I was rinsing some sand to use in an aquarium, and the bucket tipped over and spilled a whole bunch of sand down the drain. I am going to attempt to use a a wet/dry vacuum tomorrow, but I don’t think it will be powerful enough to suck up wet sand. Will a pipe snake work to help the sand work through the bends (the P trap I think). Is there something else I can attempt before calling in a plumber? Thanks in advance!
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Go with your wet/dry vac and attach a smaller hose on the end of the existing one even if you have to tape it on. The added suction this will create will suck up that wet sand and the smaller hose will be more flexible to get into the drain. Check out our tips of the week @Homelinepros.com
Actually …..if you can get to the P trap and remove it …..there should be a sufficient amount of sand there
If you can’t get to the P trap to clean it out. Try the snake by putting it down the overflow pipe (remove the cover and pull out the stopper thingie) You will need a very small diameter snake. More like a flexible cable as the P traps have tight bends in them.
You could fill the tub up with a lot of water and then release it. The weight of the water should push the sand out of the trap. Once it gets moving the water will keep it going and spread it out over a long distant in the pipes. You could also plunge it while the water is going out.
If that doesn’t work try a garden hose. Wrap a towel around the drain and hose end to keep the pressure in the pipe.
Another way of attacking it is to remove the overflow drain cover, pull out the stopper thingie and insert your hose done that pipe. It may blow water back into the tub through the drain but you could cover that. Note: make sure that pipe is against your tub or water may run down onto the ceiling below.
Are we having fun yet…….
In addition to above: try reversing the hose on your vacuum so that it blows air. Hold the end at the overflow drain. It may cause air to come out the normal drain but you could block that. A nice wind storm in the P trap should get rid of the sand.