DrainX Pro Steel Drum Auger Plumbing Snake | Heavy Duty 35-Ft Drain Cable with Work Gloves and Storage Bag

Story time. Months ago, the particle board underlayment in our kitchen floor began to swell and soften---just in spots, at first, along the joints and and near the cabinets. But it spread. The undulations could be felt underfoot, soleful messages that something's not right down there. Some vinyl tiles loosened. "We're splashing too much water from the sink," I guessed.Then we noticed that water was seeping from the cracks between the vinyl tiles even after days of not splashing anything on the floor. "Something is leaking," we realized, with that little feeling of dread and the "oh no" thoughts that come with a realization like that: "How bad is it? Is it going to be something bigger than I can handle myself? What kind of damage is it doing? What's this going to cost? Is the floor rotting? Are we going to punch through and find ourselves standing knee deep in our kitchen?"I grabbed a flashlight and investigated. I got down on the floor and pulled the skirt from the front of the dishwasher and felt around with my bare hand---carefully, avoiding electrical wires. The floor under the left side of the dishwasher was wet, so I presumed the dishwasher was the source of the leak. The machine had a few years on it, and I wasn't interested in searching for parts to repair it. I wasn't too thrilled about shelling out a few hondos for a new one either, but I chose that as the quickest and easiest fix. I found one on sale---a lesser model, a downgrade from the one we were replacing---at a local big box home improvement store.But a few weeks after installing the new dishwasher, the floor was still wet. It's not my favorite thing to do, but I suited up like an astronaut and wriggled into the crawlspace under the kitchen floor to investigate.I shined a light across the top of the concrete block foundation on the side of the house under the kitchen sink. A ten-foot length of the sill of the house was wet along its bottom edge. Stained dark, it looked to have been wet for some time. I couldn't spot an obvious point of entry for the water. After an exterior inspection, I assembled some clues and tried to deduce the source of the problem: A valley of the roof terminated right over the area. I also noted that a drain vent stack poked up through the roof right next to the valley. A wrinkled soffit panel under the eave looked to have taken some water damage. I theorized that water was slowly entering by a leak in the valley or around the vent stack, then making its way down between the wall and exterior brick veneer, and from there soaking into the floor.I rigged safety lines (I always do), set up a ladder, climbed onto the roof, and smeared around a couple of gallons of Henry's roof patch, making sure to spread it generously under the shingle tabs and the flashing around the vent stack. It was a bright, hot day. I remember that.A rainless week or two later, the floor was still wet. Befuddlement and more head scratching ensued. This time we guessed the supply line to the refrigerator's ice maker was the culprit, even though the fridge was on the other side of the kitchen. Maybe the line was leaking and the water was wicking between the subfloor and particle board and finding its way across the kitchen and making its way up and out. We pulled the refrigerator away from the wall and took a look. Dry as a bone.Finally, finally, I began to put things together. The kitchen sink drain exits through the wall behind the sink, takes a left, then makes another turn down to connect to the waste pipe and vent stack via a wye. The wye is located in the wall above the subfloor, so I couldn't see it from the crawlspace. What was happening, I began to think, was a clog in the main drain pipe below the wye was backing waste water up into the vent stack, but not high enough to back all the way into the sink. Waste water was leaking from the joint of the vent onto the sill and into the floor when it was backed up.I disconnected the P-trap under the sink. A lot of water spilled out of the drain pipe sticking out of the wall. Clog confirmed.I already owned a 25-foot hand-cranked drain snake. I returned to the crawlspace to see if I could loosen the drain pipe's cleanout plug to snake the line. The house's plumbing is over fifty years old, and the plug was stuck fast. I returned to the kitchen and tried snaking the line from under the sink, but the snake couldn't make the three turns to get into the main line."What if I run a snake down from the roof through the vent stack?" I wondered. I knew the drain pipe layout; the snake would only have to make one 45-degree turn instead of three, and there was nothing in the line past that point that could be damaged. But the snake I owned wasn't long enough to do the job.I was already 300-plus dollars into this project with the new dishwasher and roof patching compound. I wasn't too thrilled about spending more money for a longer snake, but I ordered this fifty-footer.Long story longer, I rigged the safety lines again, set up the ladder, and climbed back on the roof. I fed the snake down the mouth of the vent stack, which swallowed it hungrily thanks to some assistance from our good friend gravity. Gravity also added some oomph when I pushed the snake through resistance in the pipe. I first felt some resistance when the head of the snake met the wye and made the turn. Then I felt another spot of resistance. There were no more turns or wyes, so I assume the snake had found the clog. I cranked the drum handle a few times, jogged the line up and down like a plunger, and the resistance gave way. I fed in another few feet of line just to make sure there were no more clogs, then I retracted the snake (eww, grimy). I followed up by pouring a gallon of liquid drain cleaner down the vent stack.After climbing down from the roof, I pulled the full length of snake out of the drum, laid it on the driveway, and sprayed it off with a hose. I left it to dry before pushing it back into the drum.So, here's the review of the snake: It's good. The drum of the snake is metal, and the collar that feeds the snake and holds the thumbscrew is metal too. I noticed complaints in earlier reviews that the collar was plastic and wasn't holding up, so the metal collar must be an upgrade. This snake is not going to chew out any roots, but it will work on typical drain clogs. The included gloves are a bit small, but they're okay. I just used disposable nitrile gloves.The not-so-happy part of all this is I discovered that the drain pipe in the kitchen wall has a leak that still leaks even though the clog has been cleared. So I'll be rerouting the kitchen drain pipe to bypass all that pipe in the wall.The happier ending to this story is that I didn't spend much more than I would have had I called a pro to snake the drain. And the new dishwasher, although a cheaper model than our previous one, outcleans the old one by far. And, judging from the wrinkled eave soffit, the roof probably needed a little patching anyway. And we know there's no leak in the ice maker supply line behind the fridge. And PVC parts to reroute the kitchen sink drain are inexpensive.And I still have a fifty-foot plumbing snake if I need it again.

I needed something longer than the normal 25 ft versions for smaller (under 2") drain pipes, so I bought the 35 ft version. This one was easier to hold than my other one and used a thumb screw to hold the cable instead of the pushbutton style than can be hard to push. I prefer the thumbscrew. Worked great and snaked through the pipe pretty well. The handle seems a little light weight, but if treated well, it should work for as many times as I may use it.

Good product especially for the price! So all in all Can’t complain.

Didi not workout as previously planned.

No lo e usado

I am so happy I purchased this product. I have had problems on and off with my toilet since I moved into my house seven years ago. This product worked exactly how I needed it to some of the stuff that it pulled out had to of been there for a very long time, the toilet is flushing magnificently I recommend this to anyone not wanting to call a plumber for minor fixes. Thank you for saving this girl a plumbing call.

This product is sold and will work for your light duty jobs. I would not recommend for heavier jobs. Good quality for the price.

The DrainX Auger Pro is easy to use. Unfortunately the thumbscrew broke off but their customer support was great and response was quick. I was sent a replacement part.

It's nice for its money. Not so easy to use as fully automatic electric versions, but it's doing its work nice!

Good:- it is technically capable to do what it is advertised for.- the long spring/snake is very helpful in reaching the remotest blockage.- build quality is good and sturdy.- my last purchase was lacking integrity- the snake came off of the housing after the first use! This one is still okay.Bad:- it is heavy as it should be; but there is no mechanism around it. The designer should consider having a tripod or at least a bi-pod to rest thins thing while one’s cleaning the blockades. It take time to get the pipes completely unclogged. So, the hands start to feel the weight and pain.- the design is not very user friendly.Recommend?Surely recommended for those looking to clean the pipes/blockades in their sink. It has some design limitations but gets the job done. I have only used it once ; if it survives repeated cleaning cycles, this would be more value for money.

I've had a 2" drain that's slowly been clogging up over the course of 10 years. It finally become too much when the shower upstairs started overflowing into the shower downstairs and the washing machine was overflowing its fill pipe. I got this item in almost less than a day since ordering it. I was able to fish it into the cleanout opening in most easy spots. I then had to do the twisting motion for any sudden turns and blockages. I had zero issue using it. It worked extremely well. I do recommend this length as I needed more than 25'. The 50' is really handy. I like how it easily comes in and out of the metal spool. The plastic handle was no issue for me at all. Unless you're really rough with it and drop it or something, you shouldn't have a problem. My drain now works better than ever. No more overflow on any floor drain, or lower bathroom drain. This was less than half an hour of easy work I should have done a long time ago.

We had a basement sewage backup. Called plumbers and they asked for $200/hour. Crazy ! We bought this to fix the problem. The snake is just not strong enough to solve the problem as the diameter is just not big enough and there is no cutter attached to the head of the snake that can cut through the blockage. We ended up going to Home Depot to rent a commercial motorized 100-ft 1/2" argue snake to get the job done for $80. Home Depot has a diagram which shows that this type of snakes (1/4") is only good for minor sewage blockage such as kitchen and washroom. They are not for major sewage blockage such as basement sewage backup.

Reviews said some Amazon augers on sale had too fragile plastic cable housings or thin cables that twisted into knots in the pipe. This has a durable metal housing and quickly drew the cable thru the pipe. The stiff 0.25" dia. spring cable turned corners but didn't knot up in 1.5" pipe. It broke down the coating on my sump discharge line, halving the pumping time necessary to empty the sump.