Rothenberger Drain Unblocking in Warsaw: A Snake, Not Chemicals

What a plumber clears drains with

Rothenberger is a German maker of plumbing tools, and its range includes hand drain snakes and electric drain-cleaning machines. Plenty of tradespeople who take blockage jobs work with kit like this. You don’t need to buy it. It helps to know how it works, though, so you know what you’re paying for.

For a basin or kitchen sink a thin hand snake or a small machine is usually enough. The cable goes in through the plughole, or straight into the pipe once the trap is off, spins, and breaks up or pulls out the blockage: hair, grease, soap sludge. Toilets and wider pipes need a thicker cable and a stronger machine. A blockage in the stack, or in the horizontal run under several flats, is a different story, often involving the building manager.

The heads on the cables differ too. Some cut and break up the blockage, others grab it so it can be pulled out. That’s why the plumber asks where the water is standing and what might have gone down the drain: it decides what he brings.

After clearing it, the plumber runs plenty of water and watches whether it drains freely. If the blockage comes back, the cause is usually further down: the wrong fall on a pipe, deposits in old plumbing, something caught on a joint.

What it costs and how to book: drain unblocking in Warsaw.

What not to do before the plumber arrives

• Don’t pour in more chemicals. The snake throws out whatever is in the pipe, corrosive liquid included.
• Don’t try to push the blockage through with a coat hanger. Bent wire can get stuck and become the blockage.
• Don’t take the trap off unless there’s a bowl under it and you know how it goes back together.
• Don’t keep flushing the toilet while the water is rising.

Getting the flat ready

• Make room: empty the cabinet under the sink, open the access panel by the bath or shower tray.
• Put old towels down by the drain. A snake coming out of a pipe is never clean.
• Check whether water is standing in one place or several, and say so in the job.
• If you’ve already poured chemicals in, photograph the label.

With corrosive stuff in the pipe, the plumber works in gloves and goggles. Keep your distance from the drain too while the cable is spinning.

Before replacing the trap, check whether a good clean will do: how to clear a clogged bathroom drain yourself.

Booking in three steps

1. In the app you describe what’s blocked and since when, and add a photo of the drain and the trap.
2. Warsaw plumbers with the kit for this kind of blockage send bids at their own price and date. You compare them along with ratings and reviews, pick one, and only then do you swap contact details.
3. After the job you pay the plumber directly, and he issues the invoice.

The plumber answers for his own work, for example the trap he took apart and put back. The state of old pipes and blockages in the building’s shared plumbing are not on him.