homeowner who has any idea how that got in there!) or grease or hair, that guy is great. But it won't do anything for roots or solid blockages. That's when you'll need the snakes and other drain clearing equipment.

 

[Briar Lee]

Oh these. They have their uses, without a doubt, mostly for a soft clog. A wad of toilet paper or pasta which magically goes down a drain (I have yet to meet the homeowner who has any idea how that got in there!) or grease or hair, that guy is great. But it won't do anything for roots or solid blockages. That's when you'll need the snakes and other drain clearing equipment.

And the rest of that story is nothing I own can clear out roots.

All the problems a homeowner can deal with are soft clogs.

A Groaner does that miraculously.