Buying A Drain Snake

Buying a drain snake can sometimes save you from calling a plumber and save you money. Depending on which type of stoppage you have it might not be as expensive as you think to buy a drain snake. Drain snakes can be bought at most of your local home improvement and hardware stores. You can also find tons of sellers of drain snakes online where you can read the reviews to make an informed decisions. I recommend doing a little research before going out and just buying a drain snake no matter how affordable it might be. Another option is to keep an eye out for used drain snakes. Great places to find used drain snakes are yard sales and of course Craigslist.

Here is a list of some of the drain snakes you might need and some tips before buying.

Toilet augers are the only snake you will want to put down the toilet because they are designed to clear the toilet without tearing into and scratching the porcelain. An auger is a great tools and every homeowner should really have one for when a plunger just is not enough to clear a toilet clog. Toilet augers are so inexpensive to buy that you can buy a professional toilet auger for less money than it would cost tocall a plumber.

Buying tips: Toilet augers are cheap already so do not buy the cheapest one you see for sale. The least expensive toilet augers that I have seen actually work cost somewhere between $30 to $50. They come in all price ranges as cheap as $10 and the professional one I use is just less than $80. Please spend a little more because it will make a difference.

A small hand snake (also called top snake) is used for clearing small household drains and usually the most common stoppages. Hand snakes can often clear local kitchen stoppages, local washing machine stoppages, bathroom sink stoppages, tub stoppages, and shower stoppages. This makes it a very versatile machine and I think every homeowner should have one. Once again, like the toilet auger, these usually cost less than calling a plumber.

Buying tips: A good length of cable to have in a small hand snake is 25’ but often 15’ is sufficient to clear common stoppages. Here it also pays to spend a little more money. The power drill snakes are my favorite, but I have seen hand crank snakes work decently as well. There are also some that you can hook to your own drill, saving you money. You can get nice power hand snake for under $100 and much cheaper yet for the manual snakes.